It’s Not Christianity So It Must Be OK….
The Minnesota Dept. of Muslim Studies Education has given a pass to a school in Inver Grove Heights MN that is using Minnesota taxpayer dollars to fund a Muslim K-8 school. It took a reporter (yes I said reporter) and a substitute teacher at the school to make this a public issue.
This from the StarTribune columnist Katherine Kersten:
TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school. It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is “establishing Islam in Minnesota.” The building also houses a mosque. TIZA’s executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.
Students pray daily, the cafeteria serves halal food – permissible under Islamic law — and “Islamic Studies” is offered at the end of the school day.
Zaman maintains that TIZA is not a religious school. He declined, however, to allow me to visit the school to see for myself, “due to the hectic schedule for statewide testing.” But after I e-mailed him that the Minnesota Department of Education had told me that testing would not begin for several weeks, Zaman did not respond — even to urgent calls and e-mails seeking comment before my first column on TIZA.
Now, however, an eyewitness has stepped forward. Amanda Getz of Bloomington is a substitute teacher. She worked as a substitute in two fifth-grade classrooms at TIZA on Friday, March 14. Her experience suggests that school-sponsored religious activity plays an integral role at TIZA.
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TIZA’s operation as a public, taxpayer-funded school is troubling on several fronts. TIZA is skirting the law by operating what is essentially an Islamic school at taxpayer expense. The Department of Education has failed to provide the oversight necessary to catch these illegalities, and appears to lack the tools to do so. In addition, there’s a double standard at work here — if TIZA were a Christian school, it would likely be gone in a heartbeat.
TIZA is now being held up as a national model for a new kind of charter school. If it passes legal muster, Minnesota taxpayers may soon find themselves footing the bill for a separate system of education for Muslims.
The ACLU is looking into it??? What a laugh. It’s not a Christian school so it will be overlooked.
Kudos to Katherine… I suspect she’ll be run out of town by sundown.
Old Solder said,
April 9, 2008 @ 10:44 am
We seeing our nation being taken away one small bit at a time. And what a better place to start than with you school kids. Same as with the homosexual agenda. I really don’t know what we can do, because it has been going on for so long. I guess it’s time or another revolution but most Amricans today would not have the guts like our fore fathers
John Foust said,
April 9, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
Old Solder? I hear some spools of silver solder are going for big prices on eBay.
Does the ACLU Believe in the Seperation of Mosque and State? : Stop The ACLU said,
April 9, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
[...] Silent E: The ACLU is looking into it??? What a laugh. It’s not a Christian school so it will be overlooked. [...]