http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/05/03/jewish_students_allege_taunting/8023/
Published: May 3, 2008 at 7:17 PM Print story Email to a friend Font size:PLANO, Texas, May 3 (UPI) -- Jewish students in a Texas school district say they have been taunted since a display of New Testaments was put up by a Christian group.
Some parents say Plano should change its rules about outside groups distributing literature in the schools, The Dallas Morning News reports. The New Testament display was set up by Gideons International, a non-denominational Christian group.
Jeffrey Lavine, a 16-year-old student, said he was asked several times "If the Bible touched you, like, would you burn or something?"
"I sort of played it down as a joke and everything, which it was, but it was definitely a meaner comment than what we're used to," he added.
Plano school officials say a court decision several years ago forces them to allow the Gideons to display their Bibles. The court case involved a parent group critical of a student math curriculum and resulted in a decision that if one outside group was allowed access to schools all had to be given access.
Oooooohh.....”pressured”. Scary.
I have friends in Iuka, MS who home-school their kids because of religious pressure other students put on their kids. They’re Catholic, though; not Jewish.
Not sure that flies, distributing an article on a math program isn't the same as distributing religious doctrine. Which imo would be better confined to student clubs or groups.
For those who think it's a good idea, at offer, perhaps to be made at a school near you. Not to worry though, no intimidation.
Explore the Quran
In today’s climate of heightened religious sensitivities and apparent cultural clashes, now is the time for people of all faiths to better acquaint themselves with Islam’s sacred text, the Holy Quran.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) campaign intends to promote understanding of the Quran by distributing copies to people of faiths other than Islam in the American public. This campaign, titled Explore the Qur’an, serves as a response to those who would defame and desecrate the holy book of Muslims without full knowledge of its teachings.
False and uninformed accusations have been leveled against the Qur’an for some time. But now, this initiative places the sacred text directly in the hands of people of other faiths in the American public and encourages people of conscience to discover the truth about Islam. Explore the Qur’an allows the holy book to speak for itself and educate people of other faith traditions about the universal teachings of Islam.
For People of Faiths other than Islam: To request your free copy of the Holy Quran, click here.
Muslims: To donate to the Explore the Quran campaign, click here. By donating you will make it possible for a person of a faith other than Islam to receive the Quran.
For more information about the project, please write to us at: Quran Project, c/o CAIR, 453 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington DC, 20003. Please, provide your name, address, phone number, and email address.
That just sounds like some kids being smart-alecky to each other. Kids do that. The story sort of makes it sound like the Gideons were causing it. Wonder what sort of "taunting" goes on to Christian students? We'll never know.
That sounds like something a very ignorant 5 year old would ask! And yet he claims he was asked several times that same kind of question. I dunno, that doesn't sound right to me. There's some thing funny going on here. Surely the maturity level in Texas isn't THAT retarded.
What a crock! If the folks with NT had rated it “R”.. it would be a matter of choice... Jewish wimps with the “PC” virus,I’d say... get a life...
If any of the kids who did the 'taunting' claim to be Christians, however, they definitely have some growing in the Lord to do.
> ‘If the Bible touched you, like, will you burn or something?’
Only if you are a muzzie or any other follower of Satan. /sarc
Jews and Christians have enjoyed a blessed friendship/relationship in America since forever.
Why is anyone allowed to distribute “outside materials” in the schools?
I don’t care if it’s Pepsi, Mastercard or the Gideons, it doesn’t belong in the school.
Stop the marketing to my kids.
This deal....
“The court case involved a parent group critical of a student math curriculum and resulted in a decision that if one outside group was allowed access to schools all had to be given access.”
What does a math curriculm have to do with “outside access”? Teach the math and stop the other stuff.
So does that mean those same students would be willing to steal something, or to sell drugs, or to cheat on a test because they were “pressured” to by other students?
How about eat some bacon?
If you are so unsure about your faith that you need protection from being exposed to other beliefs then maybe your faith is not as strong as you think and thus maybe you need to see other options.
In short if you are not Christian and seeing Christian material scares you so much in thinking you might actually find truth in it that you have to enact protection laws ( like in most ME goat herding countries ) then maybe your religion has run its course and you need to consider listening.
I am sure that Christians in other parts of the world are not pressured at all...
My first thought was that the Jewish kid could have pulled out a metal Star of David, touched the Christian kid with it and said that he now had a “Jew Tattoo” (haw haw)...
But this is Texas.
You have to assume that there are some kids there who are the lowest order of Po’bucker, who go stark raving violent nuts at the drop of a hat. I’ve met some like that, and would advise any sane kid to quietly withdraw, and take it up later with a responsible adult.
Importantly, it can be over anything, or even seemingly nothing. While most kids appreciate a witty rejoinder, the nut kids are psychological nitroglycerin. They will not just fight, either, they may seriously hurt or even kill in that berserker frame of mind.
Hands off other peoples kids!
Seems like schools are 99% indoctrination of one kind or other.
They might melt. /sarcasm