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.

[Fedora]

Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 22 November 1, 1784 - November 6, 1785 - Richard Henry Lee to James Madison: " I fully agree with the presbyterians, that true freedom embraces the Mahomitan [Muslim] and the Gentoo [Hindu] as well as the Xn [Christian] religion."

This is first of all Lee's opinion, and he indicates that he is siding with the Presbyterians on a controversial issue, so it would need to be established that his opinion was shared by the other framers of the Constitution and--more importantly--was the same as that intended by the Bill of Rights. But even if that is granted for the sake of argument, what concept of the "Mahomitan" religion is Lee referring to here? In the context of 18th-century thought, it is most likely he is referring to the widespread Enlightenment opinion that all religions shared a certain set of core values illustrated by, for instance, the parallels between the Golden Rule, the rabbinical version of the Golden Rule, and a parallel Confucian teaching. In any case, he is not referrring to contemporary radical fundamentalist Islam, which did not exist in the 18th century in its current form.

[ancient_geezer]

The word "taxpayer" has not yet shown up on this thread.

Hmmmm!, you don't really want me to get started do you?

[easonc52]

She's not causing any controversy. It's the misinformed and/or ill-intentioned school officials who are causing the controversy.

Sorry. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention. Apparently I should be asleep already.

[CobaltBlue]

Here is a link to a discussion of some Justice Department cases involving members of various religions, Muslims, Christians, Jews.
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/religdisc/newsletter/focus_1.htm

[spunkets]

" She can attend or not, it is her choice, again no one is forcing her and therefore no one is limiting her constitution rights. "

You are limiting her ability to partake in what is open to all regardless of sex, religion, national origin, whatever. You are advocating violating her rights and the Bill of Rights. "The question is do we all have the right to practice our religion where ever and whenever we please?"

It's a public place. You have the right to practice it w/o interference by anyone.

"are instituions prohibited to set up rules and regulations unless it passes the religious police?

There is no religious police and this is a school. If the folks in the town, on the school board, in the admin and in the classroom are too dumb to know what is and what is not religious then the State folks, or the feds have to step in and teach them what reality is and how they may avoid wasting time and money engaging in rights violations.

[Robert_Paulson2]

That's because the amish are not a POLITICAL SUICIDE CULT dressed in the garb of religion, in order to gain acceptance.

Islam is actually a religiously flavored extension of hitler's jew extermination program.

It and all of it's expressions should have NO RIGHTS as a religion. It is an insane murder cult... based on genocide of the jewish and christian peoples of the planet.
DAMNATION is eating us alive over the confusion on this issue. ISLAM IS NOT PEACE. Despite what the moderate apologists mantra.

WE MUST kill them BEFORE they kill us.
And the fact that we won't admit it means it may already be too late.
As much as I prefer W to Kerry,
W's response to 9/11 may prove to have been too little and too late....

not because of what he did NOT do...
but because of what condition the previous administration left us in...

The most imminent danger to our lives, liberty and culture is not J. Jackson's bare boob.
It's ISLAM. And that includes the nation of Islam, living in our midst. Wake up infidels, Islam is here to kill us.

[spunkets]

"which did not exist in the 18th century in its current form"

It was founded in the 8th century and both Madison and R.H. Lee was aware of their prior exploits.

[CobaltBlue]

I doubt very much that the Founding Fathers would have wanted to prevent an 11 year old girl from wearing a headscarf to school. It was not at all uncommon for women, girls, men and boys in those days to cover their heads.

[TheBattman]

As posted earlier - is this a RELIGIOUS garment or a CULTURAL garment?

If the former - then you are correct. If the later is true, you are wrong.

[Robert Lomax]

"Most of us are, and the courts aren't going to back away from declaring your new personally recognized religion a manifestation of a psychological problem requiring treatment."

Christianity may be treated as a "manifestation of psychological problem" in this country in the future. It's happened in other places. It happened in the Soviet Union and it has happened in China.

[Fred Nerks]

Bavaria has also outlawed the wearing of hijab in schools. The Netherlands have their own solution; segregated education. Before the ban in France young french women chose to wear a head covering in public as a defence against rape. Even young muslim women who did not wear the hijab were pack raped. The hijab has nothing to do with religion, it's simply a method of subjugation. In Pakistan there have been cases of muslim girls nine years of age who were raped in retribution for not wearing the islamic garb, if that's not an example of enforcement of sharia, then tell me what it is? Religious Freedom?

[Fedora]

> "which did not exist in the 18th century in its current form"

It was founded in the 8th century and both Madison and R.H. Lee was aware of their prior exploits.

Yes, Islam was founded in the 8th century, but it was modified considerably during the course of the 20th century under the influence of Nazi Middle Eastern policies during WWII, Soviet support of the pan-Arab movement, and the Iranian revolution--that's what I was alluding to by my statement.

[CobaltBlue]

You can claim that baring your nipples on TV during the Superbowl is an expresion of religious freedom, too, but it won't get you very far.

Reason being that judges and juries know horse exhaust when they see it.

Covering your head modestly is about as far as is possible to get from exposed nipples, exposed thong underwear, exposed tattoos on your kiester, exposed navels (pierced or unpierced), and in general dressing like a prostitute or a criminal in the schools. Let the teachers go after that, is my opinion.

[spunkets]

" It happened in the Soviet Union and it has happened in China."

So did socialism. I'm not bending to any folks that would impose their will on me to make me a serf, wear polyester pants(even though what I do wear is not a religious matter), or tell me I can't practice what I believe in. This is a Free country and I will do what I can to protect Freedom and oppose the various sorts of petty tyrants.

Christianity is a historical religion and is bounded by the truth in it's essence, content and logic. So is science.

[CobaltBlue]

Daniel Pipes estimates that at most 10% of Muslims are Islamists and sympathizers.

Mistreating the 90% is stupid. For that matter, mistreating anybody is stupid. If they commit a crime, arrest them. If they violate the immigration laws, deport them.

Mistreating an 11 year old girl because you don't like the politics of 10% of adult Muslims is monumentally stupid.

[spunkets]

No it was not modified considerably. It's the same old tales of the prophet and his string of like followers.

[Fedora]

I doubt very much that the Founding Fathers would have wanted to prevent an 11 year old girl from wearing a headscarf to school. It was not at all uncommon for women, girls, men and boys in those days to cover their heads.

Yes; however in that case, we may infer the head covering was permitted by the school dress code. But did the Founding Fathers mean to grant the girl the federal right to wear a headscarf if it's forbidden by her school's dress code for other students? I think that's (part of) the legal issue at stake here. I personally don't care if Muslims wear headscarves if their school's dress code permits it for all students. What I have a problem with is them claiming it as a federal right which supersedes the right of the school to enforce its own dress code.

Gotta get to bed here, so I'll pick this up tomorrow if anyone's interested. Thanks to you and others for the interesting discussion.

[Constantine XIII]

Eh, it's a free country. :)

[EGPWS]

If they want to wear that crap, do it back in their own damned country.

That's the idea for these individuals, go back to their country and at the same time...stay HERE!

Need I say more?