Teaching of Islam in our classrooms

It has been brought to my attention by Alison Rampersaud that textbooks chosen for our public schools include teachings of Islam!  As the parent of an elementary school child I am OUTRAGED!

The email I received from Alison says the following:

Hi, All:

In the Florida Department of Education approved Social Studies textbooks, over 200 excerpts with pro-Islam, anti-Judeo/Christian bias were identified by the Citizens for National Security.  Some of you have been asking about the textbook issues that have prompted the upcoming scheduled protest.  So, I’ve attached a list of some ‘questionable’ items.

I met with the Palm Beach School Board Social Studies group this morning.  They danced around the issue and tried to get me to go in another direction, ie…the FDOE at the state level, as they’re the ones who actually recommend the books.  I stayed the course, however, and told them that all we expect of them is to educate the classroom teachers by giving them the same handout I’m sending you so they can explain to students what the problems are and why they’re erroneous.  They said they’ll run the list of textbooks/errors through their legal department and comply, pending Legal’s reply.  They also invited me to a June meeting where they will be reviewing various classroom materials prior to purchasing.

Email attachment reads:

Islam-bias Tactics

The following tactics for tailoring the content in favor of Islam were typical in the Florida K-12 history and geography textbooks reviewed.

 Significant omissions, e.g. avoiding any discussion of “jihad” and “Shariah law.”

Example:

“As early as 2002 another high-profile textbook, World History: Patterns of Interaction, a high school world history textbook published by Houghton Mifflin under the McDougal Littell imprint, did not mention jihad. Houghton Mifflin’s multigrade series then dropped jihad from textbooks; by 2005 Houghton Mifflin had apparently removed jihad from its entire series of social studies textbooks.”11

 Paradoxically, on one hand some flawed textbooks attempt to equate Islam with Judaism and Christianity – universally accepted and respected religions – though the latter receive pejorative treatment in others.

Example:

“The religion [Islam] has close ties to the prophets and teachers of Judaism and Christianity,”12 and “Muslims believe that Allah is the same God as the God of the Jews and Christians.”13

Yet, in another textbook:

“Most of the people who lived on manors belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. They practiced a religion called Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church grew strong during the Middle Ages. …Church leaders became rich and powerful. …because of its power, rulers [kings and queens] often decided to obey the church.”

“Many important ideas taught in Europe in the Middle Ages came from scholars who followed a religion called Islam. Islam started in the Middle East and spread to parts of Europe, including Spain. People in the Islamic world had been exploring scientific ideas. Students in European universities began to study those ideas, too. They learned new things about medicine and the stars.”14

and,

“During the era of Roman control, a Jewish man named Jesus… taught that faith and love were more important than Judaism’s many laws.”15

Note how Christianity and Judaism are put in a negative light, whereas Islam is spoken of positively. Factual errors–the  majority of them self-serving. Example:

“Sometime during the years 8 to 4 B.C., a Jewish boy named Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a small town in ancient Palestine.”16

N.B. This typifies the “Jesus was a Palestinian” myth. Palestine did not even exist at the time of Jesus’ birth, only coming into existence about 135 years later when named by the Romans.

 “Wordsmithing”–cleverly, and deliberately, crafting words or phrases to fabricate an unsubstantiated fact, undo a negative image, or fashion a more acceptable conclusion.

Examples:

“Muhammad’s teachings, which are the revealed word of God…are found in the holy book called the Qur’an…According to the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth was born around 6 to 4 B.C…According to Jesus’ followers, he rose from the dead…” [Emphases added]17

Here, the Muslim belief is stated as a fact, while the Christian and Jewish beliefs are something less verifiable.

—

th “In the late 20 century, another type of terrorism began to emerge.

Terrorists who carried out this type of terrorism wanted to achieve political ends or destroy what they considered to be the forces of evil. They attacked targets not just in their own country, but anywhere in the world. These terrorists were willing to use any type of weapon to kill their enemy. They were even willing to die to ensure the success of their attacks.”18

What the textbook, The Americans: Reconstruction to the Twenty-first Century, says is artful in what it avoids. A student will be hard pressed to identify religion and, more specifically, radical Islam as the enemy and source of the terrorist attacks.

 Authors commonly connect the wrong dots–intentional juxtaposition of facts – to create a believable conclusion.

Example:

“[under] Conflict in Palestine. Conflict in Southwest Asia has a long history. When the Israelites entered Palestine around 1220 B.C., other peoples were already settled there. One of these peoples were the Philistines. For over two centuries, Israelites and Philistines fought for control. By 1020 B.C., the Israelites found themselves on the verge of being conquered by the Philistines…. David, the next king of the

Israelites, defeated the Philistines and established control over all of Palestine.”19

Connecting the land of the Philistines with that claimed by today’s Palestinians illustrates the danger of conflating ancient conflicts erroneously to the present.

 Whitewashing of Islam’s negatives. Example:

“ The Koran permits a man to have as many as four wives, as long as he treats each of them equally. This means that he must give them all the same material benefits, the same amount of love, and the same degree of respect. Since few men could afford to support several wives, most men had only a single wife.”

“Muslims believed that women were more likely than men to bring dishonor on the family. Women were expected to be modest and remain secluded within the home. They wore veils to conceal their faces from men who were not members of their family. In some Muslim homes, women used separate entrances and ate their meals only in the company of other women.

“The system gave women security.”20

 Obfuscation to confuse student readers. Example:

“If Abraham moved to the land of Canaan (Palestine) he would be blessed…”21

“The World and Its People” is among those textbooks introducing confusing land nomenclature.

 Outright derogation and marginalization of religions other than Islam.

Examples:

“Jesus was offended by what he perceived as Jewish religious and political leaders’ excessive concern with money and power…”22

—

“[in essay “A Call for a Muslim State,” a December 1930 speech by Mohammed Iqbal to the All-India Muslim League] What I mean to say is that Muslim society, with its remarkable homogeneity and inner unity, has grown to be what it is under the pressure of the laws and institutions associated with the culture of Islam. …Even the Hindus do not form a homogeneous group. …The Muslim demand for the creation of a Muslim India is, therefore, perfectly justified. …India is the greatest Muslim country in the world.”23

By resorting to this “essay,” the textbook writer finds yet another way to put down another religion – in this case Hinduism – and build up

Islam.

—

“…because humans rejected Allah’s earlier messengers, Allah sent his final revelation.”24

This de-legitimizes Jesus and Abraham; and, in the process, marginalizes Christianity and Judaism.

An example of radical islam being introduced to our school aged children at Wellesley Middle School can be found in this video taken in  Wellesley Massachusetts.

When/if a new protest is scheduled we will post the information here.  Be sure to check with us for more on this subject!  I will leave you with this to ponder…….JIHAD TRAINING CAMP 4 BOYS.