Islam In The Public Schools…The First Two Pillars of Islam
Posted on August 24, 2005
This is the first of a 4 part series written by The Pulpit Pounder. Full permission of the reprint has been given.
We watch the ACLU do everything in their power to get any notion of Christianity out of the public schools. Ironically they push the opposite for the religion of Islam.
The other day I was reading Cao’s piece, “Jailed Terrorist Helps Draft Anti-Christian Rules”, and it was pretty interesting–so as a follow-up I thought I would dig up just exactly what what was going on in the Byron Union School District vis-a-vis the muslim religion.
In case you don’t know, the lawsuit, Eklund v. Byron Union School District, involved a parent’s objections to the methods used in the teaching of Islam to seventh graders in the public schools in California, particularly in the Excelsior School of the Byron Union School District. Judge Hamilton, a notoriously activist judge, granted summary judgment to the school district.
Here are some of the facts of Eklund, according to the court, not according to any of the interested parties (you can have our own view of whether the court was actually an “interested” party–I’m just saying these aren’t the facts according to the ACLU or the Plaintiffs–they are the uncontested facts the judge used in granting the School District’s motion for summary judgment). The italicized portions below are directly from Judge Hamilton’s opinion:
“The California State Board of Education requires that seventh grade world history classes contain a unit on Islamic history, culture, and religion (citations omitted)…The state has approved a standard textbook, Across the Centuries, which is used by the Byron School District, but Excelsior teachers are also encouraged to use other instructional methods that they in their professional judgment feel best serve their students.
“Accordingly, some teachers have chosen to supplement the Islam unit with portions of an interactive educational module. This module…suggests a variety of role-playing activities to engage students in the subject matter. The module is premised on having students role-play situations roughly equivalent to the five elements of faith in the Muslim religion.”
Note–Although the Plaintiffs in this case challenged only the “interactive educational module,” and not the textbook itself, the Across the Centuries textbook is currently the subject of an Administrative Complaint against the San Luis Coastal School District–Plaintiff in that case asserts that even the textbook violates the First Amendment, inasmuch as it contains unqualified statements “of fact,” such as:
“The Arabic word Quran can be loosely translated as ‘recitation.” In fact, the very first word the angel Gabriel spoke to Muhammad was “Recite.”
“Ramadan is a holy time, because in this month Muhammad received his first message from Allah.”
“From Jerusalem, both Muhammad and Gabriel ascended into heaven, where Muhammad spoke to God.” (new paragraph) “These revelations confirmed both Muhammad’s belief in one God, or monotheism, and his role as the last messenger in a long line of prophets sent by God. The God he believed in - Allah - is the same God of other monotheistic religions, Judaism and Christianity.”
Back to the court: “The Student Guide (distributed by the teacher, Carlin, to the students) states that ‘[f]rom the beginning [of this module], you and your classmates will become Muslims.’ Id. Carlin states that she went over the guide in great detail and specifically emphasized…that the students would not actually become Muslims through their participation...(brackets in original).
“Students…were also encouraged, but not required, to choose a Muslim name….”For the first two pillars of Islam, Carlin admits that, in the classroom, she read Muslim prayers and portions of the Qu’ran aloud in class, required student groups to recite a line from a Muslim prayer, such as ‘In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,’ on their way out of class, and had the students make group banners.” (Bold supplied). Note–The first two pillars of Islam are “Shahada”–professing faith in the muslim god, and “Salaat”–prayer 5 times a day. Pronouncing the Shahada is all that is required to become a muslim, by the way.
Hmmm…I wonder if a teacher recited the Lord’s prayer in class and required the students to say a line or two of it on their way out the door, the court would find that unobjectionable…or if “role-playing” Baptism and Communion would pass muster. There’s more, that’s just some of the facts of the case through page 4 of the 22-page opinion, and I want to get to the rest of it (and I will), but I’m going to post this for now, just to get a sense of what people think of the actual facts of the case…I will continue with “Pillars” 3-5 later this evening.
Thank you Outside The Beltway
LEAVE A COMMENT
» Filed Under Church And State, War On Terror
Trackback URL
Comments
20 Responses to “Islam In The Public Schools…The First Two Pillars of Islam”
-
Affiliations
The Giants
-
Donate
Steal Me
Our Store
Click the design to visit our store and help Stop the ACLU!
More blogs about the ACLU
My god. I wonder what would happen if students actually refused to take part in this. Would they actually recieve a failing grade for not complying with the Aclu’s propoganda?
