but, with this guy, I'd say it fits. How damned ignorant.

This guy brings back some not-so-fond memories of them.

Not to mention more than a few bigots.

And this specimen looks like he got into the marines when they were scraping the bottom of stupid.

...it will say the daughter also was forced to get fitted for a suicide vest.

Before deploying to the Middle East with the 8th Marines we had several classes on the Muslim religion.
"There is no God but Allah" is the first of the five pillars of Islam.

Of course, the horrified battle over whether or not Allah is the same as this biblical "God" rages on.

the same roots as Judeo-Christian beliefs, that is an uncomfortable question for hate mongers.

And we know how people tend to react to questions that make them uncomfortable.

Muslims couldn't be included in this forgive and forget love fest. He asked me if Jesus ever murdered anybody. My jaw dropped to the floor. I couldn't believe he had tried to discredit an entire religion based on some of the very actions taken by Christians in the Bible. Apparently Jesus was perfect therefore Christianity is better than Islam. Definitely an uncomfortable question for hate mongers.

If only Christians, Muslims and Jews would stop killing each other long enough to figure out they all worshiped the same god.

school, how many here would feel differently about him?

and learning ABOUT religion in schools.

Promoting religion in school is not the same as including the beliefs of various cultures when teaching their history or looking at current events. Both states I've taught in have included a section of history for 6th grade dealing with the beginnings of monotheism in the Fertile Crescent AND a section dealing with the rise of Islam for 7th grade. Predictably, I've never upset parents by dealing with ancient Hebrew tribes and monotheism, but every single time I've had to present "the rise of Islam since 9/11, I've had at least one parent, sometimes many, storming the gates in protest. How vigorously teachers pursue this branch of history is definitely tied to how well admins have our backs when this shit hits the fan.

I don't share my belief system/faith/or lack of one with students...ever. I am biblically knowledgable, so can make connections for them, but I don't share. The only teachers I know who do are those who attend the kind of churches that advocate public declarations of faith. And even then, the vast majority know better than to dwell on it.

Of course, I don't share my politics with my students, either, although they certainly demand to know during election cycles. I DO have class discussions and debates, with the enforced expectation that evidence beyond "I heard it on the radio/saw it on tv/my dad/cousin/uncle/grandma says..." anecdotal evidence will be offered up to back up any opinion expressed.

I've always thought that the majority of my students simply think that I have the same religious and political affiliations they do, because they like my class and respect me. Those who don't like being held accountable for that unbiased evidence assume I have the OPPOSITE affiliations.

I never tell them.

class this year. He learned what role they played in modern history and even learned the basic tenants of belief of each religion. I didn't have a problem with it. I think as long as it is objective and academic then there is nothing wrong with young people learning a few basic facts about the world's religions. Some high schools even offer an elective Comparative Religion class which I think is great. I took a comparative religion class in college and found it very objective and informative. Quite frankly, I think a comparative religion class could be the answer to the dispute of whether or not religion belongs in the classroom. Creationism obviously doesn't belong in the science classroom, but taught alongside other creation stories from other religions along with other philosophies, the Christian creation story could be taught in a comparative religion class. Of course that would require conservative Christians to allow their children to be taught information regarding other religions which is highly unlikely.

not making or setting them off in school.

Same as including what other extremists believe in the discussion of extremism.

You seem to be under the impression that providing students with relevant information to the subject they are studying is the same thing as an endorsement of a system of beliefs. It is hard to give a clear picture of history of such things as the Crusades, the settling of the North American continent by the puritans, the Holocaust, the Inquisition, ancient Greece and Rome, the Aztecs, the Ottoman empire etc...without some discussion of the religious backgrounds of those points in history.

By the same token, you can't just say "And the Scopes trial was a very famous trial about evolution being taught in school." and leave it at that. What kind of education is that? What was controversial?

For that matter, you would probably not discuss the history of science without some mention alchemy and astrology.

play a central role in the topic at hand, but is it relevant in to a discussion of the crusades or the expansion of Christianity or Islam, for example?

but I am an atheist and am outspoken about separation of church and state. Having a state sponsored religion taught in school is not anywhere near the same thing as teaching the historical importance of religion and how it has shaped our world. I have no problem at all with learning. I have a huge problem with indoctrination. This case is nowhere near indoctrination.

In high school we discussed the spread of Christianity and Islam and their effects on the world without delving into the specific beliefs of each, and I don't feel like I was cheated in history class.

history course, though.

