Posted on 05/10/2007 3:39:36 PM PDT by angkor
[Remember this story from late March, where a New Jersey high school used "Christian terrorists" to stage a hostage drill? Well, it turns out the high school is exactly 15.9 miles north of the apartment complex where 6 Albanian jihadis were arrested this week. Some might see the irony in that.]
Burlington High School Bigotry by: Karen England, April 05, 2007
It is not uncommon for schools to conduct “hostage drills” in order to prepare students for a hostage situation or terrorist attack. Late last month, however, officials at Burlington Township High School in New Jersey used a hostage drill to denigrate the Christian faith and bash practicing Christians.
The student body was told that two local policeman posing as alleged gunmen were “members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the ‘New Crusaders’ who don’t believe in separation of church and state.”
The mock gunmen pretended to gun down several students in the hallways before taking 10 students hostage in the school’s media center. The drill organizers explained that the Christian gunmen “went to the school seeking justice because the daughter of one had been expelled for praying before class.”
“We need to practice under conditions as real as possible in order to evaluate our procedures and plans so that they're as effective as possible,” explained school superintendent Chris Manno, praising the drill beforehand.
It should be noted that it is perfectly constitutional for a student to pray before class, and this should not result in an expulsion. The No Child Left Behind educational program penalizes any school that does not allow for constitutionally protected religious speech which includes public prayer.
The Burlington County Times reported that the drill was observed by law enforcement, school administrators and state and county officials from the Office of Emergency Management.
CRI encourages you to contact the following officials and tell them that you are displeased that the hostage drill was used as an opportunity to mock and disparage Christians and that a public apology should be issued.
Mayor Steven M. George Burlington Township 851 Old York Road, Burlington Township, NJ 08016 609-386-4444
Education superintendents, supervisors http://www.burltwpsch.org/
Board of Education Member names also listed above but no email. Address would be same as mayor.
Mrs. Marie Phillips Principal Burlington Township High School 610 Fountain Avenue Burlington, NJ 08016 609-387-1713
Karen England is the executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute. This article is excerpted from one of the CRI update.
If you would like to comment on this article, please e-mail mal.kline@academia.org
They need to change it to illegal alien Islamics who came in through Mexico and then it’ll be a more accurate representation of what awaits Americans.
I bet this still won’t wake them up to the real threat. It’s no wonder why our students ranking in the world keeps going down. The schools teach fantasy, not reality.
::Big Media Voice:: “Back to sleep, my little shee- er, lambs, back to sleep...”
You know, it is possible that the administration knows darn well who they are REALLY training for, and just chose this cloak to avoid confrontation. I mean, let’s face it: back before Beslan, school didn’t practice hostage/terrorist drills at all.
My post consist mostly of the Drill Organizers Comments:
“’New Crusaders’, who don’t believe in separation of church and state:” and “expelled for praying before class.”
My Reply: Fundamentalist were called “Separatist”, before we became the United States. They obviously do not teach history very well. Separation of church and state was formed to keep the state out of The Churches. “New Crusaders”, nothing new. The terrorist are those who oppose and oppress Freedom, which our Great nation was formed to protect. Which by the way includes the right to pray in school. Praying in school is not against the law. My Goodness, we even have a National Day of Prayer.
President Regan spoke to the Joint Session of The Alabama State Legislature on March 15, 1982 saying:
“To those who cite the first amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions and everyday life, may I just say: The first amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values: it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny.”
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