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
LOL, good luck finding any of that in the Bible God wrote. Maybe you have one of those new-fangled ones by somebody that thinks they're smarter than Him.
If a sect of Christianity were to incorporate certain public rituals (e.g., public prayer, fasting, chanting, etc) would these same school districts view the activities of this Christian sect as merely cultural?
I think all of us know what the answer is.
Over here.
ping
We fast during lent. We use to pray in school too. That is no longer permitted.
But they do get time off for the Gay Rodeo.
You don't know what you are missing....
Why would kids in Texas get off for a holiday named after a shopping district in Los Angeles?
>>>And I would venture a bet that it is still focused on in many public schools around the country.
Lucky you. NJ banned all Christmas music in the choir AND orchestra at the schools, some townships have banned Christmas displays and others have started issuing ordinance violations for displays that are 'too distracting'.
>>>Here in NYC we still have Christmas and Easter breaks
You do?? Are you sure? NJ doesn't. And didn't Bloomberg just rename the Rockefeller Center Tree, the 'holiday tree'?
holiday tree????
Well now that you said it, you sure Bloomberg isn't going to rename it 'winter break'?
I wonder if Ms. Crawford had to take a class in Islamic studies just to write that letter? The district probably made it mandatory.
Calpernia wrote:
>>>And I would venture a bet that it is still focused on in many public schools around the country.
Lucky you. NJ banned all Christmas music in the choir AND orchestra at the schools, some townships have banned Christmas displays and others have started issuing ordinance violations for displays that are 'too distracting'.
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Do you and your neighbors not have the ability to elect people who would veto or invalidate those idiotic ordinances? I mean come on, how do puts' like that get elected? When is our society going to wake up and smell the burka?
They can re-name it anything they want on memos or the school calendar. Children and parents I know still refer to it a Christmas and Easter Break.
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.
Do you and your neighbors not have the ability to elect people who would veto or invalidate those idiotic ordinances? I mean come on, how do puts' like that get elected? When is our society going to wake up and smell the burka?
People pray in NYC too. I don't get it either.
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