Why is an official of the Boise School District recommending Islamic religious material? And why is there not a single recommendation leading children to understand and appreciate Western civilization? Indeed, the only mention of it is negative: "the relentless march of the Roman Army." This is no clash of civilizations, this is abject surrender. From The Idaho Statesman, with thanks to Teri:
Want your children to be good readers? Read to them. Or let them read to you. Educators recommend adults and children spend 20 minutes a day reading to one another.These recommendations are from Stephanie Youngerman, educational services supervisor with the Boise School District.
Grades K to 3
"Magid Fasts for Ramadan," by Mary Matthews. An interesting look at an Egyptian Muslim family's celebration of Ramadan through the eyes of 8-year-old Magid.
"Crow Boy," by Taro Yashima. In a small Japanese village, Chibi, the main character, is an outcast at school because he is different from the other kids. This memorable story is about a situation all children experience sometime .
Grades 4 to 6
"Celebrating Ramadan," by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith. This picture book for older readers follows devout Muslim Ibraheem, a fourth-grader living in New Jersey, through the holy month of Ramadan and Eid (the holiday that follows).
"Skeleton Man," by Joseph Bruchac. Steeped in Mohawk lore and tradition, this story is contemporary both in its setting and its celebration of the enduring strength and courage of Native American women.
Grades 7 to 12
"19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East," by Naomi Shihab Nye. Haunting and evocative poems about the Middle East and about being an Arab American living in the United States.
"Flame (Farsala Trilogy)," by Hilari Bell. Adventure, mythology, politics, military tactics, and intrigue combine in this sweeping fantasy that draws its underpinnings from ancient Persian poetry and the relentless march of the Roman army.
UPDATE: Apparently dhimmitude is quite entrenched at the Idaho Statesman: an October article exhorted non-Muslims to put crescent moons on their houses as an expression of respect for Muslims. Some acid responses from readers can be found here (thanks to Twostellas).
My response to the online News Editor Michelle Witter at the Idaho Statesman.
Contact her at: mwitter@idahostatesman.com
Dear Ms. Witter,
You don't have to respond, but what do you think of your kids reading books designed to white wash Islam? I don't have to tell you (maybe I do), that this is a textbook propaganda tactic spoon fed to our children in an effort to indoctrinate them.
Islam does not subscribe to our notions of society no matter what flowery face your publication wishes to embrace and promote. Not far from me, Theo Van Gogh was assassinated for making the mistake of underestimating the degree of civilizational differences between Muslims and the citizens of the Netherlands.
The Dutch prided themselves as the embodiment of tolerance, now they realize they have a large hostile population in their midst’s.
In Europe where I reside, I see the problems large Islamic immigration is causing everywhere, it is not an exaggeration. In essence Muslim cultural demands are threatening every society where the Trojan Horse of Islamism, "multiculturism", is implemented.
I am writing specifically because your recommended books section is strange. It promotes Islam out of hand, as if the Idaho Statesman is oblivious to the daily reality of Islamic influences all over the world i.e., the outright violence and broad disruption of non-Muslim societies. You are after all in the news business, correct? Why the overwhelming emphasis on Arab-Muslim culture in that reading selection for children? Where is the emphasis on our Western Civilization and religious tradition in that list?
Are you recognizing the distinct hallmarks of an orchestrated agenda here that threatens all of us?
Oh well, the Idaho Statesman better change its name to the more PC "statesperson" and their motto from ”always Idaho” to "it was good while it lasted." Your publication is assisting in the dismantling our civilization for among other things, the selfish Liberal need to "feel" good about yourselves.
Please see for yourself the daily relentless realities of the cause your organization is recklessly ignoring by visiting Robert Spencer's website for a reality check. I would respectfully ask that you increase your awareness before the damage is irreversible.
http://jihadwatch.org/
And
http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/
Also
http://amnation.com/vfr/
Thank you.
"What to read, Idaho Statesman":
http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041107/NEWS0104/411070320/1002/NEWS02
I am encouraged by the people of Idaho's response to this suggestion. But at the same time - I had no idea that so many muslims were in Idaho. *sigh*
Ramadan is, of course, the least offensive of Muslim observances, and the one that can most easily be likened to the dietary regimes -- the observance of Lent among older Catholics, the avoidance of pork among orthodox Jews. It is heavily emphasized, therefore, by Muslim propagandists, apologists at mosque open houses and "interfaith dialogues" -- while the real things we worry about, the things that lead to mass murders in Beslan or Madrid or New York or Washington or Luxor, and assassinations in Amsterdam, and how those murders are prompted by canonical texts of Islam, by certain teachings, that are not those of a "handful of extremists" nor must of "Wahhabis" or of those who are "poverty stricken." Whoever in Utah, simpleminded or sinister, is behind this has to be queried, and stopped, by people better informed -- who understand exactly what use Ramadan is used to present, at first, a smiling and plausible image to beguile the unwary Infidels. There is no reason to collaborate in propaganda which may seem, to some, so inoffensive but is not. Not at all.
