Another victory for the theocrats

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on May 24, 2006

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week turned back an appeal by parents of some seventh graders against a public school's curriculum that they said indoctrinated students into Christianity.

Among the more objectional parts of the program:

Students would practice saying prayers and conclude them "in Jesus' name, Amen."

Memorization of the Lord's Prayer.

Saying "Amen!" and "Praise Jesus!" in response to teacher prompts.

Students drink grape juice and eat a cracker as part of "communion."

Of course, I might have gotten everything up to this point wrong.

In a recent federal decision that got surprisingly little press, even from conservative talk radio, California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it's OK to put public-school kids through Muslim role-playing exercises, including:

Reciting aloud Muslim prayers that begin with "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful . . . ."

Memorizing the Muslim profession of faith: "Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger."

Chanting "Praise be to Allah" in response to teacher prompts.

Professing as "true" the Muslim belief that "The Holy Quran is God's word."

Giving up candy and TV to demonstrate Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

Designing prayer rugs, taking an Arabic name and essentially "becoming a Muslim" for two full weeks.

So, let's just go over what the courts -- and more specifically California courts -- have said is acceptable and unacceptable religious practices in the public realm:

Cross atop the Mount Soledad War Memorial -- unacceptable.

"Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance -- unacceptable.

Crosses on various city seals, including the City of La Mesa which used to have an image of the cross atop Mount Helix -- unacceptable.

Prayers at graduation ceremonies -- unacceptable.

A two week course taught to seventh graders which sure looks like the Muslim equivalent of vacation Bible school -- no problem!

The only thing that trumps hostility to Christianity in the public square is obsequiousness to multiculturalism which allows for what amounts to an indoctrination into a minority religion. The ACLU would file a lawsuit quicker than you can say Anti-Christian Liberals Union if the "curriculum" I first described was ever used in a public school classroom. In this case? Nope, it's all about a "different culture," so it's "OK."

Tags

[custom-twitter-feeds headertext="Hoystory On Twitter"]

Calendar

Archives

Categories

pencil linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram