I promised that I would try to collect some of the education-related “Culture Wars” stories. Here are some high (or is it low?) points. Note that the first story goes back to 2004…this has been brewing for some time, and gradually escalating. These are only brief excerpts to give you the flavor of the story.

GEORGIA SCHOOLS ACCOMMODATE MUSLIM RELIGIOUS NEEDS
December 6, 2004
“Now, increasing numbers of schools are facing a new challenge: they're being asked to let some Muslim students out early every Friday throughout the entire year. That's when Muslims come together for the most important service of the week, Juma'ah.

“So Khalid Rashied asked Duluth High School to let his children out early every Friday to attend services. The school gave its permission during the holy month of Ramadan, but not for the entire year.

“Based on rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, the government -- including a public school -- is within its rights to turn down a religious request, according to Eric Segall, a First Amendment expert at Georgia State University Law School. “When a student wants to receive a special accommodation because of religious practices from a public school,” he says, “the school under the most recent precedent does not really have any First Amendment constitutional obligation to make that accommodation.” But Mr. Segall notes that schools can choose to agree to the accommodation.”

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2004-12/Georgia-Schools-Accomodat...

EFFORT TO ACCOMMODATE MUSLIM WOMEN'S MODESTY SPURS DEBATE
June 13, 2006

Examples of some demands that were made:
• Lincoln Park, Michigan - A public gym was forced to create a separate, women-only section.
• Bridgeview, Illinois - A Muslim school insists that males be banned from their girls’ basketball team *road* games (at other schools!)
• Seattle, Washington - A public pool established a special swim time when men, even lifeguards, were banned

“Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of Muslim Public Affairs Council, says the right to petition for special accommodation based on religious beliefs is protected by the First Amendment.

“Walid Phares, a professor of Middle East studies at Florida Atlantic University, sees it as an early sign in the USA of a global Islamic movement to pressure Western society into abiding by Islamic laws.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-06-13-muslim-modesty_x.htm

RAMADAN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
September 17, 2007
“Public schools and universities across the country are considering Muslim students’ requests for religious accommodation during Ramadan, the holy month of prayer and fasting, which continues through Oct. 12. Accommodations can include separate rooms where fasting students can go during lunch; places for students to perform daily prayers; the consideration of requests to make Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that ends Ramadan, a school holiday; and the installation of footbaths in restrooms to make it easier for students to follow prayer rituals.

“Most school officials try to grant such requests, according to observers, but such accommodations also bring challenges from those who claim they violate church-state separation by giving one religious group special treatment.”
• The San Diego Unified School District is under scrutiny after allowing Muslim students at Carver Elementary School 15 minutes a day for prayer.
• The University of Michigan-Dearborn is steeped in controversy after a decision to use $25,000 in student fees to install footbaths in campus restrooms. The footbaths are seen as an accommodation for Muslim students, who must wash their feet and hands before prayer. The Minneapolis Community and Technical College was bombarded with hate mail when it, too, announced plans to install footbaths.
• At the forefront of the push for religious accommodation in public universities is the Muslim Students Association, which has formed a Muslim Accommodations Task Force to push for footbaths and prayer rooms. At least 17 universities have footbaths built or under construction, including Boston University, George Washington University and Temple University, and nine universities have prayer rooms designated exclusively for Muslim students, including Stanford University, Emory University and the University of Virginia.
• In New York City, Muslim groups are seeking the recognition of two Muslim holidays as school holidays. (Read a May 16, 2007, Norwood News article posted by New York State Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr.) Also in New York, in February the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review an appeals court decision that allows New York City public schools to display a menorah during Hanukkah and a star and crescent during Ramadan, while banning a crèche at Christmastime.

http://www.religionlink.org/tip_070917.php

Regarding California K-12 schools, Snopes has some additional remarks (July 7, 2007).
“The special accommodations for Carver Elementary's nearly 100 Somali Muslims don't stop with organized prayer. The school cafeteria has banned pork and other foods that conflict with the Islamic diet. And the K-8 school has even added Arabic the language of the Quran to its curriculum, while segregating classes for girls, a la the Taliban.”

The comments continue:
“In California's brave new schools, Johnny has been forced to recite the Quran along with Ahmed.

“Seventh-graders at a San Francisco-area school were required, even after 9/11, to "become Muslims" for two full weeks as part of California's world history curriculum.

“This included reciting the Muslim profession of faith "Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger" and chanting "Praise be to Allah" in response to teacher prompts.

“Parents naturally were outraged that teachers would be shoving Islamic beliefs down their children's throats.

“And some of them sued the school district, only to lose in federal court. They appealed, but the ultra-liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals out of San Francisco ruled that such Islamic catechism is constitutional.

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=13236

HARVARD GYM ACCOMMODATES MUSLIM WOMEN
March 4, 2008
“Harvard University has banned men from one of its gyms for a few hours a week, a move to accommodate Muslim women who, for religious and cultural reasons, cannot exercise comfortably in their presence.

“The policy is already unpopular with many on campus, however, including some women who consider it sexist.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-03-04-muslim-gym_N.htm

And an interesting point of view from someone with personal insight.
From the web site “Islam Watch – Telling the Truth about Islam – Islam Under Scrutiny by Ex-Muslims”:

ACCOMMODATION AS AN ISLAMIST POLITICAL INSTRUMENT
by Zuhdi Jasser
28 Jul, 2007

“The Establishment Clause of our Constitution and the pluralism upon which our nation is based carries with it principles which should always be remembered. Our freedom to practice our personal faith should never be denied. And the courts have repeatedly endorsed this as a right guaranteed by our First Amendment rights to free speech and religious practice.
“However, once that right begins to impose a cost, whether financial or experiential, upon another citizen, that right ends. For with that cost, it becomes an imposition---a coercive force. A political force—in this case, Islamism.”
http://www.islam-watch.org/Jasser/Accommodation-Islamist-Political-Instr...