And if one is to suggest, as the addendum notes, that non-Muslims are asked by some bright soul to put up a crescent moon in some kind of idiotic identification with Muslims, why stop there? Why not ask Muslims and other non-Christians to wear a cross, or put up a crucifix, or ask non-Jews to put mezuzahs on their door-frames? Why not, indeed?
In fact, such gestures are phony, and avoid the heart of the matter. By all means, have a course in comparative religion. But if that course is to have any value at all, the section on Islam must -- simply must -- describe Muhammad as he is described, with Aisha and the Bani Qurayza and the attack on Khaybar and the agreement with the Quraysh at Al-Hudaibiyya in 628 -- that's right, all of it. And dar al-Islam and dar al-harb. And the treatment of non-Muslims under Muslim rule. Not those little lessons in Ramadan-worship, and look, oh what fun to turn the little prayer rug just so, facing the "qibla" -- yes, thank you Ahmed for explaining that to Cindy and Josh. Gosh, kids, why don't we all try facing Mecca and just pray to God, 'cause He's sure to be the same for all of us, God wouldn't change, would He?" Stop this nonsense. Get on with teaching reading and writing, and leave the little lessons in social enginering at the door.
Oh, and as for that crescent moon? As Bette Davis says to Hans Conreid at the end of "Now, Voyager": "Why ask for the moon -- we have the stars."
I am sure that the books were not read and discussed by the Boise School Board. Unless they took their lead from Muslim apologists or Muslim advocacy groups, they have no idea the point of view these books.
Textbook committees review and discuss all textbooks for accuracy, corollaries, and so on to see if they are appropriate. All books on the suggested reading list MUST receive the same scrutiny, but apparently they don't.
Hugh (et al):
Vis all the stories about various (non-Muslim) officials joining in on the Ramadan fasting (and other accommodations like prayer rooms) Do you think any of them ever felt compelled to join their Jewish neighbours/constituents in a Yom Kippur fast as a gesture towards multiculturalism, etc.? Or towards other significant Non-Christian minorities, like, say the (largely Buddist/Shinto) Japanese, or Hindu, Jainist or Sikhs?
Political pandering is all it is, to a relatively new wave of immigrants, who, unlike most others, insist that we respect their culture, but do not respect other cultures, either back where they came from, or in the countries into which they have migrated. And it's stomach-turning.
IDAHO? Are you kidding me?! The world IS turning upside down!
BTW, good letter Andrew.
I contacted the On-line Content editor and recommended Bat Ye'or's "Islam and Dhimmitude" with a reminder that those who don't know their history are damned to repeat it.
Idaho.... correct me if I am wrong, but is this state not also the site of a number of neo-nazi groups? You know, the ones which KeithJoy claim represent Republican thinking?
The neo-nazis believe that muslim terrorism will be helpful to them in realizing their own goals. Which quite naturally are NOT the goals of any and all decent Americans of either party (the Vast majority, of course). I have to think they've been rather depressed that nothing new has happened since 911.
Just as an an individual can't understand others until he understands him or herself, then people can't understand other cultures and faiths unless they understand their own.
My experience is that those who are apologists for Islam and the Islamic world are the ones who are most ignorant of Christianity and the achievements of their own civilization.
Mrs. Fawlty, sitting up in bed, her hair in curlers, eating chocolates and leafing through a magazine, as she talks to a friend on the phone while Basil is trying vainly to sleep in the next bed: "I know. I know." It is not Hans Conreid who changes Bette Davis' life for the better in Now, Voyager but Paul Henreid. The remark about the moon and the stars still stands.
Gary--much as I may cross swords with Keith Joy, it was uncalled for to charge him with characterizing all of us on the Right with the Aryan Nations--KKK mentalisty. One of the things our civilization badly needs is for some sort of return to civility. While it pains me that so few on the Left recognize, say, that our Evangelical political tradition is rife with democratic/republican/limited government tendencies, something tells me I won't ever get them to listen to me if I say that they are all a bunch of closet Khmer Rouge.
My apologies to any and all to whom I have been mischaracterized. The 9th Commandment (about not bearing false witness) is, after all, a fundamental of my religion.
However, I hope that if objective, non-participatroy information on Islam is given school children, the educators will have the decency to do the same for Christianity.