God No ! Alah Yes !

[jimpres]

In California, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (the one that outlawed the Pledge of Allegiance for its reference to God) approved putting public school students through Muslim role-playing exercises. Investor's Business Daily reminds us:

In a recent federal decision that got surprisingly little press, even from conservative talk radio, California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it's OK to put public-school kids through Muslim role-playing exercises, including:

Reciting aloud Muslim prayers that begin with "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful . . . ."

Memorizing the Muslim profession of faith: "Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger."

Chanting "Praise be to Allah" in response to teacher prompts.

Professing as "true" the Muslim belief that "The Holy Quran is God's word."

Giving up candy and TV to demonstrate Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

Designing prayer rugs, taking an Arabic name and essentially "becoming a Muslim" for two full weeks.

Parents of seventh-graders, who after 9-11 were taught the pro-Islamic lessons as part of California's world history curriculum, sued under the First Amendment ban on religious establishment. They argued, reasonably, that the government was promoting Islam.

But a federal judge appointed by President Clinton told them in so many words to get over it, that the state was merely teaching kids about another "culture."

So the parents appealed. Unfortunately, the most left-wing court in the land got their case. The 9th Circuit, which previously ruled in favor of an atheist who filed suit against the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, upheld the lower court ruling.

The decision is a major victory for the multiculturalists and Islamic apologists in California and across the country who've never met a culture or religion they didn't like — with the exception of Western civilization and Christianity. They are legally in the clear to indoctrinate kids into the "peaceful" and "tolerant" religion of Islam, while continuing to denigrate Judeo-Christian values.

In the California course on world religions, Christianity is not presented equally. It's covered in just two days and doesn't involve kids in any role-playing activities. But kids do get a good dose of skepticism about the Christian faith, including a biting history of its persecution of other peoples. In contrast, Islam gets a pass from critical review. Even jihad is presented as an "internal personal struggle to do one's best to resist temptation," and not holy war...

...This case is critical not just to our culture but our national security. It should be brought before the Supreme Court, which has outlawed prayer in school. Let's see what it says about practicing Islam in class. It will be a good test for the bench's two new conservative justices.

Meanwhile, creeping sharia in the public schools continues apace. Seattle is preparing to consider a proposal to accomodate Muslim student prayers.

Related: Kids in Kentucky are fighting to recite the Lord's Prayer at commencement.

[bescheid]

Jim

For why this is not a surprise to me. Well, one good thing of it all, at least the word of God is back in school, just under a different name. The Muslim (Arabic) portion of the population, still owe their existence to the Bible patriarch Abraham.

(non-sense information: Abraham was born in Mesopotamia, present day Iraq)

More useless information: The process has recenty been completed for revising the bible into a simplified version in Germany to remove antisemitic referances.

Charles

[jimpres]

Charles,

I guess if we keep revising the Bible and other documents all reading will be homogenous.
Was the German version something unique to Germany?
If we get any more PC we will be boring for sure.

Jim

[bescheid]

Jim

Well yes, it is very unique and will with out dout, be the cause of some very heated discussions. You might think perhaps I am bad in referece to adherance to the bible, remember, Germany is the land of, war against the Romans, The Teutonic tribes, the loused Gauls and turn table Franks, the 30 years war, Martin Luther and revolt against The Church of Rome (in the North)( the South, well that is the South (Bavaria, Bayern). I really would not say or even expect some thing of that order in reaction, but, what I would expect would be a some what in order of some book burnings.

Who really knows!

Well any way, below is what I received to day in my deplo brief readings for the morning share with you.
.05.2006

German Bible goes politically correct
A new German translation of the Bible is aimed at ridding the Holy Scriptures of their misogynist and anti-Semitic traits as well as flashing out the relationship between the poor and the privileged.

A new German translation of the Holy Scriptures, entitled "The Bible in Fair Language," will be published this fall, in time for the international book fair in Frankfurt. A team of 42 women and 10 men worked on the translation for five years in an attempt to render the 2,400 pages of biblical texts in an easy-to-follow, contemporary language.

For those who do not read the Bible on a regular basis, the new German translation will be easier to understand. Those who already know text well, however, will find it novel and strange.

According to Protestant theologian Claudia Janssen, who worked on the new Bible, the old text has been rendered in a bias-free language.

