TheHumbleWun
Banned
Today’s Washington Post reports that a government agency is recommending that a private school funded in part of the Saudi Government be shut down:
McLEAN, Va. — A private Islamic school supported by the Saudi government should be shut down until the U.S. government can ensure the school is not fostering radical Islam, a federal panel recommends.
In a report released Thursday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom broadly criticized what it calls a lack of religious freedom in Saudi society and promotion of religious extremism at Saudi schools.
Particular criticism is leveled at the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private school serving nearly 1,000 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in northern Virginia’s Fairfax County.
The commission’s report says the academy hews closely to the curriculum used at Saudi schools, which they criticize for promoting hatred of and intolerance against Jews, Christians and Shiite Muslims.
“Significant concerns remain about whether what is being taught at the ISA promotes religious intolerance and may adversely affect the interests of the United States,” the report states.
Of particular apparent concern are some of the textbooks that may or not be in use in the school:
Several advocacy groups in recent years have cited examples of inflammatory statements in religious textbooks in Saudi Arabia, including claims that a ninth-grade textbook reads that the hour of judgment will not come “until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them
The Commission itself has no power to close the school and, in reality, all that they are recommending is that the State Department pressure the Saudis to either close the school, or change the textbooks.
There’s just one problem, and it’s in the Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
In other words, the content of what the school is teaching is irrelevant, because the government has no authority to close a school simply because it doesn’t like what’s being taught.
Don’t like the Saudi Academy ? Don’t send your kids there. Otherwise, unless there’s evidence they are committing a crime, then leave them alone.
http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com/
McLEAN, Va. — A private Islamic school supported by the Saudi government should be shut down until the U.S. government can ensure the school is not fostering radical Islam, a federal panel recommends.
In a report released Thursday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom broadly criticized what it calls a lack of religious freedom in Saudi society and promotion of religious extremism at Saudi schools.
Particular criticism is leveled at the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private school serving nearly 1,000 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in northern Virginia’s Fairfax County.
The commission’s report says the academy hews closely to the curriculum used at Saudi schools, which they criticize for promoting hatred of and intolerance against Jews, Christians and Shiite Muslims.
“Significant concerns remain about whether what is being taught at the ISA promotes religious intolerance and may adversely affect the interests of the United States,” the report states.
Of particular apparent concern are some of the textbooks that may or not be in use in the school:
Several advocacy groups in recent years have cited examples of inflammatory statements in religious textbooks in Saudi Arabia, including claims that a ninth-grade textbook reads that the hour of judgment will not come “until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them
The Commission itself has no power to close the school and, in reality, all that they are recommending is that the State Department pressure the Saudis to either close the school, or change the textbooks.
There’s just one problem, and it’s in the Constitution:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
In other words, the content of what the school is teaching is irrelevant, because the government has no authority to close a school simply because it doesn’t like what’s being taught.
Don’t like the Saudi Academy ? Don’t send your kids there. Otherwise, unless there’s evidence they are committing a crime, then leave them alone.
http://www.muslimlinkpaper.com/
