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Controversial book approved for use
Yesterday, after listening to two hours of public comments, the Sarasota County School Board resolved to continue using the textbook World History: Patterns of Interactions textbook in their high schools. The use of this book had been challenged by Richard Swier, who felt that the book was too preferential to Islam and did not portray it as evil as he feels Islam is.
Yesterdays hearing were the culmination of the challenge that started in the fall of 2009. Swier had asked the county to review the use of the book, which is on the state approved textbook list. The county formed a committee, which reviewed Swiers complaints. The committee recommended the continued use of the textbook, a recommendation that Superintendent White agreed with. This set the stage for Swier taking his challenge all the way to the school board.
Swiers complaints about this textbook largely stem from the poor review Dr. Terri Wonder gave of the book. Dr. Wonder is a well-known anti-Muslim academic involved in the Islamo-facism conspiracy movement of which Swier is a member. This conspiracy movement believes that there is a hidden Islamic agenda to take over America and turn it into an Islamic republic run under Sharia law.
The board meeting was packed with about 200 people in attendance. About 47 people spoke, evenly split for and against the book. Advocates for keeping the book wore shirts that said, “Choose history, not his story.”
Those opposed were concerned about this book promoting what they called “stealth jihad” in America. Another said that if the books stay – she and others will personally cut out the pages they don’t agree with – openly promoting the vandalization of public school property and text censorship akin to the fascism they are afraid of. The irony was lost of them.
When Swier finally spoke, he announced that he had just learned via his iPhone that a woman had just been stoned in Iran. No news site or anti-stoning website is reporting such a stoning, which would have had to occur at around midnight Iranian time for Swier’s story to be accurate. Regardless, it is not clear why Swier thought such an incident would impact the Sarasota School Board’s decision on whether to keep a history book or not, though he may have thought that an example of how horrid and inhumane Sharia law really is would be enough to make the board as afraid of an Islamic take over of our country as Swier clearly is.
The real reason the book will be kept is most likely financial. An email had been sent out to teachers over the summer that said that no money would be spent on textbooks or instructional materials this year. Which means, replacing the textbooks is not something the county could afford to do even if they wanted to. Especially since the alternative textbooks apparently cost $200 each.
The Humanist position: Humanists prefer our textbooks to be historically accurate, understanding that no textbook will ever provide a complete or holistic account of history as they are necessarily limited to just touching on the main events. While Humanists are concerned about the inhumane use of Sharia law around the world and the rise of religious fundamentalism in general, we feel that to paint the whole history of Islamic culture in negative terms is simply historically inaccurate. There is much in the history of Islamic culture that is noteworthy and remarkable and worth learning about.
Regarding the concern about the imposition of Sharia law in America. We view both Sharia and Biblical law to be equally horrid and inhumane. But because there is a well-known active movement to impose Biblical law in America, we are more concerned with that possibility. Especially since a whopping 76% of Americans self identify as Christians. We consider it highly unlikely that Muslims, who currently make up just 0.6% of the American population (according to the American Religious Identification Survey), would somehow succeed in a stealth campaign to impost Sharia on the remaining 99.4% of us.
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Comments
I am not surprised at some controversy on many of the material used in schools. A person has to be careful of what is given to our young minds. Thank you for this great information and well presented.
I need to get a copy of this book, I do not have one at this time. However, as someone who loves history it is amazing that people like this man protesting will ignore the faults and past of their own religion simply to make another look bad!
Well written article and keep up the great work!
Jen
You might want to read a short history of our battles with Islamic nations, the Barbary Wars. The whole mess spaded 40-years, presidents, starting with George Washington. Go to David Barton, winter 2006 newsletter, A Muslim Sown Into Congress.
@TopAssistant - Yes, I am aware of those things. The point is that that isn't the entirety of their history. Just as the crusades aren't the totality of Christian history - there is good and bad and just because someone says there is some good doesn't mean it is all good. It just means there was some good.
I specifically was thinking about the quality of thinking and focus on education done int he Golden Age of Islam whic was the philosophic precursor to the Western Renaissance.
I just tried to post explaining how the conspiracy you mock is both misrepresented by yourself as well as including the mountains of evidence that there is such a conspiracy, one that is confined to several relatively small groups connected with Egyptian Jihadi organizations. I used to obscene language whatsoever, no curses, no slurs, yet my comment is blocked for "inappropriate language". What words are you not allowing? I was trying to explain the origins of CAIR and the track record of those who claim membership
CAIRs current leadership have made numerous supremacist statements, including:
"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth." - Ahmad Omar, cofounder of CAIR
"Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam, that is not suicide," ...
"They kill themselves for Islam." - Ahmad Omar
" Politics is a completion of War " - Ahmad Omar
"I am in support of the Hamas movement." - Nihad Awad, CAIR co-founder and current Executive Director
Nihad Awad was also caught on wiretap at a Philadelphia meeting plotting how to disguise payments to Hamas as legitimate charity. His phone number was found in a notebook seized from the Muslim Brotherhood under the heading "Important Phone Numbers".
Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's PR spokesman, has said:
regarding Hamas:
"CAIR does not support these groups publicly."
...not publicly ;)
Ahmed Bedier, former member of CAIR, now freelance, has said:
In response to the question: “If he was associating with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), doesn't that seem immoral, in your opinion?"
"“To a certain degree. Now, before 1995 there was nothing immoral about it.”
Even though before 1995 they were committing suicide bombs and murders. So there is nothing immoral about supporting suicide bombs and murders according to Bedier, so long as the government doesn't have the murderers on a blacklist.
Siraj Wahhaj, a member of CAIR's board of advisors, is an unindicted coconspirator in the 1993 world trade center bombings, and has a long history of supremacist remarks and support for violent Jihadism.
