Muslim Children and Prayers in School

I decided to pull up all I could relating to Muslim children being allowed to pray in school. This is why our illustrious leader doesn't want this information on the Internet. Because the News people won't do their job and pull these individual articles together for you. So I will. They are attacking Christianity and not allowing prayer in school. Why are they allowing Muslim children to pray in school. They are attacking Christian children for wearing symbols of their faith, carrying Bibles and wearing t-shirts with Christian symbols, why do Muslims get a pass?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0712/p01s03-ussc.html

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When afternoon recess comes at an elementary school on the outskirts of San Diego, some students rush out for a quick game of hopscotch, while others gather in a room for Muslim worship. Like a growing number of school districts around the country, San Diego's is changing its ways to meet the needs of its Islamic students. Here, a controversy with constitutional overtones erupted: In accommodating Muslim students, is the school unfairly promoting religion? The school's policy "presumes that Christians are less religious and less inspired to worship and praise the Lord and come together," says Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. He is asking the school district to set up special rooms where Christians can pray, too. The San Diego district took special action regarding the timing of recess because "the Muslim faith requires specificity of prayer obligations ... that most other religions do not," Mr. North says. He denies reports that a new recess was added specifically to address the religious needs of the Muslim students.

"As a constitutional law attorney, I don't care whether kids do or don't pray in schools. I don't care to whom or how they pray," North says. But he adds that he does have to make sure that religious requests are treated in a neutral way.

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So, amidst talk of increasing the length of the school day and cutting out recesses, some schools are actually adding a recess so that Muslim children can pray during recess. When I was in kindergarten, we had to go grab our nap blanket and take a nap. Now, Muslim children go grab their prayer rug and pray during recess? But we can't wear a cross to school or carry a Bible? I like North's comment...I don't care whether you do or don't pray....but EQUAL JUSTICE. If we can't, you can't.

And a little closer to home, in Richardson, TX, I found this article. http://www.becketfund.org/index.php/article/453.html

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On November 8, 2005, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty wrote the principal of L.V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas (outside Dallas) to demand that he immediately “cease and desist from [the] school’s illegal decision to punish Muslim students” for exercising their right to pray. In an email to all teachers and staff, the principal had previously stated that “No students are to be allowed to leave [the] classroom at any time to go pray.”

The school’s policy failed to accommodate Muslim students’ constitutionally protected right to manifest religious belief through prayer. Under the policy, Muslim students were ultimately forced to choose between eating lunch and praying the mid-day prayer required by their faith. Other students were prohibited from praying at all.

However, on December 16, 2005, as a result of The Becket Fund's intervention, the school district admitted that there was some “confusion” regarding their policy and declared that Muslim students, like other students, have the right to pray on campus. According to the School District’s new policy, students now have both an opportunity and designated place to pray in the school, either at lunch or during 10 minutes of class.

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That one confuses me a bit. Do Christians have the right to leave class and pray? If so, then I have no complaint. If Christians can pray during 10 minutes of class, I have no complaint. Once again, equal justice. I really don't mind if Muslims get to pray in school, as long as we do.

And I'm sure everyone has heard of the school in California who, right after the 9-11 terror attack, forced 7th graders to become Muslim for 3 weeks: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25997

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The course mandates that seventh-graders learn the tenets of Islam, study the important figures of the faith, wear a robe, adopt a Muslim name and stage their own jihad. Adding to this apparent hypocrisy, reports ANS, students must memorize many verses in the Koran, are taught to pray "in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful" and are instructed to chant, "Praise to Allah, Lord of Creation."

"We could never teach Christianity like this," one outraged parent told ANS.

Elizabeth Christina Lemings, a teacher in the Byron, Calif., Union School District, was unaware of the course until her seventh-grade son brought home the handouts. Obtained by ANS, the handouts include a history of Islam and the life of Mohammad, its founder. There are 25 Islamic terms that must be memorized, six Islamic (Arabic) phrases, 20 Islamic proverbs to learn along with the Five Pillars of Faith and 10 key Islamic prophets and disciples to be studied.

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And here's a slap in the face of our legal system; a whole school who is defying our laws. Apparently a charter school is not supposed to be a religious school, but this one is. You can read the whole article here: http://www.startribune.com/local/17406054.html

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Charter schools are public schools and by law must not endorse or promote religion... Evidence suggests, however, that TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers...Students pray daily, the cafeteria serves halal food - permissible under Islamic law -- and "Islamic Studies" is offered at the end of the school day. ...Now, however, an eyewitness has stepped forward. Amanda Getz of Bloomington is a substitute teacher. She worked as a substitute in two fifth-grade classrooms at TIZA on Friday, March 14. Her experience suggests that school-sponsored religious activity plays an integral role at TIZA....the day's schedule included a "school assembly" in the gym after lunch. Before the assembly, she says she was told, her duties would include taking her fifth-grade students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform "their ritual washing." Afterward, Getz said, "teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day," was preparing to lead prayer. Beside him, another man "was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered." "The prayer I saw was not voluntary," Getz said. "The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred." Islamic Studies was also incorporated into the school day. "When I arrived, I was told 'after school we have Islamic Studies,' and I might have to stay for hall duty," Getz said. "The teachers had written assignments on the blackboard for classes like math and social studies. Islamic Studies was the last one -- the board said the kids were studying the Qu'ran. The students were told to copy it into their planner, along with everything else. That gave me the impression that Islamic Studies was a subject like any other."

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I ran into an article from Europe that opened up another question in my mind. If schools are offering prayer rooms specifically for Muslim children to go and pray in during recess and lunch breaks, why aren't these rooms available to other denominations? Roman Catholics pray, Baptists pray. As a matter of fact, we Baptists hold prayer vigils. We have prayer chains...we should be allowed cell phones in case we get a phone message and have to pray on our prayer chain. What if one of our teenagers is on the prayer chain? Things don't just happen at lunch time and breaks. We could be texting our prayer warriors who could be excused to go to the prayer room of the Muslim children and pray for a few minutes for an emergency. We have some mighty prayer warriors in our youth department.

If the liberals/progressives are going to suddenly start spouting God and trying to say that Cap and Trade is our moral obligation, by golly, they need to bring God back into our country. Let's start with the schools. Obama has all but come out and said that he's Muslim. He says with his mouth that he's a Christian, but then turns around and says that we are not a Christian nation. He says that he believes in God but that we are not a Christian nation. Now when he want legislation to go through, knowing we ARE a Christian nation, he wants to play on our sympathies. Well, Mr. President, prove it. Enact legislation that allows us to pray when and where we will. Stop all the nonsense of not allowing seniors to pray over meals because they're in a Senior Center that gets federal money. By golly, they ought to be allowed to all hold hands and say their prayers out loud.

Lori Ann Smith