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AMP Report – February 23, 2007
Students told to shun Muslims
Anti-Muslim literature handed out in class
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has rebuked the Wake County (North Carolina) Public School system for allowing a Christian evangelist to speak at Enloe High School and distribute pamphlets denouncing Islam.
A representative from the Kamil International Ministries Organization, a Christian group based in Raleigh (NC), was invited by a teacher to come and speak to the class. He handed out literature in the class that compared the teachings of Jesus with accusations against Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
Muhammad, the pamphlets distributed at the high school said, was "a criminal," a "demon possessed," and "inspired by Satan." The group also had a special message for the young women at the high school: "Do Not Marry a Muslim Man."
Solomon, an Egyptian-born Christian, runs Kamil International Ministries Organization based in Raleigh, NC.
The legal director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Arsalan Iftikhar, has written a letter to Dr. Adelphos Burns, the superintendent of the Wake County Public School System. A
CAIR press release in part said:
"It is unconscionable for a teacher at any public school to abuse his or her position of trust by forcing such hate-filled, inaccurate and intolerant materials on students. One can only imagine what a Muslim student in the class might have experienced and how students of other faiths will now regard their Muslim classmates."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the school system will have created a "discriminatory, hostile learning environment," violating federal civil rights law, if it does not investigate the incident and apologize to students.
"When you bring in somebody to distribute hate-filled literature without an opportunity for rebuttal, you have a disturbing situation," said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the national council, known as CAIR. "These students are obliged to be in the classroom and listen to this speaker who is presented as an authority figure by the teacher."
'Don't marry a Muslim'
Solomon's appearance Friday in teacher Robert Escamilla's social studies classes at Enloe, a magnet school for gifted and talented students, shocked many who took the pamphlets home and showed them to their parents, students said. One pamphlet, comparing Jesus with Muhammad, says the Muslim prophet "enslaved people, abused women and taught Muslims to terrorize non-Muslims and force them into Islam."
"He basically told us Muslims were bad and we should convert to Christianity," said Alyssa Kaszycki, 14, of Cary, who heard Solomon during a freshman seminar class. "He told all the girls we should never marry a Muslim man because they would take away our freedom and beat us."
She said Solomon was their only guest speaker this semester.
Parallel drawn to KKK
A spokesman for the Muslim American Council said he was seeking assurances from the Wake County schools that the incident would not be repeated and the people responsible for it would be held accountable.
"There should be some kind of system where proselytizing is not allowed," said Marc Conaghan, spokesman for the Raleigh-based Muslim group.
Parents, too, said the school's response wasn't adequate. Tariq Butt of Raleigh, whose daughter, Saira, is a freshman, said the principal's suggestion that Solomon's presentation was just "one person's perspective," was disingenuous.
"It wasn't opinion. It was an outright attack and fabrication," said Butt, who is a Muslim. "Can we allow the KKK to distribute hate-filled literature in school?"
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told FOXNews.com that so far, the group hasn't received any formal response. Cochran, the school's principal, also did not immediately return calls to FOXNews.com for comment.
At the very least, Hooper said, someone from the Muslim community should have been invited to come in the same day as the Kamil representative to give the Muslim perspective.
"At least that would have been something, but to just bring in this person, presented by an authority person like a teacher, 'here's someone who's going to teach you Islam ... if he was going to stage a public forum and denounce Islam, that's fine," Hooper said.
"This was a captive audience with captive minds who were offered no rebuttal to this type of bigotry."
In Muslims we do not trust
The New York Times under the headline “In Muslims we do not trust” reported:
“First we have Rep. Virgil Goode, the five-term Virginia Republican who, readers will recall, made his mark in December by delivering a heartfelt and, no shortage of critics charged, anti-Muslim epistle to some of his constituents.
”Well, he hit some of the same grace notes again last week on the House floor, where he registered his disdain for a resolution opposing the troop increase in Iraq. Noting that Muslim radicals were bent on erecting the "green flag of the crescent and star" to fly over the Capitol, Mr. Goode said he could not in good conscience lend support to the non-binding bill.
"I feel that radical Muslims who want to control the Middle East and ultimately the world," he said, "would love to see 'In God We Trust' stricken from our money and replaced with 'In Muhammad We Trust.'"
”Why Mr. Goode didn't go for a more parallel phrasing like "In Allah We Trust" is unclear, but Ibrahim Hooper, the national communications director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, quickly pointed out to TPM Cafe last week that "there are many Islamic traditions that reinforce that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was a human being, and he should not be worshiped."
”In other words, the editors at TPM noted, "the notion that any Muslim would want 'In Muhammad We Trust' written on U.S. money is, to put it charitably, nonsense." Meanwhile?
”There is apparently no trust in Muhammad among members of a certain Christian group a few miles south of Mr. Goode's stomping grounds, down in North Carolina. Seems that a representative of something called the Kamil International Ministries Organization was invited on more than one occasion to speak - and distribute literature - to students at Enloe High School in Raleigh.
”So what's KIMO? Here's a pull-quote from the front of the group's Web site:
”Kamil International Ministries Organization is dedicated to teaching the truth about Islam. We love Muslims but we believe that Islam is not a Divine faith, Muhammad was not a prophet from God and the Koran is not the Word of God. Our mission is to raise an awareness of the danger of Islam among Christians and equip them to share Jesus with Muslims. We will be glad to impart historical and factual information about Islam.”
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