Posted on 12/29/2005 6:13:58 AM PST by Man50D
Parents and children challenging a California school district for its practice of teaching 12-year-old students to "become Muslims" are asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling in front of the entire panel of judges.
As WND reported, the lawsuit was filed by the Thomas More Law Center against the Byron Union School District and various school officials to stop the "Islam simulation" materials and methods used in the Excelsior Elementary School in Byron, Calif.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit – widely regarded as the nation's most liberal federal appeals court– upheld a San Francisco federal district court's ruling that the Byron Union School District did not violate the U.S. Constitution.
The Thomas More Law Center, however, contends the panel did not address the plaintiff's claims that their free exercise and parental rights had been violated.
Edward L. White III, trial counsel with the Law Center, says parents were never told about the Islamic program and didn't know they had the option to remove their children from such an activity.
White says one of the parents found out by accident, looking through her son's schoolbag after the program had finished.
The Law Center says that for three weeks, "impressionable 12-year-old students" were, among other things, placed into Islamic city groups; took Islamic names; wore identification tags that displayed their new Islamic name and the star and crescent moon; handed materials that instructed them to 'Remember Allah always so that you may prosper'; completed the Islamic Five Pillars of Faith, including fasting; and memorized and recited the 'Bismillah' or 'In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate,' which students also wrote on banners hung on the classroom walls.
Students also played "jihad games" during the course, which was part of the school's world history and geography program.
In December 2003, the San Francisco court determined the school district had not violated the Constitution.
In her 22-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton determined Excelsior was not indoctrinating students about Islam when it required them to adopt Muslim names and pray to Allah, but rather was just teaching them about the Muslim religion.
But White insists a line was crossed, placing the students in the "position of being trainees in Islam, which is impermissible in a public school."
When WorldNetDaily first reported the story in January 2002 – shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks committed by 19 Islamist terrorists – major controversy ensued nationwide.
The course was part of a curriculum taught to seventh-graders all over the state, included in the state's curriculum standards required by the state board of education. Although the standards outline what subjects should be taught and included in state assessment tests, they didn't mandate how they're to be taught.
At the end of the three-week course, Excelsior teacher Brooke Carlin presented a final test requiring students to critique Muslim culture.
The Islam simulations at Excelsior are outlined in the state-adopted textbook "Across the Centuries," published by Houghton Mifflin, which prompts students to imagine they are Islamic soldiers and Muslims on a Mecca pilgrimage.
The lawsuit also alleges students were encouraged to use such phrases in their speech as "Allahu Akbar," which is Arabic for "God is greatest," and were required to fast during lunch period to simulate fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Nevertheless, Judge Hamilton ruled the program was devoid of "any devotional or religious intent" and was, therefore, educational, not religious in nature.
Leni
where are the fricken ACLU on this?
All that is required to be initiated as a Muslim is the first "Pillar of Faith": reciting that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. Get the little kiddos to do that, and they are well on their way to becoming full-fledged jihadis.
Lib Mom and Dad may have become upset when little Janey or Johnny came home from school and complained that Mom wasn't wearing a veil along with the latest in Islamic fashion ...the Dyn-o-mite Belt.
My heart goes out to Conservatives & Republicans in California. That state is going down the he!! hole of PC correctness and insanity.
I wonder if this program includes gang raping as a punishment.
The so-called "establishment" clause apparently only discusses CHURCH and state...not MOSQUE and state... /sarcasm off.
... and "honor" killing instead of suspension?
or
... and burkas as the new uniform for girls in CPS.
How many liberties does the ACLU think would be left in America if we followed the Sharia? Doesn't seem logical or consistent, does it?
Or maybe it is. Methinks groups like the ACLU likes Islam because it of it's demonstrated potential for brainwashing followers. After all, gotta do what the Mullah says or its off with your head. I bet liberals salivate at the thought of having that much control over the individual. After all, if Islam can convince someone to be a suicide bomber, then convincing them to pay higher taxes should be a piece of cake.
"After all, if Islam can convince someone to be a suicide bomber, then convincing them to pay higher taxes should be a piece of cake."
Bravo. Islam is the Commie's favorite religion.
Where is the ACLU?
No doubt they are preparing to sue the parents for injecting Christian religious issues into the curriculum.
This is something Bill O'Reilly should be all over.
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