TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A Muslim student who sued because his public high school graduation ceremony was held in a Baptist church has received an apology from Newark's school district and assurances that it will not hold future events in houses of worship.
Bilal Shareef said he had to skip his 2006 graduation from West Side High School because his religious beliefs prohibit him from entering buildings containing icons of God.
The lawsuit was filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union. Newark public schools apologized to Shareef and his father and agreed to change its policies under terms of the settlement announced Monday.
Schools Superintendent Dr. Marion Bolden said in a statement that the location of prior ceremonies was "not in any way intended" to make students or parents uncomfortable.
"We're very pleased," said Ed Barocas, the ACLU lawyer who represented Shareef. "These are important policy changes to ensure that no student is made to feel like an outsider as Bilal was."
Barocas said the ACLU wrote a letter to the district in 2005, demanding the church-graduation practice cease after the parent of another student complained. The Shareefs complained after graduation was again held at the church the following year, and the ACLU filed suit on their behalf.
"I was forced to choose between honoring my education and my faith, and no one should be put in that position," Shareef, now a college student, said in a statement. "I'm proud I stood up for my beliefs and I'm proud that my experience will keep other students from having to face the choices I did."
School officials defended their decision to schedule graduation at New Hope Baptist Church, saying it was based on the need to accommodate 250 graduating seniors.
Barocas said an ACLU volunteer found otherwise.
"We had a volunteer call various locations around Newark, and within a day we found four or five places that are able to house the number of people they wished to house and that are not cost prohibitive," he said.
With about 43,000 students, the Newark district is the state's largest.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Comments
Wbmoore
Hi, you know I think your right about the icon bit. Unless they have a different definition of icon like cross. Anyway I think the main point is that schools shouldn't be holding school run ceremonies in any religious house whether it be church or temple or mosque. This of course is quite different from a community sponsored baccalaureate. Our commnunity has one sponsored by the area church's which rotates from church to church each year with the pastors/priests other than that from the host church giving the invocation, message and benediction. This has no relation to the actual graduation and is on a completely voluntary basis. Since it is not a school duty nor occuring on school grounds or time I though High School Principal am able to attend (and do) as a private citizen. About three quarters of the student body attend this event.
Hmm.. I've never seen a Baptist church that had an icon of God.
Wildcat101,
could I gently point out that many muslims (as well as jews, hindus, etc, etc) were born here in this country as well as there parents and grandparents. In regards to your comments about currency I must point out that the currency does not state "In the Christian God We Trust" and that Allah translates in English as God. So the hypocrisy you suppose does not exist and only displys your lack of knowledge. Let us not base our arguments on bigotry and fear they always backfire.
aliveinchrist97,
I must gently disagree with your post. You speak of our forgetting why this country was founded in the first place. I believe that the upholding of this boys right to religious freedom explicitly reminds us of why this country was founded in the first place. Were not many of those who came here as the original immigrants from Europe were fleeing religious oppression where the majority religion was imposed on minorities. If our ancestors had the right to be free from such how can we justly complain that this young man only wants the same right.
Secondly I must remind you that this boy and his parents and there parents etc. may very well have been born here. Just because someone is not a Christian does not mean they are a new immigrant and just because they are a Christian does not mean that they can not be an illegal alien. Let us not let how we treat each other be based on bigotry and fear.
hmmm, reading all these comments kinda gave me a headache:( so much going back and forth. I understand why some people get angry when a person from another country wants to make a big fuss, when we see our values and beliefs that founded this country fading into the background, people get upset and little things can set them off. I can also see where this boy had rights since he was going to a public school......this is a very dark and desperate age we live in, it is not easy being a christian here anymore. This once christina country now professes no faith and we are reaping the consequences. Now I realize the U.S. is all about freedoms, but we have lost sight of why this country was founded in the first place. The truth is that if we were in another country and we went to their schools we would not be given preferential treatment. Especially a muslim school in another country. This angers many americans, we want equality but not at the price of what we used to stand for. I can see both sides........it is not easy to pick one side or another. For some it is easy to say that the boy should have had a apology..........while others just see our country bending over backwards for everyone but her own natives. Time will tell and God will have His say above all else..........
