Pigs fly. Hell freezes over. ACLU sues Muslims over publicly-funded madrassa
Mirabile dictu! The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the government-subsidized Muslim charter school in Minnesota.
You’ll recall that Katharine Kersten did terrific investigative reporting of the CAIR-supported public school, called “TIZA” (Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy). In a rare stand against their left-wing fellow travelers, the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the academy’s use of taxpayer dollars to promote Islam:
The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it’s suing a charter school that caters to Muslim students.
The ACLU names Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, or TiZA, and the Minnesota Department of Education in a lawsuit in federal court that says the charter school is using taxpayer money to illegally promote religion.
The charter school, which has campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine, has fallen under fire after a substitute teacher claimed the school was offering religious instruction in Islam to its students.
After investigating the school last year, the Education Department said the school hadn’t broken any laws. In a statement issued Wednesday, the department saiad they’re ‘carefully reviewing the lawsuit and will thoroughly respond.’
“We will continue to monitor the operations of TiZA Academy and, in response to issues raised about the school over the past year, we are in the process of drafting legislation to address these concerns,” wrote Deputy Commissioner Chas Anderson.
The state’s report directed the charter school to “correct” two areas related to religion at the school.
“The Minnesota Department of Education goes to great lengths to make clear to charter schools and their sponsors that, while schools should appropriately accommodate students’ religious beliefs, they must be ‘nonsectarian’ under the state’s charter school law,” Anderson said in May.
The department noted concerned about the school accommodating communal prayer and providing transportation to an after-school religious program for its approximately 300 students.
“We have directed the school to take appropriate corrective actions regarding these matters and will continue to provide oversight to ensure that the school is in compliance with state and federal law,” Anderson said.
More from the Star-Tribune:
“TIZA has received millions of dollars of taxpayer money to support what is, in essence, a private religious school,” said Charles Samuelson, state ACLU executive director.
The school, which has one campus in Inver Grove Heights and a smaller site in Blaine, had about 430 K-8 students last year, most of them Muslim. The public charter school, founded in 2003, receives per-pupil funding from the state that the ACLU said is expected to total $3.8 million for the current school year…
…Samuelson said the school took government aid money and paid it to a holding company which then donated it to the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The money was used to pay for rent, according to the suit. He said that the school, holding company and the society were all incorporated on the same day by the same people, which Samuelson said was a conflict of interest. “They created legal fictions, but it’s the same organization,” Samuelson said.
The suit also alleges that there are prayers on the walls of the school entry and that teachers have participated in student prayer activities, which is forbidden in public schools. Samuelson said the school has used its website to seek volunteers to lead prayers. He also said that students and staff are required to dress in attire that conforms to Islamic religion.
The school has issued a handbook instructing staff to not discuss what goes on at the school, Samuelson said. “You cannot have a broad secrecy oath” in a school funded with public dollars, he said.
The ACLU investigation was prompted by a column about the school’s practices by Katherine Kersten, a former columnist for the Star Tribune, Samuelson said.
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Wow, I’m amazed the ACLU is actually taking action. Miracle?
NO WAY! Can logic and reason be reasserting themselves in America? It can’t be….we’re still in the throws of Obamessiah orgasms! Have I been transported to a parallel universe?
That’s because it’s “safe” now. Before it would’ve looked like the ACLU was siding with conservatives.
Still a bit suspicious that the dark side would actually eat its own.
Gonna wait for the final end (redundancy intentional) to this before I marvel at the ACLU’s action.
I don’t want to “celebrate” prematurely, only to find that the end result/judgment of this process is that the Muslims in this school aren’t really so bad; and that they are not actually doing what the lawsuit alleges, after all; and that….
We are talking about lawyers and courts here, after all…let us never forget.
Katharine Kersten is “formerly” of the Star-Tribune? Their loss.
The ACLU has long involved itself in cases that i think would surprise many here, if they took the time to look.
Boy, who do you root for in this legal battle? The ACLU or the Madrassa? Reminds of a legal dispute some years ago which pitted criminal defense lawyers against the IRS. You hope both sides knock each other silly.
Not really. The Sith always turn on one another.
