Infidel in search of some justice...
Sharper Minds Daily...
Posted on 12/23/2004 10:40:12 PM PST by velocityguy
Dec. 23, 2004, 9:17PM
Local Muslim school taken aback by letter Its request to join a state group is met by 'hostile' queries By EDWARD HEGSTROM Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
A national Islamic organization has demanded an apology from a Texas-based private school association after claiming its director took an "alarmingly intolerant and hostile attitude toward Islam and Muslims."
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The protest by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations was prompted by a letter sent by the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools to the representatives of an Islamic school in Houston.
Dar-Ul-Arqam, which enrolls more than 300 students at three area locations under the supervision of the Islamic Education Institute of Texas, has been seeking membership for its Adel Road campus in the private school association, known as TAPPS. The association includes 238 schools across the state, including Awty International School, Incarnate Word Academy, Northland Christian School and St. Thomas High School in the Houston area.
Membership typically expands opportunities for private-school students to compete against other schools in academic and athletic events.
The letter, apparently signed by TAPPS Director Edd Burleson, has the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas calling for an investigation, according to Alamdar Hamdani, a Houston member of the ACLU board. The Anti-Defamation League also has expressed concern.
In his correspondence, Burleson quoted a verse from the Quran as calling on Muslims to be violent toward Christians and Jews. He noted that most TAPPS member schools are Christian. "Why do you wish to join an organization whose membership is basically in total disagreement with your religious beliefs?" he asked in the two-page letter, which included 10 questions.
He asks about the school's attitude toward "the spread of Islam in America" and the goals of the school "in this regard."
Finally, he suggests that some TAPPS members may not be tolerant of Muslims: "Why do you think that the current member schools of TAPPS will not be biased against your school, based on the fundamental difference in your religion and Christianity, since about 90% of TAPPS schools embrace Christianity?"
Both the TAPPS office and most member schools were closed Wednesday because of the holiday. Burleson did not return phone messages or e-mails this week. Charles Price, the chairman of the TAPPS board, declined to comment, referring all questions to Burleson.
Iesa Galloway, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Houston office, said Burleson sent a similar letter to an Islamic school in the Dallas area. He said he was awaiting details of that case.
Besides demanding an apology, Galloway's group has asked for reprimands against those responsible for the letter.
"The TAPPS letter, a symbol of religious intolerance, has no place in a nation that was originally built by those seeking asylum from such intolerance," Galloway said in correspondence he sent this week to the TAPPS board.
Dar-Ul-Arqam's Adel Road campus enrolls some 175 students and already participates in the Grapevine-based Private School Interscholastic Association, according to Khaled Katbi, a school representative.
But that association's programs are only available through middle school. So representatives of Dar-Ul-Arqam began looking for an association that would offer scholastic competition for its 19 high school students.
On Nov. 4, Katbi went before the TAPPS board to seek membership for his school. Board members asked him if the school taught from the Quran, and Katbi said it did.
"Their questions were reasonable," Katbi said. "I did not sense hostility."
A week later, Katbi got a letter from Burleson that included questions Burleson said the school needed to answer before it could be admitted to TAPPS.
"Do you teach your students to 'Make war on them (Christians and Jews) until idolatry is no more and Allah's religion reigns supreme' (Koran 8:37)?" Burleson asked.
Katbi said he was "astonished" by the letter. He did not reply to the questions.
The bylaws of TAPPS do not indicate that the organization is open only to Christian schools.
Hamdani, the ACLU representative, said the organization would come under special restrictions if it accepts federal funding. But the TAPPS Web site indicates that the nonprofit organization relies on dues from member schools and sporting-event fees.
"It's the venom in that letter that's so disturbing," Hamdani said. While the letter is structured as a series of questions, he said, "they're really more assumptions than questions."
Martin B. Cominsky, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the letter "assumes some offensive stereotypes about what Islam is all about."
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C., said he was not aware of any other cases in which Islamic schools had difficulty joining private-school organizations.
He said the letter reflects "the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment" that has emerged since the terrorist attacks of 2001.
Katbi said he was "astonished" by the letter. He did not reply to the questions.
Says it all.
So the guy asked them if one of their goals was to make war on Christians before he'd accept them.
A simple "no" might have sufficed.
Me thinks a dog is barking a bit too loudly...