Just wait, it gets worse. There will be 4 parts to this.
The god of Islam is not the God of Christianity. Christians believe in the Trinity, Muslims do not.
Too bad not enough christians to not bond together and stage a week long protest in front of this heathern school.
Anyone else notice that students are encouraged to recite Shahada, after which, should they practice any other religion, they are considered “apostate” by Muslims and thus legitimate targets?
The penalty for Apostasy in Islam is death.
A nice signal of the abyssal ignorance of school officials and teachers, however. I’ve lost all sympathy for them after this stuff went on here in California with nary a whimper of protest reported from within the system (or media).
Guess who’s email this is.
SCINDY121@aol.com
Thats right, the one and only Ms. Sheehan.
There is a very good thing about Mid-Westerners ( excluding the big cities) we would not allow this kind of religious activities in our schools! I live in a small town and I’m sure this would not be allowed to be taught, if it was, I’d be the first in line to make sure Christianity was also taught. The school is NOT the place to dictate religious beliefs.
Other cultures are inferior and dangerous. Muslims are all going to hell and our children will join them if we’re not careful.
Ive not grasped the point of that post.
Islam is a good religion and the 5 pillars are wonderful things.
I would argue that anybody that does NOT want their children praying and incorporating morals of goodness into their character and intellect, are probably very strange individuals… in the context of wanting the best for their children of course.
Furthermore, nothing you can say will have any lasting or significant effect on muslims or the pillars of Islam.
You can continue with 3-5 now. then i will return.
Cheerio!
The point of this post is that groups like the ACLU would not allow the same kind of thing for Christianity to take place.
Can you see a school requiring activities like reciting the Apostles Creed or making a banner saying “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!”?
I didn’t think so!
I’ve been posting about this for months now.
Oh well.
RR
jamal wants to recruit more children to send their soul to hell by committing suicide while killing someone else. jamal need to study islam also.
“Other cultures are inferior and dangerous.”
A Hitler in the making…
Back to the main topic. I was made to pray before every meal at school as a child, as was required by the Catholics at the time. Noone made a big deal out of this and I escaped unscathed - an Anglican.
You guys will take any opportunity at disregarding muslims and islam - anything you can possibly take a bite at will do… Had this been initiation to any Christian faith - you would no doubt not have reacted so strongly.
You know what? That is the point. The ACLU would react strongly if it were Christian, yet stay silent and even encourage it when it is Muslim.
That’s a load of tosh. Because it is just about as constructive as saying “the guy over there attacked my wife, so I attacked his”. What a lame reaction! Anyone with a brain would know hitting the guy hard would be much more effective.
In other words, if you don’t like the ACLU find constructive ways of changing that. What you are doing here is making people dislike you for the exact same reasons you dislike the ACLU - which is at best irrational at worst plain stupid.
So that is what you do with comments that threaten your views? Simply delete them? Now I understand why your blog is so “squeaky clean”. Any possible threat to your vision of the world, you simply administer. I think that really is a shame - I believe in honest and open discussion. You believe in silencing anyone who disagrees. This is probably why you wind up using only 3rd class arguments to support your views…rather than solid defendable reasons.
Just my two cents.
Il
So that is what you do with comments that threaten your views? Simply delete them? Now I understand why your blog is so “squeaky clean”. Any possible threat to your vision of the world, you simply administer. I think that really is a shame - I believe in honest and open discussion. You believe in silencing anyone who disagrees. This is probably why you wind up using only 3rd class arguments to support your views…rather than solid defendable reasons.
Just my two cents.
Il
So that is what you do with comments that threaten your views? Simply delete them? Now I understand why your blog is so “squeaky clean”. Any possible threat to your vision of the world, you simply administer. I think that really is a shame - I believe in honest and open discussion. You believe in silencing anyone who disagrees. This is probably why you wind up using only 3rd class arguments to support your views…rather than solid defendable reasons.
Just my two cents.
Il again.
Ok I guess you have received this. I hope you have. As I say no offence intended. But it would be cool if you at least read this ;).
So that is what you do with comments that threaten your views? Simply delete them? Now I understand why your blog is so “squeaky clean”. Any possible threat to your vision of the world, you simply administer. I think that really is a shame - I believe in honest and open discussion. You believe in silencing anyone who disagrees. This is probably why you wind up using only 3rd class arguments to support your views…rather than solid defendable reasons.
Just my two cents.
See you around.
Il