As for me, I still don’t believe it though. I am almost cynical enough to think the ACLU is doing this with the intent of mounting such a poor case that the constitutionality of Muslim charter shools is upheld.
Almost.
Wait a minute, I thought the world was not supposed to end until December 2012!
I hate to be the guy with the negative remark, but their only motive is to set a legal precedent against the future of school vouchers.
The ACLU is doing the right thing here, I’m stunned.
Skywise nailed it at #2. Part of the dementia that is liberalism.
“We’ll tolerate wrong, and evil, and pretty much anything else, as long as we don’t have to side with conservatives.”
What a bunch of lunatics. Seriously – total nut-jobs.
Wow, Dearborn,MI west. dearborn has several schools were all classes are taught in Arabic. Keeps us from finding out what they are teaching, eh?
were=where
See FITNA on Geert Wilder thread post #13; to understand why they are doing this.
Ahmmmmm, I shouldn’t bring this up, as I am studying Daniel, but Skywise wasn’t #2.
[slap...smack, shame on me]
Didn’t Biden end up being #2 ?
I’m guessing it will be an obligatory show of the ACLU idea of “fairness” for all public schools and then beat a hasty retreat and quietly back off.
Please keep us posted who are out of the Minnesota loop.
Wait for the ACLU to get death threats, and blamed for hate speech. Religious Intolerance in 3…2…1…
If we don’t nip the rop in the bud, it will get their claws in every aspect of our nation. I am stunned this is happening. I doubt the rop will have a ‘freeze’, more like a jalapeno.
L
That was my thought Familyman.
It’s like us old auditors always say, “when something smells funny, there’s something we’re not seeing.”
Either there’s going to be a court ordered guideline for mixing religion and public school money or there’s going to be an undisclosed settlement giving the ACLU a chunk of cash to keep quiet.
Hey chap
I have watched ACLU cases for nearly fifty years and without many exceptions the cause they are backing has a distinct anti traditional American perspective. Re read your own link.
Hey Michelle, its not April 1st yet.
On January 21st, 2009 at 6:39 pm, chapoutier said:
Yep; also, they defended Sarah Palin after her email account was hacked.
Nope, It’s Obama 1st…
Katherine Kersten was let go by the Star and Sickle while keeping left wing writers. That’s why I canceled the paper. They wonder why they are in Chapter 11…. They say advertiser revenue…. We may be in the minority as conservatives, let’s pay back those who support the left in kind….. big time!
Who is John Galt?
“Omnia relinquit servare republicam”
Who said they were interested in defending a “traditional” American perspective? They are interested in defending perspectives, period. Which is why there are dozens of examples of them defending Christians from religious persecution (in just the past few years) as well as dozens of examples of them defending people of other religions.
I would suggest you take a wider breadth your research if you have not been keen to this fact.
The heroic main character in ” Atlas Shrugged ” by Ayn Rand.
“Even a broken clock gets it right twice a day”…
Now I’ll be interested to see if they assist Van Gogh and his hate crimes trial, or any Christian facing a human rights council that has spoken against homosexuals or defend eHarmony!
GSP
“This is Sparta!”
Hey Chap: I think Holland needs a branch.
Sorry Gerrt Wilders…
GSP
“This is Sparta!”
gunslingerpatriot said:
Ahem: Thei Van Gogh was murdered by Islamic extremists. Geert Wilder is facing charges.
I guarantee you if there was, they would come out for Geert.
Remember the kidnap victims in Iraq that were forced to join Islam ? That way, if they recanted after their release; death sentence which must be performed by any muslim.
9 complaints out of 500,000 muslims in Holland. Not too bad, really. Of course, the other 499,991 are waiting on a fatwah against him. ululating cry heard in background…
Always a pleasure to be on the same side of issue with you Chap. LGM was on other thread trying to convince us he did commit ‘hate speech’
Whether or not it is “hate speech” is irrelevant to me.
Headline: “Blind squirrel finds acorn!”
In other news: “Ice skate sales in Hell skyrocket!”
They’ll snap out of it…
I was getting worried since, no one had defended the islamic-extremists…The posts were a tad one-sided.
As someone else said earlier; popular speech does not NEED protection. Apt quote, that.
I have Chap.