"Justice is the main topic of the Bible," Janssen said. "And we're trying to do justice to the topic in our translation. Justice has different aspects: We wanted to do justice to the text and the language about the sexes. Social justice is also an important topic, as well as justice in the Judeo-Christian dialogue."

"We try to make it clear that the New Testament is a collection of Jewish scriptures and that the Old Testament is the Book of Jews," Janssen said. "We want to approach that with respect and behave accordingly."

"We are very much used to speaking about God in the masculine," Frank Crüsemann, a professor of theology who himself worked on the new translation and is an expert in the Old Testament, said. "In the new translation, however, the feminine aspect prevails, which I find to be good and exciting."

The new translation is not meant to compete with other translations. It should, instead, highlight the creative co-existence of various interpretations of the original text.

Charles

[jimpres]

It's interesting they would change the gender to predominately female for representing Jesus.

Jim

[justjohn]

Jim,

A good read !!!!




A Letter From: An American Airlines Pilot

This is the same question that many of us have been asking for the
past several years....this well spoken man says what is on his heart
beautifully....read, absorb and pass on....it's time to get answers
from those who claim their terrorist members do not represent
them...why are their leaders not LOUDLY AND FIERCELY AND CONTINUOUSLY condemning their visible murderous brethren. By American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco

"I've been trying to say this since 9-11 but you worry me. I wish you
didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I
love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful
human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in
anymore. I notice you, and it worries me. I notice you because I
can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be
Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our
friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their
grievances and hate but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity
of their attacks.

On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and
brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes
and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers,
loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends,
favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers.
The Palestinians Celebrated, The Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of
the Arab world.

So I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be
consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed
the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational
American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and
unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and
the Arab/Muslim terrorist.

How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim-Americans and the
Arab/Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools,
enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection
of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will
slaughter these same good neighbors and children? The events of
September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to
determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its
religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its
faults. It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine
it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know whether
or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do
you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car? Do you
pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation,
that He will protect and prosper it? Or do you pray that Allah with
destroy it in one of your "Jihads"? Are you thankful for the freedom
that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the
blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for
this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by paying the
ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America? If this is your commitment,
then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at
this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are
taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States
of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death
of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. No
more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks
because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not interested
in any more sympathy...I am only interested in action. What will you
do for America - our great country -- at this time of crisis, at this
time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America". I want to see young
Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment
of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to
this nation as a whole. The FBI has a list of over 400 people they
want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live
and socialize in Muslim communities. You know them You know where
they are.

Hand them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching
this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and
secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the
streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities.
You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from
reprisals.

The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the
media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned
with making sure that the United States proves who was responsible
before taking action. They seemed more concerned with protecting
their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United
States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and
denouncing "leaders" like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat. If
the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for
all people then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements
from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good is it if the
teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true when your "leaders"
are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance?

It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if large numbers of the
world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and
adhere to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been
demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is
built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose
members are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose
members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world,
burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag,
shooting weapons into the air. A form whose members convert from a
peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United
States of America, the country of their birth. A form whose rules are
so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at
airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.

Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because our women proudly show their faces in public rather than cover up like a shameful sleeper? Do
you and your fellow Muslims hate us because we drink wine with dinner,
or celebrate Christmas? Do you and you fellow Muslims hate us because
we have befriended Israel, the ONLY civilized democratic nation in the
entire Middle East?

And if you and your fellow Muslims hate us, then why in the world are
you even here? Are you here to take our money? Are you here to
undermine our peace and stability? Are you here to destroy us? If so,
I want you to leave I want you to go back to your desert sandpit
where women are treated like rats and dogs. I want you to take your
religion, your friends, and your family back to your Islamic
extremists, and STAY THERE! We will NEVER give in to your influence, your retarded mentality, your twisted, violent, intolerant religion.
We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for
that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us: Our rights
under the greatest constitution in the world.I want to know where
every Arab/ Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right
and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A
right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters
who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and
your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here
as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there
can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it
is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand. Until then . . . you
worry me."

