A texas elementary principal allowed CAIR to indoctrinate students at a public school. Also, the school did not inform parents that CAIR would be at the ceremony. CAIR declared that Allah is the one true god, went over the five pillars of Islam, and how to dress and pray to Allah. Even liberals like Dick Schumer and Harry Reid are outraged, even acknowledging that CAIR has terrorists ties.
http://www.aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?id=629
Texas Public School Allows CAIR To Declare Allah One True God To Students
By Kooz - Posted on June 3rd, 2008
I'd be livid if this happened at my childs school. Especially if it was mandatory and without parental consent. Its one thing to learn about a religion in an open class discussion (as an adult) its another to have it forced down your throat and its especially disgusting to have it pushed on a child like that.
Edit: I'd be just as livid if this was any other religion being shoved onto my child without my knowledge
you're not alone OhioKat. The parents down there have really taken this principal to task and are very active in protest and getting disciplinary action against the principal. What I find interesting is the lack of coverage from the mainstream media. ....because you know if it were a Christian pastor claiming Christ as the one true God, the media would be all over it...and the ACLU would be setting up camp down there.
Funny, how much the article is slanted to turn the entire thing into a giant Muslim prayer-in.
Or another account:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5811373.html
The parents' letter-writing campaign stems from a May 22 presentation at Friendswood Junior High, where two Muslim women gave a 30-minute presentation about Islamic life as part of a yearlong study of respect, tolerance and culture, The Galveston County Daily News reported Saturday.
Those murderous bastards!
BTW - the five pillars of islam are:
1. Faith: The Testimony (al-Shaada in Arabic) is the Muslim belief that there is no god but God Himself, and that Muhammad is His messenger.
2. Prayer: Muslims pray five times at special times of the day.
3. Charity: Muslims who have money must give alms (Zakah or Zakat in Arabic) to help poor Muslims in the local community .
4. Fasting: Muslims fast during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year. They do not eat or drink from sunrise till sunset for one lunar month. After Ramadan, there is a holiday called Eid al-Fitr (English: Festival of end-fast). Muslims usually have a party with families and friends and go to the mosque in the morning for a special service.[3]
5. Hajj (Pilgrimage): During the Hajj season, many Muslims go to Makkah, the holiest city of Islam, which is in Saudi Arabia. Muslims must make the hajj at least once in their life if they can afford to do so.
Do you now feel the urge convert yet? Is your world somehow shattered or worse off for having read this?
And if it were two Jehovah's Witnesses, two Catholic nuns, or two Evangelical deacons (whatever) on Christian Life and their tenants of Love, Peace, Forgiveness, and Mercy would they have even had a chance to give such a presentation?
Give me a break. Did you read my posting in here somewhere about the teacher fired for having a bible on his desk that he never even mentioned, let alone opened in front of any students?
obviously then, you would support a Christian going to a public school and professing their pillars of faith. It's amazing that liberals claim to not want religion in schools...but, when it really comes down to it...they really just mean Christianity.
It almost always denigrates into a label of some sort.
Conservatives, some, want only one religion and none others.
So, what does that accomplish, nothing.
For some what it comes down to is, if people want to learn about religion or religions, go to a church, a mosque, a synagogue, or a temple and learn.
God bless you Kooz for keeping us safe from Christian persecution. I agree with Sarah that they should have done this in conjunction with other religions. This is why it is best to just leave religion out of public schools. But they were probably just trying to keep kids from being as ignorant as the adult who said this:
"I'm not a prejudiced person ... but Muslims, from what I know of the faith, don't want to be incorporated with Americans. Look at what's going on in the world right now, with the war and with 9/11."
What a dumbass
From the Same Article Sensor (thanks!) quoted:
"""Kim Leago, whose son is in the eighth grade, said she's still upset he was exposed to the "inappropriate" presentation.
"We can't say 'One nation under God' in school, so I definitely don't think (the presentation) was the right choice," she said. "I'm not a prejudiced person ... but Muslims, from what I know of the faith, don't want to be incorporated with Americans. Look at what's going on in the world right now, with the war and with 9/11."""
Some propositions....
(a) Not informing parents was wrong (maybe I'd phrase it more as unwise), especially in this charged climate.
(b) Um, this seems like a good idea in terms of trying to develop cultural understanding. I don't know Galveston specifically, but if it is like many other towns down around the region, they are very white, and split between african-american and latino, and probably by-and-large Christian. There are many major misunderstandings about Islam, and if it is creating conflict in the school or in the community (and although only a thin slice, perhaps the above quote is indicative of the feelings of the community?), perhaps it's worth talking about to promote harmony and understanding. And I agree it'd be great to bring in reps of many different religions. Man, what a great conversation. But if you were to look at the majority of the students in that school, I'd wager 80-90% of them are uber-familiar with Christianity already, and not at all about the other religions. So do you bring in someone to talk with them about what they know, or what they don't?
(c) I don't get where people think that Christianity has been locked out of schools. Jeez, in elementary school when they talk about christmas vacation or easter vacation, or still recite the Pledge of Allegiance with Under God, or yes bring in pastors or ministers to be part of panels in cultural diversity. Go to a school in the deep south and you'd be amazed at how much religion seeps in. IT HAPPENS.....A LOT. A few highly publicized cases of pushback against religion in classrooms should not be taken to be indicative of the overall climate in schools. And yup, there are very inappropriate cases of being too sensitive to the presence of religion in school, but those cases are few and far in-between.
Just some lazy thoughts for an airport-ridden Tuesday...
Parents can choose to send their kids to parochial schools if they want religious training within the school day. The same goes for parents who want their kids school day to adjust for the Muslim faith - Muslim schools. Public schools have no business spending any part of any day on religious training or rituals. The only exception I can think of, would be xmas or halloween holiday parties, which publc schools don't focus on the religious content so much as they do a vague holiday party. And even then, when my kids were in school, there were always a couple of kids who's parents picked them up & took them home before the parties started - Jehovah's Witnesses usually.
