HJS Comments: First I must say that it is not the kids! Yes, just like Little League and anything else involving children that erupts in violence, it is not the kids! The first general rule that each child should learn before attending a school with others of different races, different nationalities, and different faiths, is: Live and Let Live! Perhaps New York’s Imam Rauch should learn that as well. I attended Catholic schools for twelve years, but never really noticed the large crucifix on the wall until my third year—when someone first called attention to it. There were many pictures on the walls that I did not understand until I was much older. They were all part of the classroom scene. The Sisters of Immaculate Heart wore the traditional nun’s habits with a crucifix proudly displayed in front for all to see, but their manner of dress did not bother me, I became accustomed to seeing it every day; the sisters were really harmless, unless armed with a heavy ruler and headed in my direction! I often wondered what would happen if I held up a cross, as they do in Dracula movies, to stop the sister in her tracks and escape the ruler, but I never was able to call up that much nerve.
What makes Europe so different? It is what the kids are told. The average parent probably would not care about the religious ambiance, as long as the child was treated well and learned something that would benefit him or her. However, there are groups of people in Europe who
believe that Islam is the beginning and the end of religions; and that everything except their own faith is garbage and should be destroyed. Not everyone feels like that, fortunately, but enough do to make life miserable for
the kids of all faiths, as well as the rest of us. In these pages, several times I have shown Quranic verses which I hope clarified for you the abject hatred for non-believers in Islam that has been systemic for centuries. I have given many examples of the Christian homes that have been destroyed, the Christian churches blown up and machine-gunned, and the Christian people killed as a result of this systemic hatred. And you know, we are talking about Christians who are known for practicing the rule, Live and Let Live. There were never any good reasons for the killings—the Christians were not taught to hate anyone. They are still enjoined from hating--they just don't turn the other cheek any more.
The Catholic schools accepted the Muslim students with an understanding that there would be trouble. They knew that the Muslims would first request, and then demand accommodation for their pre-salat ablutions and their prayer places. There is a history of that in Europe and elsewhere. It appears that the Islamists do not take the easy approach, by negotiating and compromise. Everything has to be their way or else. Yep, it is not the kids! It’s the looney-tunes who think that they are the chosen ones and everyone else is in the bull-pen for Hades. You know, back in the dark ages, some Catholics used to think that way, but they got religion. How long do we have to wait for the pogroms targeting non-believers to end, and the children to learn the world is for everyone? You could start by turning to the priests and the sisters and saying, “Thanks for opening your doors and your hearts to us. Now, what can we do to help?” It is not too late, and not too little. I bet many of the working class already thought of that.
Muslims in Christian Schools: Religious Friction 101
by David J. Rusin • Nov 26, 2010 at 11:28 am
As Muslim enrollment increases at Christian schools, especially in Europe, so too does interfaith conflict at such institutions. A recent piece in Le Figaro highlights the stresses placed on French Catholic schools in particular. For example, the report describes how one had set up a crib for Advent, but "a Muslim parent demanded its removal, saying 'a Muslim cannot hear that Jesus is the Son of God.'" At another, Muslims walked all over a well-intentioned but hapless administrator:
A headmistress … offered Muslim students a room in which to pray and to help them avoid being caught in rain in the school courtyard. The students have turned it into a prayer room and invite other people who have nothing to do with the school to pray with them. Since then the director has been unable to use this space for other activities.
Of course, Christian schools also share many of the challenges faced by secular ones, such as students refusing to swim during Ramadan due to fear of swallowing water (an old standard). No word from Le Figaro on whether Muslims in French Catholic schools respond to lessons on evolution or the Holocaust any more positively than their public school counterparts do.
A 2008 New York Times article explains that France's hijab ban in state-run classes has pushed Muslims to Catholic schools, which are not bound by this law and must accept students of all faiths to qualify for subsidies. Yet even the less critical Times piece could not ignore the ensuing cultural friction. For example, it relates the story of one Catholic school's headmaster who, after a series of accommodations, finally had to "put his foot down when students asked to remove the crucifix in a classroom they wanted for communal prayers during Ramadan."
Christian schools elsewhere are caught in a similar cycle. NIS News reported in 2008 that "two Amsterdam secondary schools with a Christian basis are to close during [Eid al-Fitr] to accede to their Muslim pupils." A year later, a Dutch Catholic elementary school with a handful of Muslims was planning to serve halal food at a Christmas meal, but officials reversed course following parental outrage. In the UK, bishops have recommended that Catholic schools include prayer rooms and washing facilities for Muslims.
The Times of London has also href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5576412.ece" title="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5576412.ece"> that at least one Muslim-heavy Church of England school "no longer observes the requirement to have an act of daily collective worship that is 'consistently and recognizably Christian.'"
Showing more backbone, Catholic schools in Ireland have banned niqabs for pupils, while an English one recently barred a face-covering visitor. The board of Trinity University in Texas, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, also earns credit for resisting demands, initially driven by Muslim students, to remove the phrase "In the Year of Our Lord" from diplomas.
Overall, the situation in many Christian schools resembles David Solway's analogy of the West's multicultural experiment: you welcome a guest into your home, only to watch him "introduce a new set of house rules which you, the proprietor, are expected to abide by." But who really deserves greater blame here: the pushy guest or the owner who is too timid to stand his ground?
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