The following comes from a November 4 Los Angeles Daily News article by Brenda Gazzar:
An Acton school district superintendent said Wednesday he has banned depicting religious leaders after middle school students drew images on a history worksheet of Muhammad, which is forbidden in Islam.
Following a parent’s complaint and media inquiries, Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District Superintendent Brent Woodard told a reporter Tuesday he would consult with an expert on Islam to determine whether a vocabulary handout given to a 7th-grade history class at High Desert School in Acton was offensive. The worksheet, Vocabulary Pictures: The Rise of Islam, listed words such as Quran, Mecca, Bedouins and Muhammad with spaces for students to draw pictures or images related to those words.
Palmdale resident Melinda Van Stone said she was “very upset” when her 12-year-old son brought home the assignment about two weeks ago.
“It’s not appropriate to have our children go to school and learn how to insult a religious group,” said Van Stone, a chiropractor who declined to state her or her son’s religion.
According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad forbade the creation of the image of any human being in an effort to discourage idolatry, said Berj Boyajian, professor of Comparative Islamic Law at USC. However, in today’s practice, the sensitivity is concentrated on Muhammad, he said.
David could not say how long the worksheet had been in use or how many Muslims, if any, were in the history class of about 33 students. Only Van Stone complained about the assignment, she said.
Maybe I should reread the article. Is the piece suggesting that Muslims and Catholics are partners in this? In the cultural (and religious liberty) wars Islam is no ally.
Besides, most of the world’s great art is based on depiction the life of Christ. Even Christians doing that is offensive to Muslims When Islam subdues and conquers Rome (which is the religion’s greatest jihad goal) you should see what it will do with the Sistine Chapel.
It seems to me, that the most intelligent approach– would be to carefully monitor the materials, for religious and ethnic groups, presented in a classroom, and present each one correctly!! For example– make sure the materials about Islamic beliefs, state correctly, that they do not believe in drawing pictures of Muhammed! Christians, however, have many beautiful paintings of Christ! And I think that both Muslims and Jews, do not believe in eating any products with pork. Etc.
Sounds like a personal problem to me. American kids should be able to draw pictures of what ever they want. As we are so often told…. Church and state are separate! Or is that only when liberal want to shush the Church? So why are we being dictated to by the muslim population?
why are students being taught anything about islam in class? You can bet they are not taught anything of significance or truth about Christianity or Catholicism in particular. With sarcasm: I would expect them to teach only that our priests are all pedophiles.
Alice, I think you may be onto something by saying “Sounds like a personal problem to me.” Given her last name and that she declined to state her religion, she’s likely not Muslim. Therefore, her moral outrage appears to be irrationally misplaced when she subordinates the U.S. Constitution and democracy to certain branches of Islam.
This story might make more sense if taken in it’s whole context. We are a military family and so, obviously, we believe in fighting for freedom of speech. However, I would like to think that my husband, having been deployed seven times as an Airforce pilot, would have helped protect our freedom of not having our son indoctrinated into someone else’s religion while in public school history class. My son being made to draw a picture of Mohammad to get an A in history is a bit much. I don’t think that “banned” as the media likes to call it is as appropriate as just saying that the superintendant simply told the school to stop making the kids draw pictures of religious icons such as Mohammad and God. Of course, making this common sense…
The best way to develop world peace, is to pray, and to together, respect all the ethnic and religious beliefs and practices of the world, whether we agree with them, or not! I am so sorry for the violence in the Middle East, between Muslims and Jews! Unthinkable! When the King of England gave William Penn, the Quaker, the large tract of land in the American colonies that became Pennsylvania– Penn desired that peoples from many different religious and ethnic groups would come and settle there, and develop a nice community, of peace and brotherly love! That is so admirable! The King of England so detested all the various Protestant and Catholic groups, in his country, and was happy to be rid of them al! Very sad! There were times in…
I will continue, with my post, above. There were times in Penn’s Pennsylvania, when different religious and ethnic groups Protestants, Catholics, Germans, Irish, etc.) mistreated each other, slandered each other, and acted very cruel to one another! Penn always tried to intervene in these situations, and bring the people who were quarreling back to the understanding and practice of his original, Christ-like ideals, of co-existing together in peace and mutual brotherly love. The only way we can seek a lasting peace, and give the future children of this world any hope of a good life– is by teaching children early, to set aside differences, learn the beliefs and practices of various ethnic cultures and world religions– and be willing to…
I will finish with my above post! The best way to seek a good life, and lasting peace, for the world’s future children– is to teach them early, to understand, accept, and appreciate each other, set aside differences, and for all to live together, in peace and brotherly love!
I recall, from school days of long ago– the beautiful, long, tragic poem, “Evangeline,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, all about the French Catholic immigrants of Acadia, in Canada, who were forced to leave, in a sort of “ethnic and religious cleansing,” by the British, due to the fact that they could not take an oath of fidelity to the English King, and his Anglican Church! What a HORROR the poor French Catholic Acadians endured!
We are Christians, my friends, and as such can individually choose to honor the Muslims’ faith by not drawing pictures of Mohammed, since obviously this is hugely important to them. I have never had a desire to portray Mohammed in any way; have you? We do not want to stoop to behaving disrespectfully of other religions, now do we? But neither do we wish to have our children taught that in America we are to be PROHIBITED from free speech in any way. This is a matter of respect, not of externally imposed restriction. The principal was careful not to say that.
Lets see – the NEA (national endowment for ‘arts’) gives grants to submerge Christian symbols in urine as ‘Art’.
However – the Hitlary Benghazi Scam pretended that a Planned Terrorist Attack was motivated by a video that should not have been shown in the USA because it was not art – or politically correct, at least according to Her Secret Server emails…
As usual the “Stupid American Voters” (ObamAcorn campaign manager quote) were told a useful lie, at least useful to POTUS Barry ‘on the down low’ Soetoro, whose ‘Transparency’ is as thin as a drawing of the emperors new clothes, covered with a thick tarp.
I have interacted at times, with Muslim mothers I understand that this clothing is only worn when outside the home– but in the home, the woman is free to dress more normally, and interact with her husband, children, and family members, more normally. I always try to be kind, friendly, and helpful, to people of all different religions, races, and cultures, as I believe that God wants all His beloved children to live in peace and brotherly love!
I will correct my post, above– the computer somehow skipped, when I was trying to type! I have, at times, interacted with Muslim mothers and their children, in various situations– each Muslim group varies in their dress. In some cases, Muslim women dress in clothing that covers their entire bodies, with only small slits, for their eyes. I understand that this type of clothing is only worn outside the home– but in the home, the women dress more normally, and freely interact with their husbands, children, close friends, and family members. I believe God wants us to be kind, helpful, and live in brotherly love and peace, with all peoples, all races, all religions!
The first time I saw a Muslim woman in total body-covering clothing, with only small slits for her eyes, I was helping out at a neighborhood recreation center near my home. The lady had several small children, and she wanted to take them to the playground, of the rec center. When I first saw her, it was wintertime, close to Halloween, and I was very frightened of her “costume!” I was so frightened, the blood ran cold in me! But I overcame my deep fears, and helped the lady with her children. Soon, they all were laughing, and having a great time!
I think the biggest problem we really have right now in America, is not religious bigotry– it is agnosticism, or atheism– rejection of God, and hatred of religion, desiring evil, filth, disorder, and anarchy, of the lawless “hippie” “libertarians!” This, to me, and to many others– is very irresponsible, and immature!!