Tolerance Gone Wild

As Long As It’s Not Catholic

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting Op-Ed piece on Saturday, June 14 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121339952713673705.html?mod=todays_us_opinion).

It was written by Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten and it discusses the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights , Minn. The charter school, which accepts public funds, was started by two imams--Asad Zaman and co-founder Hesham Hussein—both of whom “have held top positions with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, and also with the school.”

Kersten reveals some disturbing facts about the school: “It shares a building with a mosque and the headquarters of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The cafeteria serves Halal food. Arabic is a required subject. There is a break for midday prayers.” Also, “On Fridays, many students join with Muslim teachers and attend religious services in the school's gym.”

Sounds an awful lot like a religious school, doesn’t it? Why then is the government subsidizing it? Well, in this politically correct environment, that is a dangerous question to ask, as Kersten learned: “I've written just two columns critical of the school for the Star Tribune. But that was enough for State Rep. Mindy Greiling, the chairman of the Minnesota House of Representatives' K-12 Finance Committee, to publicly call for me to be fired from the newspaper.”

After Kersten raised the issue the Minn Dept of Education investigated and ruled that the school is “breaking the law by holding Friday religious services on school grounds; that it should stop Muslim teachers' practice of praying with students at that service; and that it must provide bus transportation home before Islamic Studies classes let out.”

Although this is welcome news, Kersten raises a more important point, which is that nobody has questioned the school’s affiliation with a religious organization. As she argues, “It's a safe bet that if the school in question here were essentially a Catholic school, this wouldn't be a debate. Imagine a public charter located in the headquarters building of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis . Its principal is a priest and its board chairman is the archbishop. Catholic students there ‘are comfortable asking questions about their own religion.’ Latin is required, and the cafeteria serves fish during Lent. Students break for prayer and attend Mass during the school day, and buses leave only when after-school Catholic Catechism classes are over. Such a school would never open.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself. This is the society we live in today. We need more people like Kersten to expose these hypocrisies; otherwise, there’s little doubt that similar initiatives will emerge in other hot spots of “tolerance” like NY, CA, and Mass.

Donald Tremblay