Prayer in school allowed for some

(H/T: Conservative Princess)
I thought that prayer in school was not allowed? Public schools are considered part of the state and thus the strict wall of seperation between church & state is required. This is, after all, the legal justification the militant gay theology used to try to kick the Boy Scouts out of the schools.

So then comes this story which demonstrates the reality. Only Christianity is not allowed to be practiced in any manner within the public schools.

The 14-year-old was told she couldn't, and went home distraught that afternoon in October 2003. Praying five times a day is a cornerstone of her Muslim faith.

"If I wasn't allowed to pray my second prayer at school, I couldn't do it at home," she said. "When school finishes, the third prayer begins."

Her family contacted a Muslim advocacy group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which asked the school district to reconsider. Eventually, the district acknowledged it had no policy preventing a student from praying on his or her own during free time, and allowed Yasmeen to use an empty classroom to unfurl her prayer rug, face Mecca and touch her head to the floor in a few moments of worship.

Oh, but the story does not stop there. The story (inadvertantly) shows that this is not isolated but a very concerted effort to push for special Muslim religious rights within the schools.

Her case was part of a nationwide grassroots effort by Muslim parents to make public schools more friendly and accommodating to Muslim students. The movement has gained strength since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Yep, the movement to allow Muslim prayer in school while still fighting against any Christianity practicing child from praying GREW STRONGER after 9/11. Now, we can argue why but I will postulate that the hate/blame America crowd who think that terrorism is not really "an enemy we can fight" have been aiding & abetting Muslim and Middle-Eastern infiltration. This is not a bad thing except the Left willingly include suspected & known terrorists in this protection. This story is a result of the idea that terrorists get American Constitutional protections.

The AP writer is not happy with that. They then go into a dramatization of how Muslims are victims.

"The reality for many Muslim students in public schools is very difficult," said Ingrid Mattson, vice president of the Islamic Society of North America. "It's highly stressful."

She said her children were sometimes taunted in their Connecticut [a blue state] school district.

"The kids will say 'Hey Osama, do you have a bomb? Are you going to blow us up?"' she said. "My daughter has had people try to pull her head scarf off, or say 'What are you doing with that rag on your head?' But they have also had friends who defended them."

Two things to this. One, all groups of kids do this kind of thing to all other groups of kids. Two, this is what kids do. As long as the kids are not inflicting damage to each other's property or inflicting physical harm then this is just schoolyard banter. Shut up and get over it.

Stop being a victim and be a survivor. If you REALLY do not like the link to terroristic murderers then start to publicly condemn them. That is how people work. Next thing you know the "victims" will be asking for SPECIAL treatment.

Whoops, too late:

A zero-tolerance policy on harassment of Muslim students was adopted by Florida's Broward County school board in March 2003, just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Some more victimhood:

Noor Ennab, a fifth-grader who attends the private Muslim Al-Noor School in New York City, said she was driven out of her public school by post-September 11 harassment.

"Before that (the 2001 terror attacks) happened, we were treated so kind," she said. "Now it's like, 'You're a terrorist; get out of this country."'

So, Noor, did people actually say "You're a terrorist" or is this the result of your paraphrasing your perception? If it is your perception then, well, get a little bit thicker skin would be my advice. If people actually said that to you then your opportunity to denounce the terrorists as evil misrepresentations of your religion was missed. Did you say that you 100% disagree with those terrorists proclamations, methods or targets? I'm guessing not.

"I don't want to be hated by other people," said Rohani, who attends the Al-Noor School in Brooklyn, New York, and said she was harassed by non-Muslims after 9/11. "I didn't do anything wrong. I would go home to my mom and cry. I started saying, 'No, I'm not Arabic.' But I don't want to deny who I am."

Actually, if you did not denounce the evil that is Muslim terrorism then you are doing something wrong in a sense. You are tacitly supporting the terrorists. See, life is about action-reaction. Action: not unequivocally denouncing Muslim terrorists; Reaction: people will not like you.

Plain and simple. Oh yeah, and the Christians are still under attack in the schools.

********** UPDATE ********** 11/30/05
Source link is dead. New link for story is here.