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Morro Bay mom claims book used in son’s middle school
class promotes Islam at the expense of Christianity
A Morro Bay woman has filed a complaint against San Luis Coastal Unified
School District over her son’s seventh-grade social studies textbook,
claiming that the book promotes Islam and denigrates Christianity.
Her claim has been echoed by Christian radio, which picked up a story
that students in Byron, Calif., who are using the same book, are being
forced to “learn the tenants of Islam, study the important figures of
the faith, wear a robe, adopt a Muslim name and stage their own jihad,”
according to the Reverend Austin Miles of ASSIST News Service.
Students at (our local school) have not been asked to don robes,
according to JenT, the mother who filed the complaint, but
they are asked to imagine being a Muslim soldier, build a model mosque
and describe being on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
“This is nothing short of brainwashing,” Shroder states in a 10-page
complaint on her website. “first our children are shown a false god,
shown how Muslims worship him, told to imagine being a Muslim, write
about it in many ways, and then to write what’s good about it. All the
time claiming this does not proselytize!?!
Fox News pundits Hannity & Colmes picked up the Byron story: Fox News reporter William La Jeunesse
interviewed Shroder at her Morro Bay home on Jan. 16.
The book, Across the Centuries, was approved statewide for use in
seventh-grade social studies classes in 1999. Earlier editions of the
book previously were adopted by the state.
Byron district officials have denied that they are forcing students to
pray to Allah. After receiving a flood of phone calls after the story
was broadcast over radio – calls which officials say came from out of
the area and not from parents – the district issued a press release.
“In response to the public’s outcry for accountability,” it reads,
“California has adopted a set of content standards for public schools.
In grade seven, one of the 11 world history and geography standards is
“Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious and
social structures of the civilizations of Islam in the Middle Ages.”
In order to engage student interest, officials say, the teacher
curriculum outlines various activities and games to illustrate aspects
of these social structures. “Dressing up in costume, role-playing and
simulation games are all used to stimulate class discussion.”
LIFE’S LESSONS
The book first came to Shroder’s attention when her son brought home
an assignment to create his version of a
Hindu Tree of Life. The Tree of
Life is “taboo” to Christians, says Shroder, and should not be
re-created.
In response to the assignment, her son painted an angel with a flaming
sword guarding the Tree of Life. At the bottom, he copied a Bible verse:
“God placed a mighty angel with a flaming sword to guard the Tree of
Life.” His teacher gave the boy an “A,” and posted the picture on the
bulletin board. “she’s a hero,” says Shroder. “I brought her flowers
yesterday.”
Shroder isn’t opposed to her sons learning about other religions, but
the Tree of Life incident “crossed the line between learning about
another religion and participating in that religion,” she says. “My God
says he is a jealous God.” Shroder goes on to quote what she calls an
important verse in the Bible, one she says she uses often: “Take heed
that you are not snared and that you inquire not after their gods.”
After the Tree of Life assignment, Shroder got curious. She went
through the book, pulling out passages and assignments, eventually
collecting 10 pages of offensive material that she says either promotes
Islam, whitewashes it or denigrates Christianity. The section that talks
about religious persecution, for example, mentions only Christian
persecution of other religions, and no persecution of Christians by
other religions.
At first, Shroder’s attempt to alert the national media and Christian
groups met with little success. “They [major media] just want to hear a
Christian rant and rave. But when they found out I was suing the
government, they lost interest,” she says. Finally, an attorney from the
Pacific Justice Institute agreed to help her.
Pacific Justice Institute attorney Brad Dacus says his organization
“defends parents’ rights and religious freedoms.” He says he helped
Shroder file a complaint against the district first, not sue the state
Department of Education. Further action will depend on the district’s
response, he says.
“Our goal is not to stamp out instruction of religion, but we don’t want
the state to endorse any religion, either,” Dacus says. He also has gone
through the offending books (both the student text and the teacher’s
edition) and sees the anti-Christian bias and the whitewash of Islam. He
says his yardstick is to flip allthings around – if students were asked
to dress like Christian pilgrims and recite passages of the Bible, would
it fly? No way, he says. “there’d probably be a lawsuit by the ACLU.”
SIFTING THE MATERIAL
The San Luis Coastal Unified School District made allowances for
Shroder’s son, according to Assistant Superintendent for Educational
Services Ed Valentine. He says accommodations are routinely made, when
they can be, for students and parents who have concerns with particular
aspects of the curriculum.
According to Valentine, he has responded to the complaint that was
filed, but has gotten no response yet. “It just went out this week,” he
says. No other parent has complained to him about the book, which he
says has been in use for years.
Published by Houghton Mifflin, Across the Centuries has been in the
schools for several years. It was first published in 1991, and approved
for the then-new state curriculum. The latest edition was published in
1999. According to Dr. Gary B. Nash, director of the National Center for
History in the Schools and one of the book’s authors, the religious
sections of the text went through an extensive public review period,
after being vetted by “some of the most eminent religious scholars
across the country.” UCLA professor of history Nash says the main
objections at the time came from Muslims.
“Hundreds of hours were spent sifting through the material,” Nash says.
“Houghton Mifflin is an old, honorable publishing company. They take
complaints seriously.” He says subsequent editions have reflected
changes made when factual or historical inaccuracies were found. Many of
Shroder’s complaints, he says, seem to stem from her belief system,
not from factual inaccuracies in the book.
“This book is used in virtually every district in California,” says
Nash. “It’s used on other states, even in faith-based schools.”
With increased national media interest, it seems unlikely that the
tempest will end with Valentine’s response. Dacus says that since his
organization issued a press release about the complaint, other parents
in districts around the state have called looking for help filing a
complaint against Across the Centuries.
Shroder is pleased that the message is getting out. She says she
wonders how many parents have no idea what their seventh-graders are
learning. “Parents need to ask their kids what they’re being asked to do.”
*********(some of the sentences have been deleted from the original text
because it made it sound like I did all this stuff and I didn't, can't
take the glory)
Staff writer Tracy Hamilton is glad she can read – and that she is
beyond being corrupted by words or images. (I thought that was
hilarious! lol)
( Don't miss "Corruption in
our children's textbooks."
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