Get your kids out of government schools - today's edition

How's this for a homework assignment?

When the world geography class at Riverheads High School in Staunton rolled around to the subject of major world religions, homework on Islam asked students to copy religious calligraphy. 

It read:

"Here is the shahada, the Islamic  of faith, written in Arabic. In the space below, try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy."

The illustrative classical Arabic phrase was the basic statement in Islam. It translated to: "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah." 

When students took it home, it was like a spark hitting a powder keg. Some of their parents saw the homework as an attempt to convert their children to Islam.
Calls and emails flooded the school. Some of them demanded the teacher be fired for assigning it.
Cheryl LaPorte had not designed the assignment herself, but took it from a standard workbook on world religions, local newspaper The News Leader reported. 

LaPorte told The News Leader that now her job is to get her students through Standards of Learning tests. 

The county school system reacted.
It removed the shahada from world religion instruction. "A different, non-religious sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future," it said.
And it issued a statement saying no one was trying to convert anyone to any religion. 

"Neither of these lessons, nor any other lessons in the world geography course, are an attempt at indoctrination to Islam or any other religion or a request for students to renounce their own faith or profess any belief," Augusta County Schools official Eric Bond said in a statement to CNN affiliate WHSV. 

But that hasn't been enough for Kimberly Herndon, who kept her ninth-grade son home from school.
"There was no trying about it. The sheet she gave out was pure doctrine in its origin," she told WHSV.

"I will not have my children sit under a woman who indoctrinates them with the Islam religion when I am a Christian," she said. 

How long will LaPorte stick to her lame attempt at an excuse?

UPDATE: Lest you think this is an outlier story, check out this "holiday" pageant at a school in Blaine, Minnesota:

Check out some of the lyrics of “Eid un Sa’ Eid – Zain Bhika”:

“Ramadan has come and gone/Eid has dawned up us/Thank you Allah for this blessed day/This is a time of happiness, a time of joy/Thank you Allah for this blessed day.”

Throw in some banjos and a fiddle and I’m sure you’d have a real toe tapper.

Then then song breaks into some Arabic.

“It’s a time of brotherhood, a time of peace/Muslims are singing praises to Allah/Allahu Akbar/Allahu Akbar/”

Now it's true the youngsters also sang "Away in the Manger" and "Silent Night" and a few Jewish songs. But why are they singing a Ramadan song at Christmas time?

I know the lyrics say that Ramadan has come and gone. But in this case, Ramadan was last summer.

One parent told the television station considering recent events in Paris and San Bernardino - a song about Allah would be “insensitive.”

By the way – I don’t seem to recall any outrage from the ACLU or any of those perpetually offended atheist groups that break out in hives at the sound of a Christmas carol.

The Anoka – Hennepin School District is defending the Muslim melody.

They argued that the Islamic song that called on Muslims to “unite to worship Allah” is not really about worship.

“Songs are not performed in a worship setting or to promote religion,” the district said in a statement to WCCO. “But rather in (an) educational setting where students are learning and performing music.”

And besides, any student who did not feel comfortable singing it, was not required to do so.

The school district said they have students from a number of different backgrounds and they try to promote equal opportunities for all students.

Well, all you kiddies from "different backgrounds," you're in America now, and this is a nation with a Judeo-Christian foundation.

 For the moment, anyway. It is quite late in the day.