Islamic Presenation causes Contreversy in Houston Area Junior High

I'm assuming they did not, however, as Dubious pointed out, that should be the school admin's responsibility. As long as they weren't preaching AND provided equal opportunity for other major religions to provide factual presentations of their beliefs, I see absolutely no problem with it.

What do you think of the PowerPoint presentation? Based on the slides and the assumption that it would not get into preaching/converting, would you allow your children to sit through it?

 

Should I remind you how you gauge factualness? The sources you provided in assessing Islam? lol

If anything, the board of education will decide what's "factual".

If everything is prefaced with "I believe" or "we believe" then there is no factualness.

Each religion is factual to its members only.

 

This is censorship. I work for a regulator. If there's anything we all agree on, it's better to know what's being taught than to not know.

Once the presentation is done, the children won't suddenly have long beards and an AK-47 lol. You can express your views to your kids after the presentation if you're SO interested in what they're learning.

 

You see here's the difference. If they say the world is flat, it's wrong. If they say they BELIEVE the world is flat, then that is fine IMO.

 

Here is a link to the power point presentation

Here are some of the items I would consider preaching and NOT factual.

1. Muslims in the US Slide says they are the fastest growing religion in the world, though that is not necessarily the case.

Several groups claim to the be the fastest growing religion

2. Allah is a god for all human beings

Uh, really? That is not a fact, it is complete and utter conjecture on their part.

3. Day of judgement

What? What day of judgement? Is that something that is factual?

4. Quran sent to Muhammed

Really? So we take the ramblings of a man as fact? How is this any different than David Koresh in Waco? This is again....NOT FACTUAL

5. The Quran is the word of god...

WHAT? Really? God came down and wrote that out, because to Christians the Bible is the word of god.....again......NOT FACTUAL....

Anyway, those are just a few of the things that were in the presentation that are NOT factual, and could be considered preaching.

And what about if someone has a question about a slide, who answers? I doubt you would get an unbiased answer from the presenters.

I am sorry, this whole thing stinks of religious pressure and it should not be tolerated in our school system.

DD

 

Of course it is censorship !!!

They are KIDS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is the parents job to censor what their kids do etc....

The parents are responsible, not some biased presentor.

DD

 

That might one of the problems in this country. People say they are my kids and I can teach them to hate blacks, jews, and muslims. I think this is over reaction by some parents. Its not like they were trying to convert them just tell them about Islam. Its just like if a speaker came in and talked about Buddhism or Judaism or Christianity.

 

Problems? It is the very freedom that this country allows that makes it great......Kids learn from their parents, and then as they grow they get exposed to other cultures/religions etc and make up their own mind.

Do you think Iran has people getting the Christian view? What about Egypt? Do you think they get the jewish perspective, because here in the USA, they are free to get that.....

None of those should be part of a PE class, but if the school wants to offer it as a voluntary after school extra ciricular meeting, then fine.

But it was not, it was put on without the parents knowing about it, and the principal was fired, that might be a bit harsh, but I think the principal deserved some form of punishment for making such a poor choice.

DD

 

The title of the slide was "what do muslim people believe?" They aren't saying that is truth just what muslim people believe. School should be about learning. Lets not be ignorant about the world around us. I believe a lot of things about most religions is trash, but at least I know about them.

 

But these are the Muslim beliefs. It is a FACT that Muslims BELIEVE that Allah is the God for all human beings. It is a FACT that Muslims BELIEVE the Quran is the word of God. It is a FACT that Muslims BELIEVE there is a day of judgement.

Learning why faiths believe the way they do is a key to understanding them. Learning these things may help other kids understand why Muslim kids do things a certain way and rather than make fun of them, they could accept that they are following their beliefs.

 

The entire point is that the parents should have been consulted about this BEFORE it happened.

The choice was made for them, and that is utterly wrong.

It opens up a large can of worms, should they now have a "what mormons" believe seminar?

Or a "What hindus believe"

These are things that can and should be discussed in a socialogy class by a teacher, not a religious group with a clear cut agenda.

And the fact that this group threatened to go to the FBI and file a hate crime report is pure strong arm tactics......

The school should have consulted the parents......PERIOD.

DD

 

Again, no problem at all if this was taught as part of a sociology program and in context about religion etc....

But it wasn't and the way in which it was canvassed is the problem...it was done without parental consent....

That is the sole issue I have a problem with.....

DD

 

That is why we are better than Iran and Egypt. A lot of time what a kid learns when he is young influences how he will be for the rest of his life. If all he learns is muslims are bad and has no idea about what it is when he grows up he will probably continue to hate. That presentation seems just informational.

 

As long as it's very carefully vetted for religeous bias, sounds like an awesome presentation for a history/humanities/current events class. Really...how more 'topical' can you get? But, man....what a task to sanitize this kind thing.

Bizarre it's in a PE class.

 

I totally disagree, the presentation seems biased to me, where is the counter to what they believe?

If it was taught in a classroom setting and questions can be answered by someone without a particular agenda, that would make it unbiased.

To me this is a "hey look at us" type of presentation.....

Was there some good information in there, yes......but it should have been presented to the parents first.

DD

 

Where is the counter??? Assuming they're just presenting, "here's what we believe," it doesn't need a counter. What they believe is what kids study in school. You're just hearing it from the horse's mouth.

 

*sigh*
What is the purpose of schools?
Prepare the students for world. . . socialization etc
or
simply an assimbly line of Reading Writing and Arithmetic

Should religion be taken out of English and History Classes

Should we simply act like Religion does not exist?

Rocket River

 

So you would rather have a person not well versed in the Muslim faith to be the one to make the presentation?

Why should there be a counterpoint to what they believe? It seems to me that this was a presentation of the Muslim Faith. Their beliefs are not "wrong". They may be different from mine, but they are their beliefs.

Do you expect every single thing a school presents to be shown to their parents first?

The only thing I would expect would be for the school to use good judgement. In this case, I probably would have disagreed with the presentation unless the other 4 major religions would have also had their day to present for 30 minutes.

Oftentimes, school is the only place where kids can learn this sort of thing and I feel it is something that all kids SHOULD learn. What are the religions beliefs...why do they believe that way...how do those beliefs impact society...what connotations are associated with those beliefs. Perhaps a few kids would quit their "raghead" taunts if they understood better. I seriously doubt that most parents would present these religions and faiths to their kids and if they do, I doubt the vast majority are well versed enough to explain them well.

Who better to teach our children about the Muslim faith then a person of Muslim faith? The same with Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.

 

So them saying "The Muslim faith is the fastest growing in the world" is presented as "This is what we believe"

Come on Max......

This presentation is biased....

No, as I said it is ok in context....not in PE...from a very biased source with no parental consent.


DD

 

Why does it have to be someone "not well versed"? Does someone have to share a belief system to be well versed?

Exactly.

Their parents, and when they get old enough to make adult decisions they can make their own.

DD