Posted on 05/13/2010 2:57:23 PM PDT by Sir Gawain
From our You Can't Make This Stuff Up Department, conveniently located down the hall from our You'll Want to Read This Sitting Down Department. "Parents' outrage as Catholic school children told 'dress as a Muslim for mosque trip - or you will be branded a truant'," from the Daily Mail, May 12 (thanks to Tziona):
A Catholic schoolgirl has been branded a 'truant' by her teachers after she refused to dress as a Muslim for a school field trip to a mosque.
Staff had ordered 14-year-old Amy Owen and her classmates to dress in headscarf, wear trousers or leggings and keep her arms covered for the compulsory visit to the mosque after it was arranged to promote 'community cohesion.'
Parents at the 1,100 pupil Ellesmere Port Catholic High School in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire were also told they were each required to make a £3 contribution towards the trip for all Year Nine students.
But when Amy refused to dress in Muslim attire for the visit to Al Rahma Mosque in Toxteth, Liverpool, staff warned her about rules and said refusal would mean non attendance which would then be marked down as an 'unauthorised absence.'
In a stern letter to her family with words in block capitals and underlined, the school's headmaster Peter Lee said the visit was 'as compulsory as a geography field trip.'
He added: 'There are two reasons for these visits. One is that the scheme of work in religious studies REQUIRES children to have knowledge and understanding of other world religions.
The one-way street of multiculturalist "tolerance":
'The second is that the school is REQUIRED to promote tolerance respect and understanding. This is known as community cohesion. A failure to do this could result in an unwelcome inspection judgement. None of us would relish that.
'Whilst I may not require you to pay for this I must require your child to participate.'
It is believed up to ten other families from Amy's Year 9 classes also refused to dress as Muslims and were marked down in the truanting register.
But Amy's mother Michelle Davies, 34, a home help said: 'It's like they're putting a gun to your head - either you go to a mosque, or you're marked down as an unauthorised absence on your record - that's it no two ways about it. [...]
'I also fail to see how a three-hour trip to a mosque is of any educational value to a Catholic when she can learn about the Muslim faith in the classroom.
'I can guarantee that if there were ten Muslim girls coming to our school it would adhere to what they wanted, because that's their faith, their religion, their dress code.'
The school claimed it had arranged the trip in accordance with diktats sent down by Oftsted and the Roman Catholic diocese and said it to abide by a 'strict dress code.'
Mrs Davies who has two other children said: 'No sooner had I objected to the dress code, I got a phone call from her head of year saying I don't see what the problem is, it teaches them respect. I said to her, is that not my job and your job as a school?...
Complete with strap on bombs????
I realize that this occurred in England. If someone were to attempt this with my kids, the first action would be to have them marked absent, and the second would be enrolling them in another school. Immediately.
How many times are they going to post the same article? Doesn’t anyone bother to use the search function or is search just not working?
When I went to Israel in 1988, we visited the Dome of the Rock Mosque on the Temple Mount (Mt Moriah) in Jerusalem...
we were only required to take our shoes off...
no head coverings for the women, etc..
This is beyond ridiculous and religious bigotry...
And its not even in the Middle East...
I don’t know what I’d do. Probably let the kids stay home and drive tractor for Dad (an excused absence here).
Then, why did you send permission slips to be signed by the parents?
A Catholic schoolgirl has been branded a ‘truant’ by her teachers after she refused to dress as a Muslim for a school field trip to a mosque.
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Question: Why are Catholic school girls required to go on a “field trip” to a MOSQUE ???
Didn’t show in a search when I searched on Catholic. I’m not some FR noob you’re talking about.
Truants? They are infidels.
U.K.: Catholic schoolchildren told to dress as Witches — Witches` hats and brooms included - bring a familiar for extra points - for a Wicca coven visit, or be marked as truants
U.K.: Muslim schoolchildren told to dress as Nuns and Monks — rosaries included — for convent and monastery visit, or be marked as truants
A better question would be; Would Muslim students be required to remove their burkha's to attend a Catholic Church, or would they even go?
The Catholic Church views muslims as believing in the same God as Christians. The church couldn’t be further from the truth. No way does the muslim god resemble the Judeo/Christian God. In Galatians, Paul said that if any man or angel gives a different gospel, he is not to be believed. And that is exactly how Mohammed started his religion (Joseph Smith, too)—from an angel with a different gospel. Mohammed was told to destroy all but one temple in Mecca (of 360 temples); he was to save the temple of Allah, the moon god. The muslim god is the moon god, a demon no doubt.
U.K.: Catholic schoolchildren told to dress as monkey gods— bananas included — for Hindu temple visit and dip in the Ganges River [Thames], or be marked as truants
What’s the big deal? I just got home from work a little while ago and this is the only posting I saw, and probably wouldn’t have seen this story if I had to scroll through all the articles that have been posted today (who has time for that?!). Maybe you should check into whatever it is you have wedged.
The girl should wear that truant label with honor.
Actually, the only dress code for a Hindu mandir is to remove your shoes. I’ve seen plenty of worshipers wearing jeans. Normal Hinduism is just about the most ecumenically tolerant of religions out there.
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