WHAT ARE YOUR KIDS LEARNING ABOUT ISLAM?

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003957.htm

WHAT ARE YOUR KIDS LEARNING ABOUT ISLAM?
By Michelle Malkin · November 21, 2005 11:04 AM

Via Ann Althouse and others comes news from the San Francisco Chronicle
of yet another disturbing 9th Circuit court ruling:

A Contra Costa County school was educating seventh-graders about Islam,
not indoctrinating them, in role-playing sessions in which students used
Muslim names and recited language from prayers, a federal appeals court
ruled Thursday.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit by two Christian
students and their parents, who accused the Byron Union School District of
unconstitutionally endorsing a religious practice.

"The Islam program activities were not overt religious exercises that raise Establishment
Clause concerns,'' the three-judge panel said, referring to
the First Amendment ban on government sanctioning a religion.

During the history course at Excelsior School in the fall of 2001, the teacher,
using an instructional guide, told the students they would adopt roles as
Muslims for three weeks to help them learn what Muslims believe.

She encouraged them to use Muslim names, recited prayers in class and
made them give up something for a day, such as television or candy, to
simulate fasting during Ramadan. The final exam asked students for a
critique of elements of Muslim culture.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled in favor of the school district in
2003, saying that the class had an instructional purpose and that students
had engaged in no actual religious exercises.

The appeals court upheld her ruling Thursday in a three-paragraph
decision that was not published as a precedent for future cases, which
generally is an indication that the court considers the legal issue to be
clear from past rulings.

The court cited its 1994 ruling rejecting a suit by evangelical Christian
parents in Woodland (Yolo County) who objected to elementary school
children reading texts that contained tales and role-playing exercises
about witches. In that case, the court said classroom activities related
to the texts, which included casting a make-believe spell, were secular
instruction rather than religious rituals.

The brevity of Thursday's ruling "underscores the fact that what the
district and its teachers did was entirely within the mainstream of
educational practice,'' said Linda Lye, attorney for the Byron schools.

Edward White of the Thomas More Center, the attorney in the case for
the two children and their parents, said he will ask the full appeals court
for a rehearing. He said the panel failed to address his argument that
the district violated parents' rights.

"What happened in this classroom was clearly an endorsement of
religion and indoctrination of children in the Islamic religion, which
would never have stood if it were a class on Christianity or Judaism,''
White said.

I have obtained excerpts of the actual Islam simulation curriculum, which
you can download here (PDF). A few snippets:
==================================================

Go to the link to see excerpts from the curriculum. A few samples:

"From the beginning, you and your classmates will become Muslims."

"Instructions: Your group must complete the Muslim's Five Pillars of
Faith. Your Caliph will keep track of the progress on the Caravan
Log."

Naturally assuming that the ACLU would be absolutely bonkers about
this, I went to their site to sample the outrage. Oddly, I cannot find even
a mention of this case. Of course, if evangelical Christians would try
to pull something like this, their heads would explode. Strange, isn't
it?




.

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