Fed's appear to be anti-Christian

[redcliffsw]

Good read by Chuck Baldwin

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2009/cbarchive_20090519.html

[Varmit]

Comes as no big surprise.  This country has been anti Christian for a loooong time. 

[redcliffsw]

It's gettin worse ever day.

[Diane Amberg]

Frankly, I have no idea how the Roman's behavior got mixed in with comments about our constitution. I would be interested in knowing what public schools have prayer rooms for Muslim students. Also, what schools deny Christian kids the chance for silent prayer at school? Here it has to be understated, but the kids can pray if they wish. The kids here can't pick up the Bible and start preaching, that is supposed to go on at church. I also don't teach math at church either. As far as the military being allowed Bibles, that's a new one on me. I'll ask "Pugs" when I see him. "Over there", maybe it's for their own protection since they are not Christian countries? Sorry, I don't see this country "anti" any religion.

[Varmit]

Why doesn't that suprise me?

Muslim Prayer in Public Schools
Are Public Schools Accommodating Islam Over Christianity?
© Barbara Pytel

Aug 19, 2007
For years, Christian prayer has been banned in public schools. Now, Muslims are demanding prayer time and getting it.

Public Schools And Prayer
In 2000, Congress passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. This act demanded many religious accommodations to be made on public property. In 1993, a federal court mandated a San Diego district to allow students to have religious activities during lunchtime.

In spite of this, we hear of teachers being fired for silently reading a personal Bible during a study hall. Students are not allowed to have student-led Christian prayer at graduations. Students from parochial schools are denied open gym time at the local public school in their district.

New Accommodations
There are pockets throughout the country that have concentrations of Muslim students.

San Diego, CA
Dearborn, MI
Dallas, TX
New York City, NY
These schools are giving the Islamic students breaks to pray during the school day. In fact, the complaint has been made that an extra recess was created in the San Diego district just for prayer.

How Much Prayer?
According to Akram Shami, from the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles, "We pray to God, we worship God, and we recite verses from the Koran. Prayer is typical at noon or 1 p.m. but there are five daily prayers." [Randy Dotinga, The Christian Science Monitor, scmonitor.com, July 12, 2007] Shami goes on to say that in some public schools, students leave classes momentarily or even wait to pray when they get home.

At Carver Elementary School in San Diego students are praying 15 minutes during an afternoon recess and an hour after lunch. Extra breaks were put into the school day this year to accommodate 100 Muslim students that transferred from a closed Arabic languge program.

No Child Left Behind
Because of the No Child Left Behind mandate, many schools are eliminating recesses to allow more time for reading and math. Even science is being pushed to the back burner to allow more time for teaching. Lengthening the schools day is being considered and all-year school is becoming popular to aid in student information retention. With all this being demanded in other schools, it is surprising that some public schools are adding a recess for religious prayer.

Christian Demands
Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute is asking the school district to provide rooms for Christians to pray, as well. "The school policy presumes that Christians are less religious and less inspired to worship and praise the Lord and come together," says Dacus." [Randy Dotinga, The Christian Science Monitor, scmonitor.com, July 12, 2007]

Court Involvement
Lisa Soronen, attorney with the National School Boards Association, says, "Most Americans don't think about the fact that schools naturally accommodate Christians. There's no school on Sunday, and we get days off for most of the major Christian holidays." Soronen added that the courts have not ruled on this issue so there is no precedent. Since the American Civil Liberties Union has remained silent on Muslim prayer, it may be up to Christian groups to take this matter to the courts. Meanwhile, schools are unclear how to handle the issue.

Read previous articles on Educational Issues.

Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved



Read more: "Muslim Prayer in Public Schools: Are Public Schools Accommodating Islam Over Christianity? | Suite101.com" - http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/muslim_prayer_in_public_schools#ixzz0G0LZ1vPs&A

[Diane Amberg]

I read the article and found the guest comments to be interesting too. I wasn't aware you had many Muslims in Elk County.

[Varmit]

Diane, I can say with about 99.99% accuracy that there aren't any muslims in elk county.  I could be wrong, but I doubt it.  But that is beside the point.

[Teresa]

I read the article and found the guest comments to be interesting too. I wasn't aware you had many Muslims in Elk County.

What?  Where did you get that in the article.. Has nothing to do with it.

[Diane Amberg]

Sorry about that, my fault. I mixed two ideas too close together. There was nothing in the article about Muslims in Elk County! I just wondered if some areas where a minority is in the majority, they are allowed special privileges, by the state school board ? The Muslim kids here had to get permission to wear their scarves, because we have a no hats in class rule. Now kids can wear head coverings for religious or health reasons. Being a devout Phillies Phan is not a recognized religion!   Sometimes schools can declare a hat day or some such just for fun.

[Varmit]

That is such a load of crap!!!  Just because a person is in the minority doesn't mean that they should get "special" privileges.  If some muslim can wear a scarf than my child should be allowed to wear a ball cap.  Frankly, I don't think anyone should wear a hat indoors in a school setting.