Posted on 12/13/2004 8:27:50 PM PST by Kuksool
Political correct “diversity” advocates are often more solicitous of Muslim and non-Christian “holy days” than those celebrated by Christians, despite our nation’s Biblical heritage.
In Naperville, in my own back yard, school District 204 (Indian Prairie School District) not only tolerated but encouraged school remembrance of the Muslim holiday, Ramadan (which ended last month).
The following email was sent to administrators of School District 204 in Naperville-Aurora, urging special recognition of the Muslim holiday, Ramadan. I have yet to receive a return call from the author of the memo, Donna Crawford, Assistant Superintendent Elementary Education, asking if the same official respect has been accorded Christmas, as a Christian holy day. Emphasis is added:
"To: 204 Administration List
Subject: [204 Administration List] Ramadan begins 10/15
"Ramadan begins today and ends Nov 14th. For more than a billion Muslims around the world -- including some 8 million in North America -- Ramadan is a "month of blessing" marked by prayer, fasting, and charity. Ramadan observance focuses on self-sacrifice and devotion to Allah (God).
"For our Muslim students, staff and parents, please be mindful of fasting by offering alternative activity options during lunch period or other activities which may include food and beverages. Asking students about ways in which they may want to be accommodated is beneficial. Accommodations are especially important in regards to physical education classes. P.E. teachers may offer alternatives to rigorous physical exercise for the fasting students.
"Schools may also support Muslim students by arranging a place for prayer. The five essential times of prayer include: at first light and before sunrise, between the sun reaching it height and mid-afternoon, between mid-afternoon and sunset, after the sun has finished setting, in the dark of night.
"Students may also be absent from school for required religious observance. Some students will attend school after observing prayers.
"Other information about Ramadan .....
"Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Islam uses a lunar calendar -- that is, each month begins with the sighting of the new moon. Because the lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendar used elsewhere, Islamic holidays "move" each year.
"Muslims practice sawm, or fasting, for the entire month of Ramadan. This means that they may eat or drink nothing, including water, while the sun shines. As with other Islamic duties, all able Muslims take part in sawm from about age twelve (when they reach puberty). During Ramadan Muslims get up early for suhoor, a meal eaten before the sun rises. After the sun sets, the fast is broken with a meal known as iftar. Iftar usually begins with dates and sweet drinks that provide a quick energy boost. Fasting serves many purposes. While they are hungry and thirsty, Muslims are reminded of the suffering of the poor. Fasting is also an opportunity to practice self-control and to cleanse the body and mind. And in this most sacred month, fasting helps Muslims feel the peace that comes from spiritual devotion as well as kinship with fellow believers.
"Ramadan ends with the festival of Eid al-Fitr, which in 2004 occurs on November 14. Literally the "Festival of Breaking the Fast," Eid al-Fitr is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations (the other occurs after the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca). At Eid al-Fitr people dress in their finest clothes, adorn their homes with lights and decorations, give treats to children, and enjoy visits with friends and family. A sense of generosity and gratitude colors these festivities. Although charity and good deeds are always important in Islam, they have special significance at the end of Ramadan. As the month draws to a close, Muslims are obligated to share their blessings by feeding the poor and making contributions to mosques."
Donna Crawford
Assistant Superintendent Elementary Education
Indian Prairie School District 204
Phone 630.375.3025
Fax 630.375.3004
www.ipsd.org
____________________________________________________________________
Now, I'm all for ethnic diversity (my wife Cristina is half Lebanese, and the first in her family to be born in the USA). But isn't it interesting that in Muslim-dominated countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Christians and other non-Muslims are persecuted, while here we not only encourage respect for other faiths but erase our own Judeo-Christian heritage? No healthy civilization censors its own noble history!
America's religious freedom and embrace of immigrants is part of what makes us a great nation, but what the ACLU and its secularist allies refuse to teach the next generation is that our national experiment in freedom was made possible by our Christian heritage. We must not allow those who would strip Christianity from our public life to triumph or it will hasten the moral collapse of our nation.
Thank you for standing for Biblical truth in the culture. May the God of Christmas bless you.
Sincerely in Christ,
Peter LaBarbera
Executive Director
Respond to: info@illinoisfamily.org
>>>I was just kidding 'bout Jersey.
I wasn't exclaiming sincerely. It is quite common that people just think of the 'turnpike' when Jersey is mentions.
"It must be remembered that the majority rules, while not losing focus on every individuals rights."
BINGO. The problem now is that the individual rights of one person or small group are infringing on the collective rights.
You get the "wicked funny posting of the day award".
Hey, thanks!
You made your point. That's good enough for me.
Yes, I've seen what people write. The response here is richly deserved.
BTTT
If the news (at least here in California) that schools do, and keep doing, things like taking students off campus for medical services (read birth control, abortions, etc.) without the knowledge or consent of their parents didn't cause more than a day's worth of news, then this won't bother most people, unfortunately.
Thank goodness I homeschool and have to deal with precisely 0% of this garbage.
The NEA is indoctrinated. Hate everything that is basic American Christian, and keep preaching endlessly about diversity and multiculturalism. Everything is fine but Christianity which is a zero-tolerance zone for the NEA.
I wonder what the Christian teachers (most of them that is )in my district would say about that.
What is it going to take for parents to do a mass exodus and private or home school their kids?
I guess if we keep using a biased media that looks for anything negative against public education in support of a political agenda, I guess. Wait a minute, that's what liberals do......
You have to attack public schools with money (or removal of money). It does not matter if 1/2 of all students are homeschooled, that leaves the other 1/2 to be indoctrinated with 100% of all the tax dollars.
The best solution is to go beyond vouchers and allow homeschoolers to withold property tax dollars since they will use the money for their own children.
Are you saying these kids and parents Are making this stuff up?
Response; "There comes a time in the history of every people when they become so pathologically soft and tender that they actually side with those elements of their society that harm them..."-A Great Historian 1888
what a nice man, happy christmas.
'People outside of NYC -- for reasons I never understood -- miscalculate exactly how religious a town NYC actually is...we have two full-scale cathedrals and literally thousands of churches and other houses of worship jammed into a very, very small land mass.'
Those are nothing but empty relics of a noble past. The true sentiments of that city are manifest in those whom it votes for.
How are they empty? People are in them every week. St. John's the Divine isn't even completed yet. NYC just has different politics, which says nothing of its religious tradition.
New York City is laced with churches. That is a fact, but that fact can not be used to signify that that City has a meaningful spiritual life. Certainly there are faithful people who attend them, but those faithful people are in no way influential in the city's political life, which like San Francisco's has caved to the basest human instincts. The Red States elected Bush largely because they thought of him as a moral leader. I dare say no one could ever get elected in New York City on that basis.
The people who attend church or temple regularly in NYC would take extreme issue with your comment as to whether the city -- and by extension, they -- have a meaningful spiritual life. You have to really be careful when you say something like that, but I assume you didn't mean it as an insult.
That said, NYC has a tradition of not letting religion enter public debate. There are notable exceptions to this rule, such as the sporadic activism of the orthodox jews in brooklyn, the out-spoken ministers in Harlem, and comments made from the pulpit at St. Pats. But by and large, religion in NYC is a personal affair and not part of the public discourse.
This is something that is not easily debated, since neither you, nor anyone else, can or should tell someone how to practice their religion -- whether it should be private or public.
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