From the Thomas Moore Law Center in Ann Arbor, MI.

On Wednesday, October 19, 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California, will hear oral arguments in Eklund v. Byron Union School District. The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, represents several parents and children who challenged the Byron Union School District's practice of teaching twelve-year-old students "to become Muslims."

For three weeks, impressionable twelve-year-old students were, among other things, placed into Islamic city groups, took Islamic names, wore identification tags that displayed their new Islamic name and the Star and Crescent Moon, which is the symbol of Muslims, were handed materials that instructed them to "Remember Allah always so that you may prosper," completed the Islamic Five Pillars of Faith, including fasting, and memorized and recited the "Bismillah" or "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate," which students also wrote on banners that were hung on the classroom walls.

The merciful, the compassionate... don't get me started.

How come Islam is okay to teach to kids that are being discouraged from reciting the Pledge of Allegience with "under God" tagged on at the end? The ACLU is terrified of Christian zealotry in the United States, but they won't touch this with a ten foot pole. Why not? You can't have it both ways.

Pity, but the article doesn't indicate whether or not the girls were taught seperately for those three weeks, and if they were abused or taunted if their scarves didn't completely cover their hair.

I can well imagine how frustrating this must be for Christian parents, who have to hide their religious values in this day and age - no prayer in school, don't take your Bible to class, no "under God." Yet having a unionized public school teacher teach your kids about a religion where the murder of Americans is encouraged, where misogyny is a way of life - well, that's okay. After all, it's another culture!