Nobody is getting out a prayer rug and praising Allah. They are talking about a religion that helped form western civilization, so it will be talked about in American history.

just the specific tenets of each religion. Do your really need to know the 10 commandments or the 5 pilars of Islam to discuss the impact of those religions on western civ?

what the differences in the religions is part of that. Or do you prefer they discuss "the role of Islam in the history and politics of the Middle East" without saying anything about what Islam is? It seems the role of schools to educate and encourage the students to be interested in learning as well as learn things.

Bible is important when discussing the crusades.

and other such things. However, in our country with typically greater knowledge of Christianity, they probably don't have to do as in depth education in the school.

There is a difference between proselytizing and educating about the basic religious differences. I was involved with a school district that had this sort of thing happen during a history class but the teacher inserted "money hungry jews" into their lesson which was way beyond proper. I see no problem discussing the differences between the largest religions while discussing their role in history and politics.

it's going to happen somewhere, but I would hope a hammer came down on that teacher.

We can argue all day about just where the limits of objectivity in the classroom might be, but there should be no discussion about bigotry.

recorded for another student who was absent. It was pretty wild.

And the role it played in history. Without that background one is left with "Wow, Pope Clement VII was kind of a dick."

of the 10 commandments necessary?

If you are content with giving students only the most rudimentary education, then I would agree. If you are trying to give students a good education, then a more in depth background into other cultures would be helpful (such as the root causes for splits between between cultures). Finding that balance is difficult.

And to be quite honest, the claims being made by the Thomas More Law Center can likely be taken with a grain of salt.

From what I can tell the big sticking point from this is that they said Islam, Christianity, and Judaism worship the same god (or something to that effect). That seems to piss extremists off to no end even though it is factually correct.

but as far as giving the students the "most rudimentary education", I disagree. Spending a lot of time on "context" is time that's not spent on other topics. If it's not really relevant to the lesson they're teaching, it's not necessarily the most productive use of their time.

It is a rich tapestry that is all too often turned into a dry, boring subject by folks who just want people to have the most cursory look at our past. Like going to visit the Smithsonian and spending only 2 seconds at each exhibit.

Yes, history is a rich tapestry, but the amount of time one has for lessons is very limited. I can appreciate the Wright brothers airplane without delving into what kind of wood they used (though perhaps it sparked an interest and I can do that another time), and still have time to make it over to the hall of mammals.

"...And that's why they did this way back when..." etc...
But everything is wrong with teaching religious beliefs as fact and especially steering the lessons towards a certain religion being the truth.

Also, the concept of "steering the lesson" can be pretty subjective.

Religion needs to be taught to children for what it is: A false set of beliefs passed down through the generations via childhood indoctrination. This is the truth, and education is what cures the masses of the most successful scam in human history.

right wingers are always afraid of just learning about things.

from when it happened. He was also very upset the school banned him. He deserved it after threatening to come into the school and disrupt classes. His FB page was full of Islamophobic rantings and it has since been scrubbed. Sure hope the school screen capped them.

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10025727568

Unfortunately, the Moran in the picture would probably agree with numbnuts.

both in religion class (since it's a major religion that has common roots with Christianity and Judaism) and world history class (because Islam had a ginormous effect on European history in the Middle Ages).

I can understand people being ignorant: not everyone has the opportunity to learn everything. But I can't forgive people for knowingly wrapping themselves in their ignorance as if it were a point of pride.

did the same, in world religion and world history...

In world religion class, we did have a very loud and rude phone call complaint from a parent to the school's office about it, but I never heard about anything else...

The girl was required to affirm, "There is no god but Allah." Yeah, like that's really going to happen. They make these stupid claims that only people like them will believe, and then they in turn happily fall for claims made by others of their brethren to keep an outrage/hate cycle going. Had to swear to Allah; there are college professors out there who will flunk students for believing in God, etc. etc.

TlalocW

gets kicked out of court or he is ruled against, it feeds into their persecution claims.

She's probably reading about it now.

where they will learn not only about Islam, but every other major religion, including Atheism. Oh, HORROR. Cannot let children THINK for themselves. Hmm. Maybe true. With this kind of education (Comparative Religions), children might learn to question their OWN (parents) religion.

Typical anti-intellectual bullshit that so hurts this nation. Who gives a shit what you want, the state has decided to educate your daughter so she doesn't turn out to be a dumb fuck like DADDY.

I don't think ANY religion should be taught in school period.

needs to stay home and school his child, or send her to a private religious school. Why is it so many wingers still use public education when all they ever do is complain about the indoctrination of their children?

type of faith. When I was a freshman in high school we studies religions as part of it. We were not being asked to affirm anything. Merely to understand what role the religion played in the issues of the time in history.

based on his own name.