U.S. to defend Muslim girl wearing scarf in school

CNN Washington Bureau ^ | 03/30/04 | Terry Frieden

[coffeebreak]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department announced Tuesday the government's civil rights lawyers have jumped into a legal case to support a Muslim girl's right to wear a head scarf in a public school.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Alex Acosta said government lawyers would support 11-year-old Nashala Hearn, a sixth-grade student who has sued the Muskogee, Oklahoma, Public School District for ordering her to remove her head scarf, or hijab, because it violated the dress code of the Benjamin Franklin Science Academy, which she attended.

The girl continued to wear her hijab to school and was subsequently suspended twice for doing so. The family appealed the suspensions, which were upheld by a district administrative hearing committee.

Her parents filed suit against the Muskogee School District last October.

On Tuesday the federal government filed a motion in a federal court in Muskogee to intervene in support of Nashala's position.

[Mamzelle]

The hijab is a gang-marker, and schools have had some good successes in forbidding gang-wear like bandanas, insulting t-shirts, etc.

I hope the governement loses. A school system should have the discretion to get rid of disruptive clothing, and institute what uniforms it deems necessary to maintain order, and the community should support them. That includes any religious symbolism, Dixie Outfitters, obscenity, Grateful Dead, goth, whatever.

Hijab in US schools is VERY bad news. It's the way the Muslims keep track of how influential their numbers have become. Critical mass has been reached in some Euro cities.

[Mamzelle]

Two girls showed up in Pali-style headscarves at my rural school-- 9-30-01 ....

[FITZ]

In this case, the headgear is cultural and is intimately connected to their historical religion. It is part of the tradition of their religion.

Just like the swastika was part of the Nazi tradition. I know Muslim women who wear no headgear at all, they wear no headgear in Turkey which is modertate Muslim --- the headgear is the symbol of the radicals.

[E Rocc]

Just like the swastika was part of the Nazi tradition. I know Muslim women who wear no headgear at all, they wear no headgear in Turkey which is modertate Muslim --- the headgear is the symbol of the radicals.

The devout, not the "radicals". There's a difference, particularly in the US.

-Eric

[petercooper]

take your hats off, damn ragheads

[spunkets]

The swastika is not part of any religion's traditions. Turkey is secular and does not define Islam. The headgear is also not radical. It is cultural and part of Islam's tradition.

[NCC-1701]

"...This, I'm afraid, is only the beginning. The worst is yet to come..." You are so right. My brother had a truck with a bumper sticker that read, "I'm proud of the way America used to be". The more time goes by, the truer that saying is.

[looscnnn]

Muslims have claimed in the past that they are religious symbols. France has outlawed them in schools because they are religious symbols. If you look at non-muslims from those areas, they do not wear the scarves. So it is a religious symbol.

[looscnnn]

You forgot the National Education Assoc.

[coffeebreak]

In establishment cases, like Ten Commandment cases, it's the state that is promoting religion, and those are pretty much
In those cases, again, they are pretty much "slam dunk" winners against the state, but for different reasons.

Placing the Ten Commandments in a court house is not establishing a religion. If the Founding Fathers meant what some people think they meant today, the Ten Commandments would have been out of the court house two hundred years ago. Our money would not say "In God We Trust" on it. The Nativity Scene would have NEVER appeared in the town square and we probably wouldn't be celebrating Christmas. For some strange reason the establishment clause has gotten twisted to mean that no one in government can even acknowledge the existence of God or say or do anything that is remotely religious in public. Roy Moore stood up against this; hopefully there will be others so this nonsense will end.

[NCC-1701]

"...The swastika is not part of any religion's traditions..." I beg to differ with you. The swatika is a form of cross. It's been around for a lot longer than Hitler ever was. One story has it that when Hitler was looking for a symbol for the Nazi party, he was in a church and was looking at some of the stained glass windows and saw that cross. He obviously liked it, so he adopted that as the symbol he was looking for. Like the Confederate flag, they are both simple and unoffensive in and of themselves. But since they've been co-opted by a couple of very-less-than-wholesome organizations, they are both reviled and hated. Lord only knows what is next in line to be used in such a manner.

[looscnnn]

So you are of the seperation of church and state frame of mind? So you think that is what the 1st amendment means?

[CobaltBlue]

For some strange reason the establishment clause has gotten twisted to mean that no one in government can even acknowledge the existence of God or say or do anything that is remotely religious in public.

You mean, like wearing an article of clothing with religious significance to school?

[E Rocc]

For some strange reason the establishment clause has gotten twisted to mean that no one in government can even acknowledge the existence of God or say or do anything that is remotely religious in public.

False. George Bush can go to church and even speak to an interviewer about his Christian faith, and there is no legal sanction. Roy Moore could have put his slab in his yard or even his office. The Establishment clause means that government and its agents, the latter in the official role, cannot take actions which promote or inhibit religion.

-Eric

[coffeebreak]

First Amendment be damned, eh?

[Michael.SF.]

It seems that some people may not have seen the sarcasm in my post regarding the Amish. I was trying to point out what I feel is absurd by being even more absurd.

[looscnnn]

"I force my child to wear spike heels and gaudy make-up, or perhaps a simple loin cloth is all I ever allow my child to wear in public."

I see a lot of kids dressed like that, they used to be called hoochies. Now they have become the norm thanks to Mtv, Britney, etc.

[CobaltBlue]

The Rutherford Institute is an excellent organization, situated in my home state of Virginia, which has a long, long track record of taking religious freedom seriously.

I just started reading a book written by a Baptist minister about the history of Virginia's Declaration of Religious Freedom. Many people do not realize that circa the Foundation, Baptist preachers were persecuted in Virginia for "preaching the gospel contrary to the law". Dozens, maybe hundreds, of Baptists were jailed and fined all over the state.

The author claims in the preface that George Mason, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson helped the Baptists, which I knew, but also mentions Patrick Henry, whom I thought was in favor of the establishment of a state religion in Virginia. So I am looking forward to reading more about the role of Patrick Henry in this matter.

[CobaltBlue]

You are right that one version of the swastika has been a religious symbol all over the world for hundreds of years (Christians, Native Americans, Hindus) but I believe that Hitler reversed the swastika. The Nazi swastika is the mirror image of the sacred swastika.

[Mamzelle]

Students are minors, and the admins are charged with education and protection, not the promulgation of political discourse to satisfy the restlessness of bored libertarians. Put 'em in uniforms, and teach 'em to read, write, and calculate. If a t-shirt offers distraction, make the kid take it off, turn it wrong side out, put if back on, go home at the end of the day and do not wear it again to school.

If you allow enough Muslims into the US in full hijab--they'll be assaulting women on the streets who do not wear hijab. Turkey understands this--even the French are figuring it out.

I repeat--the hijab is a gangland marker--as surely as grafitti sprayed on the walls.