Hamdani, the ACLU representative, said the organization would come under special restrictions if it accepts federal funding. But the TAPPS Web site indicates that the nonprofit organization relies on dues from member schools and sporting-event fees.
Genocide is also incompatible with the US Constitution.
There is no point asking them questions, for they will lie about their so-called religion.
Lying to protect or advance islam is justified to them, by "al Taqiyah."
So whatever they might disavow, from their book, it is likely a lie. For instance, they could deny they wish to kill Christians and Jews, and deny they wish to overtake our society with islam.
And it would be a lie.
"This snake Ibrahim Hooper needs to be restrained."
Not good enough. He needs to be stripped of citizenship (if he has it) and deported never being allowed to return the the US. CAIR is a front group for HAMAS.
****The Koran is incompatible with the US Constitution.****
The Koran is incompatible with human life.
I'm not advocating genocide.
I'm advocating self defense against a genocidal, fascist Nazi death cult.
I believe America has the right to defend itself if attacked. Both conservatives and progressives can agree on that.
But we cannot engage in mass murder and call it self defense.
By doing so, we lower ourselves to the level of Saddam Hussein and his ilk.
We're all human, Christian, Muslim, Jew and Hindu alike.
I believe (and my Muslim friends agree) that most Muslims are as horrified by the violence that is being perpetuated in the name of their religion as we are horrified to be the targets of that violence.
Islam isn't the problem, poverty mixed with religious extremism is the problem.
This is a joke, right? It was on The Onion and you just misattributed it, right?! Surely no one can be so idiotic as these people so offended by some questions about their "religion"... right?
The wealth of UTTER NONSENSE arising in this country is astounding.
rommy
Since Dec 23, 2004
Welcome to FR. Enjoy your (probably short) stay.
Katbi said he was "astonished" by the letter.
Is that a "Yes" or a "No"?
Read something similar on another thread today. I don't know how many more time I can say, "Screw those fascist scum!"
And never tolerate the intolerant. Just burned out on the issue. Suffice it to say that any religion that calls for the eradication of all others should itself be eradicated!
The entire West ( dare I say "the civilized World?" ) is locked in a fight to the death with militant Islam.
There will be no second-place winner, no "third way" solution-- it is March or Die time, folks.
It is Us versus an eighth-century "culture" of plunder & pillage, forced religious "conversions," and the mistreatment of women.
The sooner we face up to this fact realistically and quit dancing around PC talking-point nonsense about diversity and tolerance, the better off we'll all be.
We did not pick this fight- which really has roots in Jimmy Carter's appeasement in 1979 of militants- but we had damned well better see it for what it is, and be prepared to face it and finish it.
I'll put it in raw, personal terms-- I don't want Sharia law visited upon my women, and I don't want a goat-roper "culture" infesting my land.
I don't want their vile, nasty, loathsome weapons of mass destruction loosed upon my fair country, either.
They picked the fight, and now it is up to us to finish it- balls to the wall, hammer and anvil, fire and blood and iron... freedom is never, ever free, and the coin you pay it in is men's lives and tears and blood.
What we saw during Gulf War I was our military doctrine ( high tech ) versus Soviet doctrine ( throw a lot of low tech iron at the problem )-- and we all know how that turned out.
What we have just seen in the 3-Week War is Information-Tech,
( What some are calling it Hyperwarfare... )
or 21st Century warfare versus 20th Century...
What I would suggest, and call your attention to, is the fact that we, and Israel, are capable of waging 21st Century warfare, and the entire Arab world is not.
Proven fact, by recent events.
One more thing- this will be a war where we are all called to be warriors- so I suggest to you that the time has come to get hard, and stay hard... it really is the time for Fire and Blood and Iron...
Thank you.
Believe me, my intent in joining FR isn't to antagonize anyone or be a troll :)
I joined the site because I've come to believe that the American body politic has become cancerous with vicious partisanship. Progressives demonize conservatives as being jackbooted theocratic thugs and conservatives label progressives as being commie homo traitors.
Nobody wins and America becomes further divided. And a divided house cannot stand.
*smiles* In any case, so far I've had a very warm welcome!
Welcome to FRee Republic.
"The TAPPS letter, a symbol of religious intolerance, has no place in a nation that was originally built by those seeking asylum from such intolerance," Galloway said in correspondence he sent this week to the TAPPS board.
In contrast the ACLU is all about religious tolerance when it comes to Christianity. NOT!!!!
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