Shariah Schools

Elites pooh-pooh the danger of the more draconian forms of Shariah law ever taking root in the United States and point to the small number of adherents of this code as evidence of its harmlessness to Americans. They can only make these assurances, though, by completely ignoring evidence that this body of legal beliefs is already taking hold in some surprising places, namely American courts and schools..

For example, The Center for Security Policy reported in an in-depth study— Shariah Law and American State Courts: An Assessment of State Appellate Court Cases— on “50 appellate court cases from 23 states that involve conflicts between Shariah (Islamic law) and American state law.”

“The analysis finds that Shariah has been applied or formally recognized in state court decisions, in conflict with the Constitution and state public policy.”

Meanwhile, “A secretive foreign network of Islamic radicals now operates dozens of charter schools— which receive government money but are not required to adopt a state-approved curriculum — on U.S. soil,” Stephen Schwartz reports in The American Thinker. “The inspirer of this conspiratorial effort is Fethullah Gülen, who directs a major Islamist movement in Turkey and the Turkish Diaspora but lives in the United States.”

Even if not chartered for Shariah, as Accuracy in Academia has shown, garden variety public schools are not immune from pressure to lay low on the subject. When a speech in which the speaker was set to declaim on its drawbacks was cancelled in Ohio, the cancellation was so craven that even the ACLU objected.

“The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing school officials in Mansfield for going back on a promise to let the local Tea Party use a school gymnasium for an event last night,” Steve Brown reported for WOSU. “School administrators say a routine request to use a school gymnasium just got out of hand.”

“The district, as it often does, lent the space to the North Central Ohio Tea Party, which invited Usama Dakdok, a controversial author and public speaker who preaches against radical Islam and tries to convert Muslims to Christianity. Mansfield City Schools superintendant Dan Freund says he canceled the event after hearing some demonstrators were planning a protest outside the school.”

Specifically, the Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR) objected.  “We are strong supporters of the First Amendment right to free speech — even the kind of hate-filled speech used by Mr. Dakdok — but having this event in a public school creates the perception of official endorsement and will inevitably promote a hostile learning environment for students of diverse faiths, including Muslims,” CAIR-Cleveland Executive Director Julia Shearson said. “If Mr. Dakdok feels compelled to attack the faith of other Americans, there are more appropriate settings that will not violate the school district’s stated core belief that ‘all children deserve a safe learning environment.'” Dakdok was raised a Muslim in Egypt but converted to Christianity.

Interestingly, the CAIR press release was carried on Reuters with a disclaimer and on Al- Jazeera without one.

Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.

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