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Monday, November 21, 2005
Is There A Double Standard?
Submitted for your consideration.
A Contra Costa County public school was educating seventh-graders about Christianity, not indoctrinating them, in role-playing sessions in which students used Biblical names and recited language from prayers, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a lawsuit by two Muslim students and their parents, who accused the Byron Union School District of unconstitutionally endorsing a religious practice.
“The Christian program activities were not overt religious exercises that raise Establishment Clause concerns,” the three-judge panel said, referring to the First Amendment ban on government sanctioning a religion.
During the history course at Excelsior School in the fall of 2001, the teacher, using an instructional guide, told the students they would adopt roles as Christians for three weeks to help them learn what Christians believe.
She encouraged them to use Christian names, recited prayers in class and made them give up something for a day, such as television or candy, to simulate fasting during Lent. The final exam asked students for a critique of elements of Christian culture.
I think I would take issue with the appeal court’s decision. In a public school—a captive audience—and to seventh graders—an impressionable audience—it seems wildly inappropriate to force a week-long immersion of one particular religion. The court ruled that it wasn’t indoctrination. If it isn’t, then no church indoctrinates. What is indoctrination in the civilized world but communal songs, traditions, readings, and beliefs? No, the school did not force re-education videos upon unsuspecting kids, but it did actively decide to engage in religious practices, and to make such engagement determinative of grades.
One last note: the real story is about students being forced to adopt Islamic religious customs, not Christian ones. Have you changed your mind?
Posted on November 21, 2005 07:59 AM. Permalink 