Rabith Hadid, a CAIR fundraiser and founder of the Islamic "charity" Global Relief Foundation, was arrested and deported to Lebanon when it was found his group raised money for Al Qaeda.
Muthanna al-Hanooti, a CAIR director, had his home raided in 2006 based on his alleged support for terror groups and his leadership in Focus on Advocacy and Advancement of International Relations, which is suspected of funnelling money to Iraqi insurgents. He is also an unindicted coconspirator in the 1993 world trade center bombing, and leads prayers at a Mosque that gave aid to some of the 9/11 hijackers. He has also praised suicide bombers as "martyrs" who are "alive in the eyes of Allah."
Nabil Sadoun and Mohamed Nimer, two high ranking members of CAIR, co-founded the group United Association for Studies and Research, which is another suspected Hamas "charity" front, along with Hamas member Mousa Abu Marzook.
Rafeeq Jaber, a cofounder of CAIR, has praised Hizbollah attacks on Israeli civilians, and was a longtime leader of the Hamas front "Islamic Association for Palestine" that CAIR grew out of.
Check out any book by Nonie Darwish, a former Egyptian-born muslim turned christian. Americans tend to believe that the whole world is progressing at our rate. Not so. Many muslim countries have not progressed in 1500 years or more. As a woman, I'm outraged at their treatment of women and, as a humanist, I'm outraged at their shariah laws. Islam is more than a religion--it's a way of life and it's toatally unsustainable in 21st century America. Unless we allow it.
The Council on America-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim American Society, the American Muslim Council, and the International Institute of Islamic Thought, are front groups for the Muslim Brotherhood.
They were all mentioned in a Muslim Brotherhood memorandum from 1991 that states that they are engaged “in America [in] a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”
Abdurahman Alamoudi, founder of the AMC, who worked as an advisor to American politicians, including former president Bill Clinton, pled guilty to sending money to the Libyan government as well as having a role in an assassination plot against the Saudi crown prince. He has been caught on tape complaining that Bin Laden didn't kill
The fact is, that in countries where Islamic law is practiced:
1. children are indoctrinated to become suicide martyrs in the name of their religion (child abuse);
2. minorities are persecuted (Jews, Christian, Bahai, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, atheists, homosexuals, etc.
3. woman are deprived baisc human rights: the right to vote, drive, be a witness in court of law, have relationships of their own choosing without the threat of being put to death;
4. execute children.
5. practice slavery
6. force woman in sexual slavery..
There is much, much, more going on these police states.
Show me one Country were Christians are the majority that these atrocities are occuring today?
Continued about Alamoudi:
He has been caught on tape complaining that Bin Laden didn't kill enough Americans in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa. He is also suspected of fundraising for Al Qaeda. He is currently serving a 23 year sentence in prison.
The fact is that every Islamic nation has Shariah worked into the constitution, and every Islamic nation has institutionalised discrimination against minorities. Anyone who thinks treatment of minorities under Islam and under Christianity is comparable should look up Dhimmitude. It's disgusting
American Revolutionaries consisted of about 3% of a populace. Who says that a small amount of people cant achieve alot if they are strong willed enough?
The "biblical laws" that the xtians want to impose on America don't include stoning to death for working on Sunday. They include demonizing and outlawing homosexual marriage, if not homosexuality itself, teaching creationism in school, government endorsing and using tax money to fund religious events and indoctrination. I oppose all of that.
But to say that's "equally as horrid and inhumane" as female genital mutilation, veiling women, divine mandates to beat women if they refuse sex, stoning adulturers and even rape victims. Pat Robertson doesnt advocate for the hanging of gays or cutting off hands of thieves. The baseless equivalence is pathetic & ignorant.
Christian literalists who accept leviticus are a huge minority of xtians. Muslim literalists who accept the whole Qur'an as the eternal word of God are not a minority of
@Frank - just to clarify - it was the automatic comment system examiner uses that didn't allow your original post - I had nothing to do with that. And I am glad your posts were able to get through.
@ Frank - also - only about 20% of the US population at the time of the revolution were loyalists to the crown. The rest either supported independence or were indifferent. So, way more then 3% wanted independence. A substantial majority wanted it. Just saying.
The idea that 0.6% of the population would be able to impose Sharia on 99.4% who would be seriously unwilling to go along with the idea is just ludicrous - regardless of how obnoxious and inhumane those who want Sharia are.
I have a degree in history and agree with the humanist position on the necessary accuracy of text books. There is however a fine line between teaching history and indoctrination. For blacks and the surviving indigenous minorities in this country, Columbus Day is clear proof of that.
While recent events in Dover PA and Texas should raise concerns about the content of text books as applied by zealot Christians and political groups, I do understand Mr. Swier's fears. They are not without merit. What is needed is an awareness of what the spread of Islamic culture and sharia law represents for humanism, democracy and the United States.
Jennifer, Read your article and appreciate being kept up to date on the education of our young people. My only problem is your pronouncement that Biblical law and Islamic Law are equal in any aspect. If you read the Koran you will read a "modifier" to all other content. This is not included in the Bible. That "modifier" is: Muslims are required/ordered to "convert the infidel", or "subjugate the infidel" including a "Jizyha Tax". or, failing the first two options, "kill the infidel". I call this a "modifier" because it is repeated over and over and never subverted or retracted. You are deceiving yourself if you believe Islam is a peaceful religion you are also deceiving yourself if you believe Islam will compromise on a quest to be the "only" religion. Read the Koran before you make judgements on it's content and Islam. I have ! Oh yeah! There's a little thing called "Taqiyya" you may want to research.
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