Judson Cox, December 22, 2003

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton has ruled that the Byron Union School district was not indoctrinating students by requiring them to wear Islamic garb, memorize verses from the Koran, pray to Allah and play "jihad games" as part of a simulation approach to Islamic studies. The curriculum required by the California State Board of Education utilizes the textbook "Across the Centuries," published by Houghton Mifflin, which prompts students to imagine they are Islamic soldiers and Muslims on a Mecca pilgrimage. The students are encouraged to use phrases such as "Allah Akbar," ("Allah is great,") and are required to fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

It is remarkable that our schools would teach such a course when America is fighting a war against Islamic terror and thousands of Americans lay dead at the hands of Islamic fascists. The doctrine of diversity trumps both reason and taste. Islam may be a "religion of peace", with highly nuanced interpretations of the Koranic commands to kill Jews and Christians, but if Muslim scholars can’t teach such nuances, should we rely on public school teachers? In the name of religious and cultural sensitivity, schools are forcing Christian and Jewish children to commit blasphemy. One cannot expect public school teachers to understand such a concept, when the Ten Commandments ("Thou shalt have no other gods before me.") are banned from public schools. To guard against offense and indoctrination, public religious education should be comparative in nature.

The comparative study of religion is an essential facet of a liberal arts based education. The arts, literature, philosophy and order of a society are an expression of that culture’s religion. To try to understand western literature, Chinese social order or Middle Eastern history without a basic understanding of the religions of those cultures is as frustrating and incomplete as trying to read Homer’s Odyssey without a basic knowledge of Greek mythology - who is this Athena, and doesn’t she have anything better to do with her time than to screw with other people’s lives?

However, such a study of religion is not possible within our public schools. Even the most abstract references to Christian belief are being expunged from our language. Imagine the violent paroxysms of liberals if students were instructed to read the Bible, pray the Lord’s Prayer, emulate priests and nuns by taking vows of chastity or to study the writings of Martin Luther. During the Clinton administration, Janet Reno would have burned the schools (with the students in them) faster than you could say "intolerance." We certainly cannot teach chastity in our schools -- Planned Parenthood and GLAD would be appalled!

Every praiseworthy quality of western culture springs from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Literature, the arts, science, math and technology were preserved and promoted through the Church when the Dark Ages threatened to extinguish the spark of knowledge. The Constitution of the United States of America and the western legal system are based upon Biblical principals. Our valuing of human, civil and women’s rights are unique to the Judeo-Christian tradition. Christian ministers and priests demanded the abolition of slavery, not secularists or Islamists.

Karl Marx, said, ''My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.'' This is the driving force behind the secularization of American culture and the push for diversity. The most destructive force in human history (responsible for up to 200 million deaths and incalculable suffering) is behind the anti-Christian bigotry plaguing our nation. Although 84% of the population of the United States is self-identified as Christian (CNN/Gallup 2002), Christma s is being banned from the American lexicon.

Ron N. Everett, aka Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, a black Marxist who realized that the best way to defeat Americanism is to subvert our religious heritage, fabricated Kwanzaa in 1966. He invented an African sounding holiday and Africanized Marxist precepts as its justification. In 1971, he was convicted on two counts of felonious assault and one count of false imprisonment, and sentenced to one to ten years in prison for beating and torturing two women who were members of his United Slaves, a violent nationalist rival to the Black Panthers . The propaganda of a violent and deranged lunatic is celebrated, while Christ is vilified. Peace on earth and good will to man be damned - Allah Akbar and Happy Kwanzaa!

Judson Cox is a political columnist from the mountains of North Carolina. He is quickly gaining recognition as one of the most popular and influential voices of his generation. As a college student, and a young entrepreneur, he has a unique perspective on matters of politics, economics and culture.

Copyright © 2003 Judson Cox