Islamic Indoctrination in Public Schools Is 'Nationwide Epidemic,' Conservative Law Group Says
The American Center for Law and Justice has claimed that Islamic indoctrination is growing into a "nationwide epidemic," based on several cases of public school students allegedly being taught Islamic ideology. The conservative law group said that as many as 7,000 Tennessee residents have called to complain about students being require to learn the Five Pillars of Islam.
"For the last several years, parents from across the country have contacted the ACLJ — from California to Maine — concerned about the teaching of Islam in their local schools. It seems that many schools may be going well beyond simply teaching about a religion. From disparate treatment of religions, to distortion of truth, the teaching of Islam seems entrenched with problems," the ACLJ wrote in a statement shared with The Christian Post on Thursday.
According to the law group, students in Tennessee and Georgia have been told to recite an Islamic conversion creed, while in one Nashville middle school students were reportedly told to write "Allah is the only God," the Daily Caller reported in September.
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The ACLJ said that teachings about Christianity or Judaism were skipped entirely at such schools, making the cases "indoctrination."
"Almost 7,000 Tennessee citizens have contacted us expressing their opposition to this egregious practice. It is our goal to make sure that any unconstitutional actions by the school districts, pertaining to Islamic indoctrination, cease," the law group added.
Some pastors in Tennessee have also spoken out on the issue, and even encouraged Christian parents to tell their children to "take an F" in such classes in order to protest against "brainwashing."
"We have a number of our families at our church that are really upset and up and arms over all of this new Islamic indoctrination in our public school system," said Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet.
"That is nothing more than absolute brainwashing of religion and we're not going to stand for it."
Wilson County Schools Director Donna Wright shot down such claims, however, and said that outside observers are misinformed as to what is taught in classrooms.
"No one in any Wilson County School is teaching any indoctrination of Islam or of any world religion for that matter," Wright stated. "To imply or state otherwise shows a lack of knowledge about the standards used in our schools."
The ACLJ insisted that such manner of teaching about Islam in public schools is unconstitutional, however, and said that it is preparing to send letters to schools about the issue.
"Incredibly, as Islam continues to be taught in schools around the nation, students are being denied the right to establish Bible Clubs on campus, bring their Bibles to school, and speak about Christianity. Simply put, schools may not promote Islam while silencing Christianity," the law group argued.
