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After 7th graders were taught, among other things, to recite "May God help us all find the truth, Islam" as part of their classroom curriculum--- their mothers strongly objected.
The school administration ignored the parents.
Now the parents are suing---and because of their stand for what they believe, have been strongly attacked on social media.
It's worse. One of these kids was previously denied the mention of a short verse from Proverbs about helping the poor in a video he made about helping the poor.
I wish this were an isolated incident. It is not.
Heads up parents. And grandparents.
This is a tale of a very broken government-run complex in America. And where so-called "secular progressivism" ultimately leads.
It also reveals the hypocrisy of it all---including the hypocrisy of Lyndon B. Johnson's version of "separation of church and state" compared to what Thomas Jefferson actually told the Danbury Baptists when he assured them the government was constitutionally forbidden from intruding into the affairs of the church.
The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national organization in Ann Arbor Michigan, has stepped up to represent these 2 mothers---Libby Hilsenrath and Nancy Gayer.
In a recent press release, Richard Thomas, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said, "The promotion of Islam is worse than what the mothers presented to Tucked Carlson. After viewing one of the videos which seventh graders were directed to watch, I can't imagine any objective person saying this is not Islamic indoctrination. Clueless school administrators across our nation are allowing this type of indoctrination to take place and it's up to vigilant parents to stop it. Libby and Nancy should be praised, not pilloried."
When Libby and Nancy first approached the school with their concerns, the administration essentially dismissed them.
Superintendent Michael LaSusa indicated in a public meting in February that any change to the curriculum was unlikely, and the next day also refused their request to meet privately with him to discuss their concerns.
As they continued to raise concerns with others, they began to be subjected to personal attacks---particularly on social media.
TMLC says, "They were defamed as 'bigots', 'Islamophobes', 'hateful', 'xenophobes', 'intolerant', 'racist', 'closed minded', 'sad' and 'ignorant'."
After their appearance on the Fox News show "Tucker Carlson," the attacks intensified.
At issue is a subtle, but effective propaganda cartoon video "5 Pillars" which was shown in the classroom.
It opens with two boys, one of them Muslim, kicking a soccer ball. The Muslim teaches the non-Muslim the 5 Pillars of Islam. Additionally, a subtitle of bright, multicolored words of various shapes pronounces a form of the Islamic conversion creed:
"There is no god except Allah and Prophet Muhammad is His messenger."
The cartoon ends with a sad non-Muslim boy, who suddenly smiles when the Muslim boy invites him to join him at the mosque for noon-day prayers.
This, of course, is something the teacher cannot do personally, but cleverly does it through the cartoon.
Mother Nancy Gayer says, "It's just not fair that within this unit of study the Chatham school district taught one religion to the exclusion of all the others, and for the community to be so unkind and unwelcoming toward us, just for having raised legitimate questions as concerned parents."
Nancy compares this experience to a previous experience involving her son in the same school just 3 years ago.
As a 4th grader, his assignment was to make a video about poverty. In the video her son shared a short quote from Proverbs 19:17 saying, "He who lends to the poor, lends to the Lord."
The quote was part of his video presentation about gathering warm clothes for underprivileged children.
When he presented his video, his teacher informed him that the brief biblical quote "belongs in Sunday school, not in the classroom."
I'm certain, given the expertise of TMLC and the persistence of these two mothers, the school will loose this law suit.
Unfortunately, this is not isolated.
One News Now notes a similar incident with 7th graders took place a couple of years ago in Maury County, Tennessee, where parents also faced the same thing---Islamic indoctrination using the 5 Pillars of Islam and other clever maneuvers to teach Islam for 3 weeks, while completely ignoring Christianity.
And similarly to this case in New Jersey, the kids in Tennessee were instructed to learn the "Shahada"---the Muslim profession of faith that reads, "There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."
I wrote about it in this column at the time.
The parents in that incident generally didn't want any religion taught in public school because they believe that is their role---not the government's.
I agree.
But the parents said, if the school is going to focus on one so intensely, why Islam? They pointed out to the school district that 81% of the people living in Tennessee are self proclaimed Christians, while only 1% identified themselves as Muslim.
On a national scale, most recent data shows that 70.6% of Americans identify as Christian, while .09% identify as Muslim.
But government run education doesn't care.
Within the education system there are many wonderful Christian teachers, however, the government complex of education has become little more that a fertile ground for indoctrination and a petri dish for social experimentation.
It has become the front line in the battle for the mind of our children. The largest homosexual advocacy groups in our country now produce much of the curriculum for studies in human growth and human sexuality.
Planned Parenthood is their proud partner.
And now...why not throw in a little indoctrination on Islam?
Parents. Grandparents. Heads up. This is not isolated. It's prevalent.
Libby Hilsenrath told Tucker Carlson: "One of my fundamental obligations as a parent is to guide the religious and secular education of my children. That's why I will continue the fight against the Islamic indoctrination now taking place at [ my child's school] regardless of the personal attacks."
Be Not Weary In Well Doing. Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Persistent. Be Prayerful.