A federal lawsuit contends a public school system in New Jersey is violating the First Amendment of the Constitution. At question is whether the Chatham Middle School in Chatham, New Jersey is violating the “separation of church and state.”
Christians have been told for years now that the First Amendment prohibits their vocal presences in the public domain. The result is that everything from “See You at the Pole” to teachers having a Bible on their desk has routinely been ruled to violate the Constitution.
The separation of mosque and state seems to be a different issue. Case in point is Chatham Middle School where students have been shown Islamic videos that include an overt call to convert to Islam.
Now the School District of the Chathams (SDC) faces a federal lawsuit in the New Jersey District Court. Acting on behalf of her 12-year-old son, Libby Hilsenrath is the plaintiff. Her suit names as defendants officials and teachers at CMS and the school district, alleging First Amendment violation.
The suit was prompted by a seventh-grade World Geography and Cultures class that, Hilsenrath claims encourages the teachings of Islam while ignoring Christianity, Judaism, and other religions. The video treats Islam as objectively true and is patently aimed at proselytizing Non-Muslims.
Another parent, Nancy Gayer, says this is not an isolated case for the school. Fox News reported three years ago that “her son inserted a short Bible quotation in a slideshow, but was unable to present [it] to his class because the teacher pulled him aside to tell him such a mention ‘belongs in Sunday School.”
Hilsenrath and Gayer say “they were labeled bigots and xenophobes after their appearance at the school board meeting, and Hilsenrath said her position was compared to that of the Ku Klux Klan.”
This is not just the result of a well-meaning teacher merely trying to broaden students’ understanding. Imams have called on Muslim migrants to proselytize in contemporary Islamic writings, online videos on YouTube, DVDs, and Islamic websites.
These concerted efforts at converting Non-Muslims have had marked success. Statisticians in Germany estimate that thousands of professing Christians convert to Islam every year. Muslim converts in Spain reached over 20,000 in 2006 and the number is growing. Closer to home, 20,000 to 25,000 people convert to Islam in the United States each year.
Christian apologists warn that the unique context of Muslim conversion efforts should not be ignored. Islam does not accept the idea of a pluralistic society where people are free to believe as they choose. Islam’s stated goal is world domination.
Public schools encouraging consideration of Islam is not isolated to the case in New Jersey. Parents and concerned citizens from at least three counties in Tennessee have voiced their concerns about a middle school history assignment in which students were instructed to write “Allah is the only God.”
One parent explained: “They did this assignment where they wrote out the Five Pillars of Islam, including having the children learn and write the Shahada, the Islamic conversion creed.” Tennessee Maury County school officials reaction was to say they “covered some sensitive topics” that “caused some confusion” but there was no issue of constitutional violations.
Forcing student to recite “Allah is the only God” isn’t just a “sensitive topic.” It is blatantly unconstitutional.
Williamson County Tennessee part of the middle school class work on Islam included a worksheet that asked questions extolling Islam and phrases in Arabic for students to repeat – without knowing what they meant.
This movement to push Islam in public school is occurring across the country. In Florida, public school students were instructed to re
cite the Five Pillars of Islam as a prayer, make Islamic prayer rugs, and perform other Muslim rituals. Students in Madison, Wisconsin were given an assignment in which they were told to “pretend you are Muslim.”
There can be no question this Islamophilia, as one pundit terms it, violates clear constitutional principles. Government run schools and their teachers are allowed to teach what different faiths believe and how that has affected geography and world history. They are not allowed to indoctrinate or encourage the validity one religion over another.
The School District of the Chathams’ website includes the message, “When given the choice between being right or being kind… CHOOSE KIND.” In this case, the only ones being treated unkindly were parents who challenged the Islamic teachings extolled by their children’s teachers.
~ American Liberty Report
