SPARTA, Tenn. -- About 350 concerned citizens gathered at a church in White County upset about a textbook. They want the school board to get rid of a 7th grade history book that they believe promotes Islamic indoctrination.
"It is our time, it is our place to stop it here," said Steve Gill, a speaker at the event. (link)
I don't know what the truth is about reported Islamic indoctrination in White County but people are certainly riled up. I have not read the textbook in question, but I doubt many of those at the church in Sparta have either. Tennessee Eagle Forum has devoted the last couple days of its newsletter to the issue. To view the newsletter and learn Eagle Forum's take on the controversy, follow this link.
I support public and parental involvement in public education and think education is too important to be left up to educators. We know the majority of educators are liberal as evidenced by the role of the National Education Association in Democrat Party politics. Even liberals however, I do not think, have an agenda to indoctrinate kids in Islamic theology.
I do think however the agenda of promoting people being non-judgmental and politically correct may distort what and how educators teach. They may be so devoted to a why-can't-we-all-just-get-along attitude, a belief that all views are equally valid, possess an Obama-like attitude of apology for America's role in the world, and believe that if we would just be more respectful and understanding of other people that they would not do bad things, that promoting that belief system amounts to bending over backwards to present Islam in a favorable light and ignoring Islamic fanaticism. I doubt educators are indoctrinating kids in Islamic theology, but I don't doubt that they are indoctrinating them in a liberal world view and that may be almost as bad.
On the other hand, there are ignorant people who don't want their children to be exposed to other cultures and faiths and other points of view. There are people who think all of Islam is represented by Al Qaeda and ISIS's and they don't want anyone pointing out that most of the world's Muslims are not terrorist. There are people who think their view of Islam is more accurate than that of Islamic scholars.
In World War II there were many who thought rounding up and imprisoning Americans of Japanese descent was a good idea. That way of thinking has not disappeared. If today it was proposed that all Muslim be put in concentration camps, I fear there would be many Americans who would support that proposal. There are people who support Freedom of Religion as long as it is their religion but think Muslims should not be allowed to build mosques in America. Is is easy to fill a room by preaching xenophobia and Islamophobia and bigotry. I don't know what the truth is. I suspect it is somewhere between an excess of naive liberal political correctness and bigotry.
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Rod, I disagree. And if you're not careful, it looks like you're almost ready to talk yourself out of your position:
ReplyDelete(1) Islamic scholars? Your statement indicates that Islamic scholars are united in their belief that Islam is a "religion of peace". The problem is that Islamic clerics are scholars, having trained in their religion before being given a "pulpit". It doesn't seem to be the case that one gets to be a Muslim cleric as some have made it to Baptist or some other evangelical/fundamentalist (and I'm a Baptist) pulpits--simply by being "called".
(2) It is a misleading analogy to compare this campaign of concern to internment. These people are simply concerned about what is being taught to their children, a concern you partially validate. Nor is such concern in itself bigotry. These parents are rightfully concerned that Islam is being presented "objectively" as a religion of peace in a world in which our primary threat comes from Islamists. These parents see their children being taught such garbage even while our Founders are increasingly being ignored.
Concern for the content of public, taxpayer funded education of children is not bigotry.