Nota Bene:
When I was at Harvard, my favourite professor was an (observant) Muslim scholar.
I lived & worked with many highly conservative Jews (I am not Jewish). I was present every Sabbath at the Hillel as the shabbos goy ("non-Jew on staff") for three years. Some of my close friends held political viewpoints far different from my own: Zionist, conservative, even gender separatist. One of my dearest friends was shomer negiyyah (sp?), meaning he was observant about remaining chaste in an Orthodox manner, including not making any physical contact, including shaking hands, with a woman.
Aside from visiting rebbes who ignored my presence & refused to acknowledge my polite greetings as the 'point of contact' of the Hillel because of who I was, which frankly put them on my shit-list for avoiding common courtesy with goyim, none of the conservatives - & Hillel's largest congregation by far is Orthodox, which physically keeps males & females separate - gave me trouble. I had a plethora of Orthodox friends with whom I could discuss and study.
I didn't run to the Orthodox Jewish friend I had for support working to get queer studies at the academy but I did talk to them about it openly. I spoke to Muslims, Jews, conservative Buddhists who didn't approve of women practitioners, right-wing secularists.
And the only people who treated me like shit were the imported rebbe speakers and the Christians. Almost 90% of those who professed Christianity as a full-time lifestyle of evangelism gave me constant shit about being different. Did the Muslim professor even blink? No. Did Muslim friends raised in Pakistan and Bangladesh care? No. Did the Orthodox Jews who kept the Sabbath electricity-free and wore only black and refused to touch women harass me? Not even once.
But the Christians? They were 90% of my suffering. Self-righteous, self-indulgent, sure they were in the majority and that mob rule ensured their "right" to harass me constantly.
Why Horowitz runs with that crowd I cannot explain. He and hypocrite-divorcée Dr. Laura Schlessinger need to Get a Grip.
So: academia diverse IMHO. What's the fucking problem? These religious folk didn't quit their beliefs or kvetch about what was taught. They were accepted just like everyone else and contributed their opinion on the validity of what was taught and the media we used (readings, etc.) just like everyone else. It only resulted in education, not brainwashing. My friend remains shomer negiyyah to this day.
