Duke Muslim Scholar Shuts Down Franklin Graham's Call To Prayer Claims In 30 Seconds (UPDATE)

UPDATE: 1/15 -- Duke University has backtracked on allowing the Muslim call to prayer to emanate from the Duke Chapel bell tower.

“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students,” Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, said in a statement on Duke Today. “However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”

Previously ...

The Muslim call to prayer will be heard from Duke University’s chapel every Friday beginning Jan. 16, in an effort to make the campus a welcoming place for its over 700 Muslims students, faculty, and staff.

But some conservatives aren’t too happy about the decision.

Franklin Graham, son of Christian televangelist Billy Graham, slammed the university’s actions in a Facebook post and urged donors to withdraw their support until Duke reverses the policy.

“As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism,” Graham wrote.

The post has been shared more than 65,000 times. This isn't the first time Graham has spoken out against Islam. According to The Charlotte Observer, the pastor has been been criticizing the religion since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Omid Safi, director of Duke’s Islamic Studies Center, had a few choice words for Graham during an interview with HuffPost Live.

Every day from that same Duke chapel, church bells ring, and twice on Sunday. The cross is on the emblem of Duke University. The entire quad, and the entire campus of Duke University is laid out as a cross. And the Christian chapel is the very symbol of Duke University. So the kind of fanatical proclamation that Christianity is being erased from Duke’s campus is frankly a poor indication of the intelligence of that argument.

Watch HuffPost Live’s full interview with Omid Safi here.

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