"
Parents of Friendswood Junior High School students started a letter campaign to school officials last week in protest of a presentation about Islam meant to combat hate and bullying.
On May 22, two Muslim women gave a 30-minute presentation about Islamic culture as part of the school’s yearlong study of respect, tolerance and culture, according to a statement from district officials.
Principal Robin Lowe had “best intentions,” Gephart said. The guest speakers discussed Muslim culture, and there was no proselytizing, Gephart said.
Parents, however, were not told about the presentation. By district policy, parents are supposed to be informed about the purpose and content of presentations so that they can keep their children out of the presentation if they think the material might be offensive or inappropriate.
Hanks said she regrets that the district violated parental trust by not telling them about the presentation. Per school policies and procedures, district officials are supposed to review every presentation before it is given to students.
“You just don’t let anyone come and talk to your students,” she said. “You just don’t’ do that until you viewed what they have to say.”
Hanks authorized the presentation to be given only to staff, not students, she said.
The district is working to clarify its policies and procedures to avoid problems in the future, Hanks said. Trustees will vote on the revised policies June 10, she said."
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=d9065ae58304177f&-session...
Please help me be politically correct. I don't want to offend Muslims.
I am offended that this Texas school system allowed Muslim beliefs to be taught in school but anything to do with Christianity is demonized so I want to protest this outrage the way "common" Muslims protest.
What do Muslims suggest I do to protest while still being sensitive to your faith?
Should I:
1) Kidnap a Muslim cleric and saw his head off on TV
2) set fire to a mosque
3) blow up Al Jazeera studios in Washington D.C.
4) burn down the Iranian Embassy
-or-
5) burn an effigy of Muhammad while wiping my butt with the Syrian flag and urinating on the Koran
Please let me know your suggestions on how to properly protest like Muslims so as to not offend your faith. I want to follow the lead of your peaceful religion as was done in protest of Danish cartoons.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/03/cartoon.controversy/index.html
Thank you.
5) burn an effigy of Muhammad while wiping my butt with the Syrian flag and urinating on the Koran
I'd pay a quarter to see that!
If the students were learning about different cultures and different speakers representing different groups/cultures were given the opportunity to participate, that would be one thing. (Of course, I'd expect there would be reasonable guidelines to keep the discussions "cultural" vs. being lectures about religion.)
However, it seems inappropriate that only this one group was represented.
I personally wouldn't mind being better educated about Islam. (Not out of any interest in participating...just to be a more informed citizen, since Islam is such a hot-button issue these days.) I wouldn't even mind someone discussing that culture with my children...if it was part of an overall learning experience about multiple different cultures and if the appropriate parental notifications were done in advance.
Seems that district really dropped the ball here.
And leave out Islam?
Muslims are adherents of Islam, the school system seemed to not understand this or knew and failed in its duty.
Discussing Arabic culture or another, say Indonesia, not everyone from there is Muslim.
But the concept of tolerance and better understanding of people around us, was the point.
One fact that is missing from this story and a lot of the internet buzz about the issue is that supposedly the assembly was organized after a "hate crime" at the school. I don't know and can't find any information about this incident. But assuming that there really was some sort of bullying based on the fact that the victim was a Muslim, would that change your opinion about the assembly?
Appears as if the assembly was in response to an issue in the school. I had a hunch it was. Thanks for the tip, buddytoledo.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3be2dd05c9b20c11
June 3
FRIENDSWOOD — What district officials will describe only as “an incident between students” at Friendswood Junior High School prompted a principal to invite two Muslim women to give a presentation about Islam.
Superintendent Trish Hanks refused to give any details about the incident that happened a month ago, except to say in a prepared statement that the Houston chapter of Council of American Islamic Relations told school officials they considered it a hate crime and had reported it to the FBI.
Asmara Siddiqi, the council’s communications director, said the organization did not contact the FBI.
“In normal circumstances, we do report hate crimes to the FBI, but in this particular case, the school decided to resolve the issue,” she said.
She refused to give details about the incident because she said the school didn’t want them revealed because there were children involved.
District spokeswoman Karolyn Gephart said the district does not consider the incident to have been a hate crime.
This incident has been blown out of proportion. I think it was unwise of the principal to arrange for this assembly, but my response to the outraged parents centers around their own responsibilities as parents. They decided to have children, and when they did that they assumed all the responsibility of raising them. That includes answering questions about different religions, cultures, people, professions and lifestyles (here I am sorely tempted to make some outrageously politically incorrect, offensive comment about homosexuality, but I'm refraining. See how good I am? See my self-control?).
Anyway, if little Bubba comes home asking about turbans, Allah and prayer rugs, field it. It's what you said you'd do when you had the little genius.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041215/NEWS18/41...
A Christian Rock band is not allowed to play any songs in school during an anti-drug school assembly, but CAIR is being SUPPORTED by Liberals in declaring "that Allah is the one true god, went over the five pillars of Islam, and how to dress and pray to Allah" all the while crying about the "separation of church and state" and how GOD is not allowed to be talked about in public school.
Sounds to me like Libs/Dems want tolorance for EVERY religion on earth except Christianity. Typical. Libs want tolorance for everyone except if you happen to be a Republican. THEN you are demonized, called names, made fun of, shouted at, etc. etc. etc.
The part in either article where the related individual's political affiliations were stated. Did you read something that we all missed?
Well, ignorance of people of different faiths and different cultures for one.
School system acted improperly by not notifying the parents, number two.
None of which has anything to do with political ideology
Oh and Allah, is the Arabic word for God.