Appeal on school's lesson in Muslim culture is rejected

San Francisco Cronicle ^ | October 3, 2006 | Bob Egelko

[taxesareforever]

Welcome to the new land of Sharia.

[Revel]

The united states surpreme court of Islam.

[Revel]

This should be posted in breaking news IHMO.

[Schnucki]

We call that a Halloween Party.

LOL

[Tired of Taxes]

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL PING!

Here's the story: A 7th-grade teacher had students adopt Muslim names, recite prayers in class, memorize and recite a passage from the Quran, etc. over a three-week course about "what Muslims believe." Christian students and parents took the case to court. The lower courts ruled against the families, and now the USSC rejected their appeal.

This ping list is for the "other" articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. If you want on/off this list, please freepmail me. The main Homeschool Ping List by DaveLoneRanger handles the homeschool-specific articles.

[LibertyRocks]

Thank you for the ping. Replace Muslim with Christian and Quran with Bible and the ACLU would've been all over this... I can't believe this decision stood. I am so glad I homeschool and can control they type of curriculum my children are exposed to. I fear for what kind of world my kids will be in though when their peers are running things...

[Buggman]

The logical response is for another teacher to do EXACTLY as this first teacher did, but also divide the class into three sections so Muslims, Jews and Christians are all represented.

Exactly. I'd love to see what the reaction of Muslims forced to recite the Amidah and Lord's Prayer (or, just to turn the screws a bit more, one of the variants of the Sinner's Prayer) would be.

That won't happen of course--multiculturalism is a one-way street away from Western culture and Christianity.

[Campion]

this has nothing to do with an establishment of religion

A government school assigning students to recite Muslim prayers is not an establishment issue????

[AmishDude]

They can just say "Mohammed was a fraud and Allah is his scam" 5 times.

[Wings-n-Wind]

That won't happen of course--multiculturalism is a one-way street away from Western culture and Christianity.

Bingo...

[Tired of Taxes]

I'm shocked by this court decision, too. If this teacher didn't cross the line, nothing does.

[Sir Gawain]

Good dhimmis.

[jude24]

I see two aspects to the assignments listed. There was the required memorization of Islamic prayers, and the required simulated fasting. The first is a legitmate academic exercise; the second brings it over the line to making them engage in the religious practices.

An educated person should know something about Islamic theology, including the shehdada. Likewise, an educated person should certainly know the Aaronic Benediction, the Lord's Prayer (and assuming a rabbinic equivalent, that too). They should know the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path of the Bhuddists, and something about Hinduism. Memorization is an appropriate didactic technique for this training.

[montag813]

I would have no problem with this "lesson" so so long as the school did the same with Christianity. They do not. Also there is the pending case of the girl who was told to stop (silently, privately) reading the Bible on school grounds, or face "discipline".

The courts have been violating the Constitution for decades. Every time an "anchor baby" is recognized, the 14th Amendement is violated. They key here are parents. They must take matters into their own hands in their local districts. Protest, withhold propery taxes, use your children as onsite protesters every single day, shut the school down until they stop employing transsexual teachers, stop banning Christianity, stop indoctrinating students with Islam.

[Buggman]

Agreed, except for one aspect: No Jew thinks that by saying the Amidah or the Kiddush (which is the prayer the Lord's Prayer is based on) you become a Jew, and subject to the death penalty if you revert to your "previous" faith. No Christian thinks that by saying the Lord's Prayer--or even the Sinner's Prayer, unless it is accompanied by true faith and repentence--that you become a Christian, and subject to the death penalty if you revert to your "previous" faith.

Islam, as currently practiced and preached in 90+% of the Muslim world, can't say the same about its prayers.

Besides, we both know that equal time is not being given.

[teawithmisswilliams]

An educated person should know something about Islamic theology, including the shehdada..the Aaronic Benediction, the Lord's Prayer (and assuming a rabbinic equivalent, that too)...the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path of the Bhuddists, and something about Hinduism. Memorization is an appropriate didactic technique for this training.

Your opinion on the virtues of learning about all religions has nothing to do with this public school situation. None of the other religions are accorded remotely the same treatment.

If we want Western civilization to survive, it is critical that our children learn the principles and religious beliefs (Greco-Roman; Judeo-Christian) on which it is based. The Eastern religions are irrelevant; and Islam is overtly hostile. And guess which ones the NEA wants promoted?

[wintertime]

I think that I would just take my kids for a vacation for the duration of this project.

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The school bureaucrats would punish your children in subtle ways. They would assign them to the worst teachers in the school in the following year. They would find imaginary offenses to punish. They would give them poor recommendations to college. They would never make a varsity team.,,etc.

[wintertime]

An educated person should know something about Islamic theology, ( jude24)
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Jude,

Are you willing to use the threat of government police, court, and foster care action to force your anointed educational philosophy on other people's children?

For all the children in the school who are there by compulsion that is exactly what the threat is. It is armed police, court, and foster care action if they refuse to subject themselves to being "educated" in Muslim culture.

Jude, we do have a First Amendment. This Amendment says that government can NOT tell people to shut up, or forbid them to publish, or prohibit the free expression of religion, or tell them with whom they must associate. Yet, government schools do this every day to each child who is in their indoctrination centers by compulsion.

That children are forced to be indoctrinated against their will in any religion is NOT religiously neutral. No matter how the government schools acts on this matter, the government will establish the religious worldview of some, and actively undermine and destroy the religious worldview of anther. This particular issue of instruction in the Muslim religion is not religiously neutral, nor is it for hundreds of other school issues as well.

It is axiomatic. The education of youth is NOT religiously neutral, and that is why government should not be in the education business.

Solution: Begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education.

[N3WBI3]

It depends on what they did, if they told parents this was going to happen and let them opt out it was fine. If they let kids opt out it would be ok. But if it was required it was not ok.

Ok or not there is no doubt a school would teach kids about Christianity by having them read the 'our father'

[wintertime]

They must take matters into their own hands in their local districts. Protest, withhold propery taxes, use your children as onsite protesters every single day, shut the school down until they stop employing transsexual teachers, stop banning Christianity, stop indoctrinating students with Islam

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Why? So that the biggest political bully can impose their political, cultural, and religious worldview on others. When did First Amendment rights become subject to the will of voting or protesting bullies whether homosexual, heterosexual, religious, or non-religious?

If our Founding Fathers could have even imagined our modern monstrosity of government schools, they would have banned government involvement in any level of education. Why? Answer: Because the education that one desires for his children or himself is an issue of freedom of conscience. Also, education is never politically, culturally, or religiously neutral.