Christian Parents Sue After Students "Become Muslims"

[starlifter]

"and played a "jihad" dice game"


I'm against schoolchildren gambling at taxpayer expense .

Seems like a good basis for lawsuit. Teacher have to submit lesson plans, and I doubt a project like this could happen without at least some parental knowledge. So there may be some shared responsibility, too, for the continuation of the project.

 

[amadeus]

Can you believe what would happen if they had a game where they played as Christians for three weeks?

The ACLU and the DNC would be jumping all over them.

 

[Toasty]

Well, yes, it's double standard, but it's also double standard to say its not only because it's Muslim.

I mean honestly, how many parents would care if they were this interested in Buddhism, Hinduism, or having to be Jewish for a few days?

The whole Roman Catholic thing comes with it being the majority. For instance, there are the "Trumpet Awards" for black Americans only, but if it were whites only, you can imagine the kind of uproar there would be.

I think its a tad overreacting. The teacher(s?) should have made it noted on a syllabus or asked for their parents permission because this is very in-depth, but it isn't deathly serious and a lot of it IS the Palestine crisis and September eleventh.

That's only my opinion, though. Ultimately it will be the courts decision. I think that the teacher made the mistake in not asking permission as opposed to teaching it.

 

[The Troquelet]

Cute. Although the article's writer doesn't have a clue what she's talking about. The students could not possibly have fulfilled all five pillars of Islam, because while the first four can be simulated: 1) Statement of the Creed 2)Prayer five times daily 3) Alm-giving 4) Fasting, the last one: 5) Pilgrimage to Makkah is not!

I had a unit on Islam as well when I was in 7th grade. No harmful effects to speak of.

Then again, I'm such a convinced deist that it would be pretty hard to sway me with anything short of threat of death...

 

[NU_]

The way I see it, is the 'under God' thing and this are like comparing apples and oranges.

We have a thing in our country called seperation of church and state. What that deal was all about, was this: an act of Congress put those words into it. It was a government action that caused The Pledge to change. That is why it was wrong.

Now if Congress said all schools had to do this, that might be a different story. Might.

 

[Becka]

Originally posted by NU_
The way I see it, is the 'under God' thing and this are like comparing apples and oranges.

How? If the article is right and these kids had to say prayers (heck, even if they weren't forced to say prayers) how is this any different than say, school prayer? Do you think school prayer is OK?

We have a thing in our country called seperation of church and state. What that deal was all about, was this: an act of Congress put those words into it. It was a government action that caused The Pledge to change. That is why it was wrong.

Now if Congress said all schools had to do this, that might be a different story. Might.

True. But the class that was doing this was funded by tax dollars, and as some have made us aware, they do not appriciate their tax dollars going to the "establisment of religion" in public schools.

People have been more petty. On one forum I went to, we were arguing wether it should be ok to allow kids, on their own, to start and attend Bible study on school grounds in unused rooms before school started or otherwise when class was not in session. The argued that they would be using school electicity and therefore be spending taxpayer dollars.

But I do believe the article MUST be highly exaggerated. I don't think that little exercise would've lasted the whole three weeks otherwise.

 

[NU_]

They're just some D.A. racists that wanted some easy sue money. It takes all kinds...

 

[damunzy]

Ah, religion in schools...such a good thing...not.

 

[PinkyGen]

The parents are right, Islam should be taught, but not like this (fasting during lunch? Can't the kids eat if they want to?)

As a Jew, I would not do any Christian or Muslim Prayers (though Allah Akbar does have a nice ring to it )

 

[The Troquelet]

Well, so does "pater nostra" or "baruch ata adonai".....

 

[Simon Darkshade]

The teachers responsible should be taken outside and shot, as should those who thought up the idea.

Sheer sillyness. There is a discernable difference between religious education and this kind of tomfoolery.

 

[Citizen_K]

I think you all fling around the term "racist" far too loosely. Almost to the extent of a cliché. The key element of "racist" is "race," and so that doesn't apply to anything but racial prejudices.[/grammar nazi]

I think those in dissent of the parent's suit, should realize how ridiculously double-faced the whole situation is. Meaning, if it had been a Christian program, the ACLU and/or left wing interest groups and/or Sep. of Church&State people would have been all over it like hotcakes over molasses. Not in this case.

I learned about Islam and its background in Sixth grade along with ziggurats and Hammurabi (same class). I didn't learn about Hebrew Law, or the (I found in another textbook) fact that they developed the first concept of Ethical Law. Nothing have I learned in school about Christianity, except for the occasional references to Bartolome Las Casas and Martin Luther when that intersected early European colonialism.

And the kind of argument that "everbody knows it already" is completely bunk. Despite the supposed "majority" that Christians enjoy in America, one could argue that it constitutes no more than 60%, and I really wouldn't know how to measure how "much" someone knows about historical Christianity and it's cultural/social applications. At any rate, I don't wish to pursue the argument .

 

[Greadius]

Hmm... this is worse than shoving 'under God' into the pledge. Except it wasn't done by Congress, but by a single teacher, and it wasn't nationwide. Otherwise, it would get the kind of backlash.

I don't know what she was thinking... I could go out on a limb and guess that the students were very willing to do this (or they wouldn't have particpated/ their parents might have noticed).
Still, there are far too many important things to learn in school. This isn't one of them.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

I had several religeous classes throughout school and each one taught differently. Not one of them, however, required the students to "become" a member of a certain religeon. The worse I was asked to do was to attend church services of 2 religeons, that was a program that you could opt out of and some people did. That was in college.

This program should've had parent options to op their kids out but times are changing. MPS(mesa public schools, the school system where I live) has just adopted a policy that says that they can show kids rated 'R' movies without parent consent or notification.

 

[Graeme the mad]

'Can you believe what would happen if they had a game where they played as Christians for three weeks?

The ACLU and the DNC would be jumping all over them.'

Their may be a double standard that doesn't make this teacher wrong

Im sure the kids could opt out if they wanted to - they were educated to understand some religion (not successfully I feel)

 

[Greadius]

I think the reason the ACLU hasn't jumped all over this is because they don't need to. There are countless other individuals and orginizations that can handle this violation. The ACLU handles the unpopular ones... there really isn't anyone out there willing to defend this mess.

 

[spycatcher34]

No, the ACLU has an 'agenda' they pick and choose their cases... coincedentaly they all have to do with Christainty being "big bad and wrong" and being forced down throats... but you tell me if that wasnt planned.

 

[plomeros]

At least they didn't turn into geese...

 

[Rodgers]

"being forced down throats..."

Some kind of foix gras experiment?

 

[plomeros]

they even feed them as geese!