f The Wittenberg Door: Teaching Johnny About Islam

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Commenting on Christendom, culture, history, and other oddities of life from an historic Protestant perspective.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Teaching Johnny About Islam


Sure, California students might not be able to read or write, but, thanks to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, they'll at least will be able to recite Islamic prayers. From Investor's Business Daily . . .


In a recent federal decision that got surprisingly little press, even from conservative talk radio, California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it's OK to put public-school kids through Muslim role-playing exercises, including:

  • Reciting aloud Muslim prayers that begin with "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful . . . ."
  • Memorizing the Muslim profession of faith: "Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger."
  • Chanting "Praise be to Allah" in response to teacher prompts.
  • Professing as "true" the Muslim belief that "The Holy Quran is God's word."
  • Giving up candy and TV to demonstrate Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
  • Designing prayer rugs, taking an Arabic name and essentially "becoming a Muslim" for two full weeks.

Parents of seventh-graders, who after 9-11 were taught the pro-Islamic lessons as part of California's world history curriculum, sued under the First Amendment ban on religious establishment. They argued, reasonably, that the government was promoting Islam.

But a federal judge appointed by President Clinton told them in so many words to get over it, that the state was merely teaching kids about another "culture."

So the parents appealed. Unfortunately, the most left-wing court in the land got their case. The 9th Circuit, which previously ruled in favor of an atheist who filed suit against the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, upheld the lower court ruling. . . .

In the California course on world religions, Christianity is not presented equally. It's covered in just two days and doesn't involve kids in any role-playing activities. But kids do get a good dose of skepticism about the Christian faith, including a biting history of its persecution of other peoples. In contrast, Islam gets a pass from critical review. Even jihad is presented as an "internal personal struggle to do one's best to resist temptation," and not holy war. . . .

You can read the entire editorial here.

HT: STR

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