Hi Mike 2685,
Thanks for your support for the freedoms that our U.S. Constitution provides. Just to let you know I also am a Christian. I am proud to know their are young Christian citizens like your self who would defend the rights of others even if they did not share our faith.
Im with Viking on this one all the way! Its not about him hating Christianity or trying to make this a Muslim country at all. It was a public high school, they should never have had it in a church in the first place. I am Catholic, and you had better believe my parents would have been upset had the school chosen to have graduation at a Baptist church. That is the bigger issue here. While I'm sure the school officials meant no harm, they must realize that those issues are touchy. My knee still bows to Jesus, but I would not go to a Baptist church because I don't believe as they do. Does that make sense to anyone?
viking, thanks but I'll admit I really enjoy a good verbal confrontation as long as everybody does their best to fight fair and be willing to agree to disagree and I also admit that I prefer confrontations in the flesh because I've found for me personally blogging battles allow for too much misinterpretations which I believe leads to a lot of misunderstandings. But I'm really getting to like this blogging interaction because it forces me to dig deeper into God's Word and in the case of this young man and his parents I did not sense any desire on their part to cause problems and it wasn't as if they were demanding that the event be held in a mosque but in a place where no ones religious or personal values would be infringed on.
believer,
Thank you for representing what I believe are true Christian values of tolerance, fair mindedness and just discernment. As you say while we may disagree with the religion of the young man to the utmost of our being we must not allow that passion to drive us from being true to the commands of Christ to love our neighbor and even those we disagree with as ourselves. In fact if we truly follow his commands it is those who most are in opposition to us that we must reach out to not with condemnation but in concern. It is my hope that the anonymous.... might someday come to the peace of Christ.
Only God knows the genuiness of this young man's intentions, if he and his parents were sincere and I sense they were since I did not see any monetary compensation given, so my response is based on a genuine concern on the part of this young man and his parents. That being said the high school after having had a similar concern raised the year before should have done a better job of finding another site for the graduation, instead it appears they let past traditions to keep them from doing the right thing and surely in Trenton NJ there has to be other suitable sites they could have used. Even though we may not agree with the religious beliefs of others we need to be considerate of their religious beliefs and especially if we expect them to be respectful of our Christian beliefs regardless of whether they agree with them or not and for us to justify this school's insensitivity by saying if the shoe were on the other foot and we were in Iran they sure wouldn't have changed the site is foolish. Why would we want to use the preceived practices of a totally intolerant nation as a standard for how we should as a tolerant nation respond to situations such as this one. This was not a surprise to this high school they had ample time to find a site that would not cause a hardship for anyone, but rather they chose to disregard a sincere request by this young man and his parents.
viking - You have no ability to discern truth from error. No argument or logic will remove the blinders off your eyes. Only God can do that.
.... So lacking any argument or facts or biblical basis to defend your position and your words you resort to taking on the mantle of false righteousness and accusing me. In response I again give you the words of Christ.
"Do not judge LEST YOU BE JUDGED yourselves. For in the WAY you judge, you will be judged; and by YOUR STANDARD OF MEASURE, it shall be measured to YOU." (Matt 7:1&2)
viking - You need to repent yourself.
..... perhaps you will read the words below in relation to your posts and then instruct me in God's word.
"How happy are the humble-minded, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs!
5:38-39 - "You have heard that it used to be said 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth', but I tell you, don't resist the man who wants to harm you. If a man hits your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.
7:3-5 - "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and fail to notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me get the speck out of your eye', when there is a plank in your own? You fraud! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you can see clearly enough to remove your brother's speck of dust."
7:12 - "Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them - this is the essence of all true religion."
7:15-20 - "Be on your guard against false religious teachers, who come to you dressed up as sheep but are really greedy wolves. You can tell them by their fruit. Do you pick a bunch of grapes from a thorn-bush or figs from a clump of thistles? Every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree is incapable of producing bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. The tree that fails to produce good fruit is cut down and burnt. So you may know men by their fruit."
7:21 - "It is not everyone who keeps saying to me 'Lord, Lord' who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the man who actually does my Heavenly Father's will.
I have seen the fruits of such works as your posts lead to in Germany in 35 the only real difference then was the bigotry against Jews rather than against Muslims
viking - you are as blind to what the Islamic people want just as much as you are blind to the truth of God's Word.