FPN Board Chairman on Fox News Channel Sunday Night

HIGH POINT, NC – A member of Family Policy Network’s Board of Directors will be interviewed on Fox News Channel this weekend to criticize the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for religious discrimination. Terry Moffitt, Chairman of the Board for FPN, will condemn the University’s new policy forcing students to study Islam without offering an alternative course for those who find the requirement offensive.

Moffitt will be interviewed live by news anchor Rita Cosby during the news program “FoxWire” Sunday night at 10 p.m. Also appearing on the program to defend the University’s Islam requirement will be Malik Shabazz.

Moffitt, a resident of High Point, North Carolina and a member of UNC’s class of 1981, was recently quoted by The Chapel Hill News as saying, “The entire university system in North Carolina should be ashamed of itself for forcing a religion on students that many will find not only offensive, but totally opposed to their own religious views.”

According to the University’s website, all incoming freshmen will be required to read the book, Approaching the Qur’an prior to arriving for classes in August. The book is described in an insert to all incoming students as “35 suras, or short passages from the chief holy book of Islam that largely focus on the divine in the natural world and the principle of moral accountability in human life.” Students must also attend a mandatory discussion section on the book in August.

Moffitt said, “Forcing students to read and discuss the Koran is wrong, especially since there is no such requirement for studying any other religion. As a state university, UNC should never be allowed to demonstrate this kind of prejudice toward or against any particular religion.”

###

For more information related to this issue, see:

UNC Summer Reading Program Islam requirement:
http://www.unc.edu/srp/

The Chapel Hill News quotes FPN Chairman Terry Moffitt:
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/06/02/news04.html

News & Observer article about Islam requirement controversy:
http://newsobserver.com/news/triangle/story/1406152p-1440245c.html

FoxNews reports on pro-Islam requirement at UNC:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,53402,00.html