Students Homework - Write Statement of Islamic Faith

a reply to: Asktheanimals

I'm from Virginia and your portrayal of parents is so far off the mark as to be laughable.

Talking specifically about the "mom" who pitched a fit, and those like her. Not ALL of you.

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis

I support teaching about Christianity - how could I not?

I'm always surprised when people don't understand the difference

But that teaching should be left to the religious institutions/private schools, not public schools.

a reply to: Xtrozero

But that teaching should be left to the religious institutions/private schools, not public schools.

Why?

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

Why would you want public schools teaching anything about religion? Even if you're religious. I mean, you do understand that most of the people attracted to teaching don't believe in any religion. Public school teaching of religion is kinda like hiring Nazi's to teach about Judaism.

There shouldn't be any instruction about anything as politically charged as religion in State run institutions. These schools need to get out of political propagandizing and get on with the job of teaching the three R's. And what's the point anyway.......the Muslim kids go to school at the local Islamic center.

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis

Why?

Because religion is faith based and there are places for that type of teaching based on personal preferences. Do I really need to read the Bible, Koran, Satan bible and so on in public schools? Might as well add the book of Mormon and Scientology to the list. Each one of these have their places based on each person faith.

Let me ask you what is there to gain from teaching all this compared to just teaching different cultures instead?

a reply to: TonyS

Why would you want public schools teaching anything about religion? Even if you're religious. I mean, you do understand that most of the people attracted to teaching don't believe in any religion. Public school teaching of religion is kinda like hiring Nazi's to teach about Judaism.

Teaching kids about religion is teaching them about the world we all live in - which is the point of education. You don't like public schools - no surprise there

I don't know about you but I learned about all the religions when I was in school - same as history (which you can't teach honestly without explaining religious beliefs)

Art, literature, music, history, archaeology, architecture - anthropology...

I can't believe you mean what you're saying - religion is a part of being human and all our many different cultures

There shouldn't be any instruction about anything as politically charged as religion in State run institutions.

It doesn't have to be politicized, but as this current story points out - we are in grave danger of becoming the kind of nation that treats anything that's not Christian as being dangerous. So - it's only political to some people

a reply to: Xtrozero

Let me ask you what is there to gain from teaching all this compared to just teaching different cultures instead?

How do you separate a culture from it's religion(s)?

Proselytizing is not the same thing as learning about what other people believe

What are you afraid of - cooties?

originally posted by: markosity1973
a reply to: boymonkey74

I know where you are coming from. But Christianity and Islam are never going to reconcile.

You'be got some horrid verses in the qu'ran to thank for that.

All religious books are full of horridness and stupidity, this is the beauty of it, it matches everything else that is depraved.

More like they are never going to survive, as we speak they are both being changed and dissolved into nothingness, and they do not even know it.

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis

How do you separate a culture from it's religion(s)?

Proselytizing is not the same thing as learning about what other people believe

What are you afraid of - cooties?

Not afraid of anything, you can't get any more Catholic than my wife...lol.

I'm not saying anyone is being converted, I just do not find much value in it and we only have so much teaching time. There is room with in a class such as "cultures around the world" where they may hit on the religious topic in saying this group of people are XYZ religion, but to go deeper in the workings of many different religions is a waste of time.

This Friday we will have a test on all the different Gods, make sure you study well with the Hindu, they got a lot of them...Total waste of teaching bandwidth. We will read both the Bible and Koran and discuss the difference...more waste..

a reply to: Xtrozero

Not afraid of anything, you can't get any more Catholic than my wife...lol.

:-)

Just readin' writin and rithmitic? You really think teaching the world is a waste of time?

Sigh...

Kids deserve a richer and fuller education than just timelines and locations. Religion, philosophy, history, politics and debate aren't beyond kids, and learning how to think is more important than learning what to think. How do we do that with just facts and figures and a world where history is shorthanded and crammed into a very small space?

