Muslim Wins Handshake Discrimination Case

(AP)  Sweden's unemployment agency has been found guilty of discrimination for expelling a Muslim man from a job training program because he refused to shake hands with a woman.

A Stockholm court Monday ordered the Public Employment Service to pay 50,000 kronor (approximately $6,800) in damages to an immigrant from Bosnia who lost his jobless benefits when he was kicked out of the program.

Citing his faith, the man had refused to shake hands with a woman when he was interviewing for an internship.

The agency said his behavior was part of the reason he didn't get the position, and decided to exclude him from the program.

The court ruled that the man was discriminated against because of his religion. It wasn't immediately clear whether the ruling would be appealed.

[mary-miami]

Muslim are uncivilized. They not only feel superior to women, they would like to control the world and in their view, there should not be any freedom or rights at all. Imagine if you men were forced to get up everyday at 5 am to pray? Or were forced to wear a beard? Or dress in a particular way? As a free person, you can do as you wish, but the Muslims want to FORCE people to do what they deem best. As a woman, I feel insulted when I see someone in a burqua...also makes me think; How do we know they won't blow themselves up? You can't see their face...If they are in our country then they should adapt to our ways just like the majority of people who come here from other places...if a woman, God forbid, should go to their land, they will be forced to follow their crazy laws...

[MizAnthrope]

This is ridiculous - He discriminated against her based upon her gender! Muslims believe that women are inferior and will not shake hands with them - Discrimination is built in to their religeon

[ToolMangler1]

The court must have been paid to look the other way..

[Clouseau2]

Even though I'm an agnostic, and think all organized religions are loopy, the courts did the right thing. The important thing here is the intent. This man did not avoid shaking hands with a woman because he thought a woman was unclean, he did it as a sign of respect, as he was not a relative or husband of this woman. The courts made the correct decision here. Even if this person had a germ phobia, and would not shake anyone's hands, it would still be discrimination to deny him the job since that's a legitimate medical condition. Now, if the person would not shake an asian or black person's hand (for example) or not a white person, but other people, then it's discrimination.

[cidaia]

It is not respectful to refuse to shake hands with a woman who wants her hand shaken.

To say that he is being respectful toward this woman by refusing to treat her as an independent entity, by refusing to touch her because she does not have her husband present, is akin to a man refusing to shake a black man's hand because the black man does not have a white master in attendance.

It rather implies that the person you refuse to touch is less than human, is not an independent organism but is merely an accessory belonging to the real human.

It is a policy that explicitly presumes that some people are less than entire human beings who need a fully human minder to conduct business through. This is intensely degrading. It is quite literally suggesting that the person you refuse to touch is "subhuman".

If the woman does not herself believe that she needs a husband to be her minder and chaperone while she is out in public, that is not respect.

I know it's hard to grasp this thought, but in our part of the world, women really do have the right to not be treated as domestic animals. If the Islamic man can't grasp that, then he has no place in Western society, and should go back to a place where it's socially acceptable to keep women as pets.

[Hosheen]

He should have been excluded because of his religion. Muslims expect everyone to accept their customs but are not willing to bend an inch for others. They want the entire world to bow to their law while ignoring the laws of the rest of the world.

People, we are in WW III. It is the fundamentalist Islam sects against everyone else. "Convert or die". Remember that, it's coming to a town near you.

[cowardlyimbecile]

In the West, he's within his rights to live his religion without being forced to do anything, i.e. shaking hands with her. In the East, she's within her rights to be buried alive for giving offense to his religion, i.e. shaking hands with him.

[ToolMangler1]

Well said and 100% true....