[hollister]

I just have to say a couple of things here -
One - I am HIGHLY suspicious of the story about the 9th District Court - if it cited an actual case or gave some specifics I would be happier (well not happy but more willing to believe it). it just seem to have the feeling of someone told someone and getting a little wilder with each re-telling. I did some research on the web for confirmation and I couldn't find any - except for the very right wing blogs - I just want a little more information. I am also not saying that just because I could only find it on right wing blogs it is necessarily wrong - I am just saying that for me I like to read a variety of news reports about an event/story before trying to come up with how I feel about it. Remember the Germans claimed that Poland actually attacked them! As the story about the dress code - that turned out to be less than accurate - it just seems that caution is called for here.
Two - The story about the airline pilot and the rant about Muslims - the problem with this is that it paints ALL Muslims with a pretty broad brush - It would be saying that ALL Christians were like those goofballs who go and protest at soldiers funerals because God hates gays and is killing our soldier in retribution.
I know several Muslims here and they are some of the most decent people I know and committed to GWOT.

Hollister

[jimpres]

Holly,
Associated Press article

Nov. 17 ruling in Eklund v. Byron Unified School District.
9th Circuit backs district in dispute over Muslim role-playing

By The Associated Press
11.21.05

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit brought by parents of two Christian seventh-graders who accused a Contra Costa County school of unconstitutionally indoctrinating them with Islam.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Byron Unified School District was educating the students about Islam in role-playing sessions in which students recited Muslim names and prayers in a 2001 history class, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Nov. 18.

The Excelsior School students had accused the district of endorsing religion.

The students were also encouraged to go without candy or television for a day to understand what it is like to fast during Ramadan. Children were also given an opportunity to critique the Muslim culture as part of a final exam.

A federal judge in 2003 said the class was instructional only and no religious exercises were performed, a claim upheld by the appeals court in its Nov. 17 ruling in Eklund v. Byron Unified School District.

The panel found that the activities weren't overt religious exercises and didn't violate the establishment clause.

The students' parents said they planned to ask the appellate panel to reconsider.

[hollister]

Okay I went back and looked at the actual court case ---

What it said was that the SCHOOL DISTRICT was correct in finding that the class meet the current educational standards of that school. (implication was that if people didn't agree with the current educational standards that a change of school board was a relief) It also stated that since the students/parent who had brought the case had NOT been involved in the class that was under consideration that it was too soon for them to bring a suit to the court as nothing had actually happened yet.

In the appeal - it was found that as the class was a history class and as a history class the class had used role playing as part of the curriculum that there had been no intent to teach religion to the students. (I think the actual phase was fantasy role-playing)


Eklund v. Byron Union School District, 2005 WL 3086580 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2005)

Legal Clips, November 2005
In an unpublished opinion, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that a California school district's use of role-playing in a world history class to teach middle school students about Islam does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. The suit was brought by two sets of parents whose children attend the Excelsior School against Byron Unified School District (BUSD). The suit claimed that 125 middle school students were asked to select a Muslim name, learn Islamic prayers, stage make-believe pilgrimages to Mecca, fast during lunch to simulate the fasting done during the holy month of Ramadan, dress in Muslim robes, and use Arabic phrases meaning "God is great." The plaintiffs contended that the classes on Islam were not just teaching students about religion, but rather how to practice a religion, which violates the Establishment Clause. The district court dismissed the case, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed. In a brief memorandum opinion, the appeals court concluded that the activities did not constitute "overt religious activities that raise Establishment Clause concerns." The court also found that the district court had not erred in determining that BUSD and the defendant school officials enjoyed qualified immunity, because the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that the defendants had violated a constitutional right, much less a clearly established one.

Eklund v. Byron Union School District, 2005 WL 3086580 (9th Cir. Nov. 17, 2005)

[Editor's Note: In a report on the lawsuit in the Sacramento Bee, attorney Edward White from the Thomas More Center for Law and Justice, who represented the plaintiffs, called the ruling "an opinion without any precedent." However, attorney Linda Lye, who represented BUSD, said she was "delighted the school district got this matter behind it" and could "move on with the business of educating children." For background information on the suit, access the NSBA School Law link below. NSBA joined an amicus brief by the California School Boards Association, below, arguing that the pedagogical approach did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation. The case does, however, demonstrate the need for great sensitivity to community concerns when teaching about religion.]