Anyhow - you say you're not afraid of conversion, but so many people are. Apparently. Are kids really only supposed to understand what it means to be American? I'm really at a loss here - it's so hard for me to believe that a state shut down all it's schools over this - it's crazy

What I don't understand about things like this is: if there were an assignment to write about the influence of Jesus in your life, it would be condemned at the high levels as a violation of the 1st amendment and lawsuits would be filed. But things like what Barefoot has presented happen quite often (at least that's how it appears) and people just get pissy, not litigious.

It's also interesting that schools shutter at the thought of someone saying something non politically correct, but things like this occur without much concern for the feelings of others.

a reply to: BarefootInWinter

i dont see an issue if world religion was the subject. if other religions were the topic of study then learning about other religions was by definition to be expected. if ignorant, narrow minded parents who fear knowlege have a problem with this they have a right to enroll their children in catholic school.

whats crazy is all those screw loose southern public schools that deny science and shoehorn trash like moses was a founding father into their curriculum, those guys are nuts.

Wasn't this about copying script? About how difficult Arabic writing is?

Was the lesson ever about what the script said?

Would parents object if students were copying ancient Sanskrit?

From OP:

The homework: Draw Arabic calligraphy that is the basic Islamic statement of faith. The assignment came from a standard workbook on world religions. It read: The homework assignment aimed to give students "an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy."

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis

Let me ask you what is there to gain from teaching all this compared to just teaching different cultures instead?

is this a serious question? KNOWLEGE is whats to gain. fyi, religion is part of culture. if youre terrified of your children learning more than you i suggest homeschooling, or perhaps turning amish.

originally posted by: Spiramirabilis

Anyhow - you say you're not afraid of conversion, but so many people are. Apparently. Are kids really only supposed to understand what it means to be American? I'm really at a loss here - it's so hard for me to believe that a state shut down all it's schools over this - it's crazy

Well it is called moderation, and to force the kids to transcribe "There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is the true messenger" might be a little over the top for other religions don't you think? Also is there no other Arabic calligraphy than the Islamic statement of faith? I can think of 100 other ways to inspire our children about different cultures than this.

originally posted by: LordSnow21

is this a serious question? KNOWLEGE is whats to gain. fyi, religion is part of culture. if youre terrified of your children learning more than you i suggest homeschooling, or perhaps turning amish.

A part yes and leave it as that. Did you see my examples of what I meant, or do you disagree with my examples? Also, what is all up with everyone saying people are terrified..lol give me a break. I have spent years in the middle east, how about you? In this case I think it was rather incentive to other religions to force these kids to transcribe "There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is the true messenger". I also said public schools is not the place to deep dive into religion, save that for religious classes.

If this is about religion in general, it should be kept out of academic institutions.

If this is about a certain religion and where it comes from, the people angry about this are going to be mad when they found out where numbers originated from..

Then it will be a call to ban them because the origins are Arabic.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: LordSnow21

is this a serious question? KNOWLEGE is whats to gain. fyi, religion is part of culture. if youre terrified of your children learning more than you i suggest homeschooling, or perhaps turning amish.

A part yes and leave it as that. Did you see my examples of what I meant, or do you disagree with my examples? Also, what is all up with everyone saying people are terrified..lol give me a break. I have spent years in the middle east, how about you? In this case I think it was rather incentive to other religions to force these kids to transcribe "There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is the true messenger". I also said public schools is not the place to deep dive into religion, save that for religious classes.

I agree with you that there must be other samples of the Arabic calligraphy that could have been used in this assignment.

As an atheist and major supporter of separation of church and state -- I am very sensitive to any religious belief in public school. In teaching world governments (which might be in history class), ya kinda have to touch on it a bit since there are theocratic governments ---- and have been in history.

However, I'm a major supporter of multiculturalism. I was raised in a squeaky white Christian neighborhood. It really does a disservice to isolate a kid from the diversities of the real world.

Kind of a quagmire.

Here's the real "homework" that should be studied....

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent and Merciful

English starts on page 15 of the .pdf

Political Islam

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