It’s not just Hamline University. A professor at San Francisco State University is being investigated for failing to comply with the rules of some conservative branches of Islam. The Office of Equity Programs and Compliance has launched an investigation of him.

San Francisco State University is, as the name implies, a government-run institution. It has no business requiring its faculty to comply with religious rules. Maybe the investigators think they can require compliance with a Muslim law because the professor was born in Tehran. It doesn’t work that way. The First Amendment protects him in the United States regardless of what country he came from or what ethnic group he belongs to.

The picture was presented in a course on the history of the Islamic world from 500 to 1700 and was relevant to the course.

Some people get into positions of authority at educational institutions and think they can dictate what is taught. They may demand “creation science,” the teaching of their holy book as literal fact, or the banning of forbidden images. A bill in the Texas legislature would require the posting of the Ten Commandments, including the “no other gods” commandment, in public schools.

These people can promote their religions all they want with their own resources. They don’t get to do it in institutions run and financed by the government.