“Pretend you are a Muslim.” This was the instruction given in a class assignment at Union Grove High School in Union Grove, Wisconsin, requiring students to take on the persona of a Muslim in order to write a “point of view” essay in which they discussed their daily Islamic religious practices and the types of struggles they would face as Muslims in America.
Like us, many of you were shocked to learn about the inclusion of this assignment in a public school curriculum and were resolute in expressing your position that this type of religious activity clearly crosses the line into unconstitutional religious indoctrination by the government. In less than four days, over 95,000 people had signed our petition to “Stop Islamic Indoctrination in School.”
This overwhelming response, and in such a rapid time frame, sends a clear message that the citizens of this nation expect their government to abide by the law and refrain from incorporating Islamic religious activities into our public educational system.
We have issued a letter to the school district informing its officials that requiring students to personally adopt a religious viewpoint operates in direct violation of the restrictions imposed on the government by the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. We have explained that school personnel must be made aware of the law in this regard and demanded that any future instruction involving religion at the school must comply with the Constitution.
The ACLJ is privileged to have such tremendous support in its efforts to confront these types of governmental abuse of power.
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