One of my assignments for school the other day was to write a short paper on this controversy. I found it really interesting to think about....there is really a lot more going on here (I think) than just 'keeping the children in school'. If anyone has any thoughts or questions, I'd love to hear them!
><>RileyRose<><
Should Islamic Prayer Times be allowed in schools?
Nov. 28th, 2011
Valley Park Middle School has recently been at the center of a major
controversy concerning religion, education, and the connection between the two.
This controversy was sparked because some schools have begun allowing the
attending Islamic students to use their school cafeteria as a place to conduct
their friday prayer services. The Islamic people are required to attend a prayer
service on friday afternoons, and the school board decided to allow the children
to conduct these meetings on school property. The reasoning behind the School
boards decision was largely for educational purposes. The Islamic children are
required to attend these prayer services, and if they are not allowed to do so on
the school property, the children have to leave the school to attend the nearest
mosque. This tended to result in the children skipping out on school, simply
attending the prayer service and not bothering to come back to school at all. By
allowing the children to worship on school property, the school board is hoping
to better contain the children during school hours.
The decision may not have been the best one where the government is
concerned, however, since it brings the question of religion in the school back
into the public eye. It is no longer allowable for a teacher to read the Bible or
pray with their class, but it would seem that it is allowable for a large mass of
students to take time out of their classes to have an entire worship service in the
middle of school hours! The question that should be asked is 'Why is it that the
government and the school board feel that it is necessary to bend over
backwards for every religious and ethnic group except Christians?' All traces of
a Christian message have been scrubbed out of the school as if dirtier than the
mud tracked into the halls by a hyperactive schoolboy, but it seems that the
school board thinks it only proper that the messages of other major world
religions should have a large presence in the educational system.
The question of whether Islamic prayer times should actually be held in
schools is not a question easily answered. On one hand, some people would
likely say 'Well yes, as part of their religion they have to pray at certain times of
the day, so of course they should be allowed! It's part of religious freedom!'. On
the other hand, the Christian religion calls its people to evangelize and to speak
about their faith to everyone around them, so why is it that if a christian teacher,
or even a student, makes mention of their faith to others, they are liable to be
held guilty of 'forcing their faith on others'? Does it really make sense that a
teacher stating to his class that he is a Christian is classified as force feeding
the students religion, but a school clearing their entire cafeteria to allow Islamic
children to pray is not? I imagine that the argument for this would most likely be
something like 'Well, the teacher is talking to non-christians and forcing them to
listen..the Muslims are keeping it amongst themselves'. It is, however, fairly
easy to protest against an argument such as this. It is highly unlikely that the
children making this mass exodus from the classroom and migrating to the
cafeteria would go unnoticed by, or without question from the other students. It is
also unlikely that if a non-muslim were to ask a teacher why the prayers were
happening the teacher would refuse to explain. If the standards for both Islam
and Christianity were the same the teacher would refuse to explain because it
would be 'forcing religion' on the child. At least in France, where any expression
of religion in public is forbade, the taboo applies to all religions. Crosses are not
to be worn in schools, and neither is the Hajab head covering. But in our
country, it seems that Christianity must go unnoticed and unmentioned, whilst
other religions have been granted bragging rights.
It must be concluded that if there are to be Islamic prayer times in school,
then the implied religious rights must be granted across the board. Teachers
must be allowed to teach science from all possible viewpoints, not just the
evolutionary viewpoint that is currently espoused by the powers that be.
Chapels must be allowed back into the school for the christians who wish to
spend time worshipping. There are many different religions that must be
accepted into the school and made part of the system if this path is to be
followed to the end. If the government attempts to create a middle ground, it is
inevitable that they will find the task exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. A
third choice is not easily found in this matter, there seems to be only two
available. Either the government must allow all religions freedom in the school,
thereby doing the unthinkable and allowing Christianity to have a voice within
the school once more, or they must return education to the moral and religious
desert that we have recently become accustomed to.
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