Imagine browsing Facebook one day and discovered a photograph of your 14-year-old daughter wearing a burqa – at school.
That’s exactly what happened to a parent in Lumberton, Tex. She asked me not to disclose her identity because she fears for her daughter’s safety.
Her daughter’s world geography class was supposed to be learning about the continents. Instead, they were given a tutorial in Islam – complete with authentic Muslim garments. Some of the young ladies were photographed – and the image has now gone viral.
The students were told the purpose of the class was to change their perceptions of Islam. They were instructed to no longer call those who commit terrorist attacks terrorists. Instead, the Muslim terrorists were to be called freedom fighters.
They were also assigned to write an essay based on a Washington Post story that blamed Egypt’s troubles on democracy – instead of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“I am outraged,” the angry mom told me. “I felt my blood pressure go through my head.”
The parent said she was not even aware of the lesson until she discovered the Facebook photograph.
“As parents we should have been made aware this,” she said. “I felt like the line had been crossed.”
The parents said they immediately contacted the principal of the high school who defended the program and said it was required under CSCOPE – a controversial electronic curriculum system that provides online lesson plans for teachers.
“The principal told me it was world geography and they have to learn this stuff,” she said. I called Janice VanCleave, a vocal critic of the CSCOPE program and the founder of Texas CSCOPE Review. She said the education program is without question promoting the Islamic religion – and students are not given the full story.
“They are not telling students how these young women are treated in this religion,” she told me. “In the Islamic countries women are not treated well at all.”
Last month, evidence was presented at a state hearing showing that CSCOPE offered a number of lessons about Islam.
One particular lesson instructed teachers to provide classroom readings of selected texts from the Koran.
Students were also taught that Allah is God.
CSCOPE offered no comparable lessons on Christianity or Judaism, VanCleave told Fox News.
“I do think CSCOPE promotes the Islamic religion,” she said. “I don’t think it’s right to be proselytizing the Islamic religion in our schools.”
She’s got a point.
Imagine for just a moment the school directing Muslim children to dress up like priests – or pretend to be baptized in a pool of water.
There would be significant outrage. The national media would dispatch satellite trucks to Lumberton and produce one-hour specials about anti-Muslim fervor in the Bible Belt.
Something strange is happening in Texas. Public schools are embracing Islamic values and traditions while Christian values and traditions are being given the boot.
And unless parents rise up and put a stop to the Islamification of their school system – the Bible Belt could very well become the Koran Belt.