The Blog @ Spolitics

Apparently, It’s Only the Separation of Christianity and State

by Heywood U. Reedmore -- May 22, 2006 at 2:09 pm | In No, Seriously | No Comments

Michelle Malkin tracks a double standard that will make you sick, including this item from The Investor’s Business Daily.

According to California’s 9th circuit, it’s okay for a public school to force students to worship Allah and essentially practice Islam for two weeks.

Hmm… where is the ACLU on this one?

Update: Michelle’s post — and the various sites (like this one) that linked to it — has caused a bit of a stir on the left. The DailyKos offered this rebuttal to our little addition:

“Forced to worship Allah”? Why, yes!  And did I tell you they actually teach the metric system, too?  

Talk about a non sequitur — comparing religion to a system of weights and measurements.  Last I checked there was no separation of metric system and state. And the ACLU never sued to omit any reference to centimeters in our schools.

They do, however, have this to say:  

The Supreme Court has long held that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment forbids school-sponsored prayer or religious indoctrination.

And this:

The fundamental principle underlying all these decisions is that the Constitution commands that public schools may not take sides in matters of religion and may not endorse a particular religious perspective or any religion at all. 

They also said this:

The mindless notion that serious social problems can be solved by prayer in schoolrooms, instead of by thoughtful analysis and sufficient resources, appeals to no one but the radical religious right.

And this is a summation of their policy:

Opposition to school-sponsored prayer is a bedrock principle for the American Civil Liiberties Union. As national board policy #81(a) states in part: “The ACLU believes that any program of religious indoctrination — direct or indirect — in the public schools or by use of public resources is a violation of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state and must be opposed.”  The policy states further (#81(b)) that the ACLU “opposes the infusion of other types of religious practices and standards into the public schools. These include such practices as baccalaureate exercises in the form of religious services, prayer meetings at athletic events, the taking of a religious census of pupils … and the profession of religious observance or belief as a consideration in the evaluation and promotion of teachers.” [1932, 1962] 

Grand Moff Texan would have us believe that having students recite Islamic prayers is only “role playing.” As opposed to a Christmas play, which apparently is indoctrination. Or perhaps he was arguing that there was no way for the teacher to give the students an appreciation for Muslims, their history and culture, without having the kids practice Islam.

He also offered derision for the sites that simply “regurgitated” Michelle’s post. I felt she pretty much said all that needed to be said. (Apparently I was wrong and the issue needed clarification).

I only wanted to add one question: given their policy on religion in school, “Where is the ACLU on this one?”

If anyone knows, I’m still interested in hearing it.