Seating by Gender at UK University Debate on Islam Stirs Protest
Seating arrangements for a debate at University College London Saturday has led prominent atheist Richard Dawkins to accuse the event’s Muslim organizers of “sexual apartheid,”but the group is challenging his version of events.
The debate, “Islam or Atheism: Which Makes More Sense?,” pitted physicist Lawrence Krauss against Islamic lecturer Hamza Andreas Tzor. Seating was in three sections — one reserved for men, one reserved for women, and one that was mixed. (More on that “mixed” section in a moment.)
Krauss, who had heard rumors about the seating arrangements before the event, apparently asked the organizers for permission to announce that anyone could sit where they liked, and was granted it. But according
The debate, “Islam or Atheism: Which Makes More Sense?,” pitted physicist Lawrence Krauss against Islamic lecturer Hamza Andreas Tzor. Seating was in three sections — one reserved for men, one reserved for women, and one that was mixed. (More on that “mixed” section in a moment.)
Krauss, who had heard rumors about the seating arrangements before the event, apparently asked the organizers for permission to announce that anyone could sit where they liked, and was granted it. But according