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
So, you'll just join the fray and indulge in some ill informed rubbish of your own? Brilliant. Still just as vapid and shallow as I recall you and your clique to be.
you didn't get the joke then.
freep me if you want it explained.
merry christmas - if thats allowed over there.
also, if you could explain to us brits how ill-informed we are with relation to the current working practices of british schools we'd be be very grateful.
(my wife is a teacher in the local primary school which our elder daughter attends)
you'd almost think people from 3,000 miles away were pontificating upon things of which they had no knowledge.
There are two sides to any story. Sometimes if the story comes from a publication that I know has a tendency to print anything negative towards something and nothing positive as a vehicle to push their political philosophies, yes, I do really wonder about it. It monstly happens in a liberal media, but is used on the other side as well. Just like all of the negative things we see about Iraq. The good stuff that happens doesn't get reported. There are plenty of good teachers and things that happen, but in our negative and biased society today, we tend to look past things. We also have become a blame the other guy society rather than saying what we can do to help out. We like to sit and complain about things instead.
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.
Sorry, there is no systematic ploy to indoctrinate kids. I personally respect homeschooling parents who do it right (I have seen some very good ones and others who used it as an excuse for an extra babysitter too).
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.
Homeschooling is a personal choice, not a tax expense. Other taxpayers like me would be paying for others' personal choices. The solution is to keep homeschooling as a viable option (with not so much regulation, but if the child returns to public schools, he or she should be up to standard academically--something I have seen only once in nine years of teaching). Public taxes should not be used as a subsidy for private matters. That makes it a liberal issue then.
As a teacher, I try to go beyond taxes and find different ways to do things to save expenses. In my state, we have done so for decades. I think the solution is not lots more money being spent or withdrawn. The solution is interaction, giving a little time, and changing our attitudes. That doesn't take much money at all.
Sue them. It is the only thing that will work.
It's called equal protection under the law. Turn the p/c b/s back on them .
Good perspectives Phoenix.
"No, I think the focus of the attention being afforded a small group is possibly offending the majority because that majority feels their beliefs are not afforded the same attention or respect. The latter being wrong does not make the former wrong as well. What my point is, religion should be able to be practiced anywhere and anytime a practitioner feels it is necessary. Regardless of whether they are Christian, Jewish, or Islamic. The reality is that there are entities working against just one particular set of beliefs, that being Christianity. This is wrong. And for the population, most of which is Christian, to let these groups get the upper hand is showing either capitulation or shear inconsideration of their own beliefs. These groups have the opportunity to do what they do because many Christians allow liberal, "tolerant" judges and legislators the opportunity to hold an office that can affect law. The solution would be for Christians to be on the same page philosophically, politically, and socially to ensure their rights are not stepped on."
May I suggest a devilish variation on your excellent idea? It is, quite simply, EVERY DAY IS A HOLIDAY (HOLY DAY, if we dare). It would drive the atheists, secular humanists, postmodern liberals and their diverse coalition of related crackpots, even more insane than they already are. It would drive home the point, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, that these "sensitive" multiculturalists are, in fact, ANTI-cultural and INSENSITIVE. It would challenge them with the truth that the worst kind of fundamentalism ever to insert its cancerous tentacles into the American body politic is the leftist fundamentalism known as political correctness.
To quote a Catholic saint, Teresa of Avila, "Live today as if it were the last day of your life, and you know you are about to face judgment."
I am glad you took the time to read the whole post. I generally am at fault for posting long drawn out monologues and frequently get called to the mat because some don't read the entire posts. So thank you for your attention to the complete post.
Phoenix
Actually Catholics fast and pray the rosary. right now because of advent I try to do little sacfrices and yes fasting from certain foods.
When my son was in the first grade we had a tornado warning and him and another boy began to pray and the other kids listened. But the teacher was supportive. He is 22 now so it has been a while. And when my kids went to public school there was days we had to go to church because it was considered a holy day. Think we should have take him out of school to go to church?
You my dear are completely correct. It is to slowly get to the kids. When I was in school, public school we prayed, we had the ten commandments, we sung religious songs and there were no school shootings, And the nutty teachers were not running around having sex with the kids.
What on earth are you talking about?
I am Catholic and advent is celebrated over many weeks, it continues into the new year. Yes we still fast on Fridays the only thing that was changed is that if you chose to do something else say go Mass, read scriptures, pray the rosary, fast you could do that instead. But many people still fast on Fridays.
The problem I have with New York is abortion, it started there and a politician would never get elected without being prochoice. And the fact that the gay community trashed the Cathedral with condoms filled with sperm and threw them all over the church. And it happend more than once. Where was the outcry after the first time?
Do you live in NY? Is that where you had to take your children out of school to go to church?
Of the observances you listed, which specifically is scheduled to interfere with the school day?
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