Students Homework - Write Statement of Islamic Faith

originally posted by: Learningman
a reply to: ketsuko

I wouldn't particularly mind, we had to copy out The Lords Prayer, which basically says we will do what God wishes of us. We also designed and painted mandalas, with very little knowledge about it untill afterwards, as a learning exercise. Religious Education, nothing to get mad about.

Until we have a Christmas Party ...

a reply to: ketsuko

What do you mean?

a reply to: Learningman

It's the Holiday Party or Winter Party now.

You know ... separation of church and state.

If you want your child to go to school and be tricked into a statement that could be construed as conversion to a religion, whether it be Christianity or Islam, you pay for private school. This is a state public school. State endorsement of religion basically. That is why no kid writes Jesus is my Lord and Savior in Latin or English as an assignment in any public school.

a reply to: ketsuko

I don't understand, sorry. Do you mean in U.S. schools?
I haven't any issues with any Christmas party, Hannukah, Kwanza parties. I'm not a d**k. I once played Jesus in a school play.

What does a Christmas party have to do with Religious Education?

I happen to be here in Staunton at the moment. I just heard about this controversy on the radio a few minutes before I saw the thread.

The school superintendent has announced that the course would still be offered, but a secular, non-religious passage would be used in the future to demonstrate Arabic Calligraphy.

People around here are rather conservative, so I can see how something like this would upset them. In fact, I can't understand how anyone around here, educators included, would have considered this passage acceptable.

Though the kids may not have known what the text was, what they were writing may be considered in these parts as akin to writing "Hail Satan!"

-dex

a reply to: DexterRiley

That seems a good compromise, I personally would not be offended nor expect anything to change if I were, but changing the material makes sense to avoid the drama its attracted.

a reply to: 4N0M4LY

Incredibly difficult to teach HISTORY and omit RELIGION.

a reply to: boymonkey74

Imagine the outrage if the students were assigned to write:
Christ is king of king, lord of lords.
It works both ways.
Nothing wrong with learning Arabic script, it's beautiful.
Just don't make the kids copy the shahada.
I was disappointed in school how little we were taught about anything Arabic; art, architecture, music, culture.
Public schools in my day acted as though it didn't exist.
That certainly needs to change if it hasn't already.

a reply to: ketsuko

Reciting the lords prayer is analogous, so I did... and I'm okay with it. Writing Jesus is my saviour is not even a part of Christianity, but the Lords prayer is.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

Would anyone really be pissed off at that? I sincerely hope not :S

a reply to: Asktheanimals

Isn't there already a thread on this?

How about we study the faith of our founders by having the students memorise some of their prayers and verbally recite them at the start of each class?

a reply to: BarefootInWinter

My OP is that the Teacher could have chosen another sentence or paragraph for the pupils to learn to write Caligraphy style... no need to have them write that particular sentence.

it is an Indoctrination sentence and a brainwashing one.

a reply to: 4N0M4LY

Dude the best way to combat religion is to teach about them all...show people the differences and ask can they all be right?.

Stop teaching them about cults and teach them about some god damn physics.

Shouldn't this have been done in a Religious education lesson or History lesson ? This kind of teaching has absolutely no place in a Geography lesson, teach about Muslim demographics in relation to regions sure, that has relevance to geography but teaching them to write in Arabic is nothing to do with Geography

And I suppose that verse was randomly picked.


Matters not which religion.

originally posted by: Ghost147

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.

Yeah... Exclusively the qu'ran.... Right

Leviticus 26:28: (Eat your own children)
Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, 28then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. 29'Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters

Timothy 2:12 (women are inferior)
I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.

Judges 19:24-25 (here, have my daughter to rape)
"Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go."

Hosea 13:16 (Kill pregnant women and mutilate their bodies)
"Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up."

Good ol' Holy Bible... So pure and innocent? I think not...

You truly are delusional if you think the Bible is pure and innocent.

theres such a thing as NOT BEING TAKEN LITERALLY for some parts of th eBible. Did you get all that from the Old testament? If so THATS not for the CHRISTIANS its for the hebrews. th eOT is a HISTORY for CHristians for th emost part. Its not our fault that some sects of christianity try to be hebrew in their belief.

Oh noez!! The kids were asked to LEARN something about ANOTHER CULTURE!!

And the parents lose their minds.....

After a teacher at a Virginia school handed out a standard homework assignment on Islam, such an angry backlash flooded in that it prompted officials to close every single school in the county as a safety precaution.

"While there has been no specific threat of harm to students, schools and school offices will be closed Friday, December 18, 2015," Augusta County Schools said. Extracurricular activities were shut down Thursday afternoon.

And social media exploded over the school lesson -- a simple drawing assignment -- into a caustic discussion about religion and education.

Why shut down the schools? Well, because it's un-Virginian to learn anything about other cultures, or try to understand other people....
duh!!!

"Neither of these lessons, nor any other lessons in the world geography course, are an attempt at indoctrination to Islam or any other religion or a request for students to renounce their own faith or profess any belief," Augusta County Schools official Eric Bond said in a statement to CNN affiliate WHSV.

Not enough
But that hasn't been enough for Kimberly Herndon, who kept her ninth-grade son home from school.

"There was no trying about it. The sheet she gave out was pure doctrine in its origin," she told WHSV.

"I will not have my children sit under a woman who indoctrinates them with the Islam religion when I am a Christian," she said.

Heaven forbid that they learn something you didn't want them to know!!
What will happen? Will the sky fall? Is understanding and education the poison concoction that will ruin them forever?

If my kids had come home with an assignment to learn about the Yanomamo in the Amazon, I'd have said, "Cool! It's important to step outside your worldview.".....likewise if they'd had calligraphy homework to try to emulate Chinese or Japanese or Sanskrit or Arabic or any other language.

The "danger" there in Virginia is from crazed, poorly educated, paranoid parents who are terrified that learning something about the world will make their kids' heads sprout tentacles -- parents who have guns. It's beyond ridiculous. It speaks to the Extremist Christian terrorism lurking just under the surface. I feel really sorry for any of those kids whose IQ is higher than .... oh, say....70ish.....who are naturally curious and interested in more information. In learning.

Oh well - they can (and will) rebel in their own time. You can't stop a kid from learning whatever he's interested in.


I'm all for it. I'm sure Malala would be, too.


**************************

Yeah, search engine didn't show this had been posted.....so, I'm late to the party with my thoughts.
I think this is insane.

a reply to: 4N0M4LY

If you want your kids to learn about religion or the many different religions in the world, send them to private school or teach them at home. I don't want my tax dollars wasted teaching garbage topics that have nothing to do with helping my kid in getting ready for the real world.

Uhhh....the "real world" includes DEALING WITH OTHER CULTURES.
Good grief.
Learning about other cultures is crucial for the success of your darlings.

Islam has EXACTLY nothing to do with GEOGRAPHY.

It's a RELIGION.

So kids were given religious homework ?

Well now if the Christians can't.

Why the hell is Islam 'acceptable' ?