As you may know, I’m not a religious man, so I don’t have a theological dog in this races. The ACLU will support a religious group if it considers them divisive. The Mormon church was such a group. Now that they have received same credibility that unites them with traditional America, with their backing of California Prop. 8, I can guarantee the ACLU won’t be helping them any time soon.
That was my first thought.
My second thought?
I question the timing.
No matter how right the ACLU may be in this instance, actions such as this do not excuse the blatant harm they have done or their stated objectives. Even if an evil man does a good deed, he remains an evil man.
Ask yourself chap. Has the ACLU every taken a case that promotes Natural Law?
every= everFor sale to the highest bidder.
The end.
FamilyMan, not exactly equivalent, but…
FamilyMan: Are you referring to inalienable rights ?
Would you like me to point out the ones where they have defended the right to protest abortion or where they defended a pharmacist who refused to give out contraceptives?
Or the many times they have defended Christians handing out religious texts in public places?
Did anyone take a moment to browse the link Chap supplied? It’s got an extensive list of activities the ACLU had undertaken while defending religious practices.
It’s too easy to take the most outrageous cases the ACLU accepts and assume the worst.
Take free speech, for example. The 1st Amendment is not an issue when people write or make benign statements. It’s the provocative speech that requires the protection of that amendment. Benign statements do not require protection in this country, generally.
But everyone freaks out when the ACLU takes on a controversial 1st Amendment case. But don’t forget it’s precisely the controversial speech that requires protection.
FamilyMan,
Re: Natural Law and ACLU
No chap you don’t need to point out specific cases. If you look in depth there will always be a fringe element.
The kind of fringe element that one proudly promotes on one’s website?
That was weak chap. ACLU web site is self serving and that case had nothing to do with Natural Law, just the Natural Law party.
It is also a matter of confusing the message with the messenger.
One can hate the speech and defend the speaker, as Voltaire so eloquently put.
Kind of like hating the sin and loving the sinner.
Now you lost me . Which web site?
Finally, some change that WE can believe in!
Okay…I actually thought your original post re: natural law was a bit of the running joke between us. I will admit I just googled “natural law aclu” and linked the first thing I saw.
But what exactly do you want the ACLU to do with respect to “natural law” and can you 1) point to a controversy in which they could get involved; 2) demonstrate that they were asked to get involved and 3) refused?
Off to watch American Idol!
The ACLU website where they proudly promote and defend the fact that they have defended many Christians from religious based speech persecution.
Close all of them. Don’t stop with public funding issues. Ricoh statutes. Extortion and racketeering. Threats of violence against other religious minorities (Jews).
Shut them down. Cut them out of the fabric of US society.
Jeff 2161
I KNOW who John Galt is…. I have memorized ” Atlas Shrugged” and asked that as a rhetorical device.
Re: Chapoutier
It is also a matter of confusing the message with the messenger.
One can hate the speech and defend the speaker, as Voltaire so eloquently put.
Kind of like hating the sin and loving the sinner.
Well put.
MNUSMCDavid said:
Oops…I didn’t catch the rhetorical reference there.
This has got to be another sign of the apocalypse…
1. Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl
2. Barry O sworn is as President
3. ACLU suing Muslims
What next?
I got my guns, religion and 40 cases of MRE’s…bring it on!!!
If this is true, you are either the smartest person in the world or the guy from Rain Man.
40 cases of MRE’s and no beer ?
Don’t forget the ACLU defending NAMBLA, and their pamphlets on how to rape children and get away with it….
If you had stopped there, I would have thought you were talking about congress.
I plowed through it years ago, I guess I could try it again…It’s a dense read.
A little intellectual masochism, if you will.
Might have been, sure fits; doesn’t it ?
Natural Law was used as the foundation of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. It’s western origins are religious. It is law or body of laws that derives from nature and is believed to be binding upon human actions apart from or in conjunction with laws established by human authority. It is law that is believed to come directly from God. The ACLU will not take a case that promotes that view.
Crooked political parties…
Like I asked earlier, inalienable rights, endowed by our creator ?
Are you saying they won’t promote that view or are you saying they wouldn’t defend someone promoting that view? Because they have no business doing the former, and you haven’t shown me they won’t do the latter.
I believe the MSM has been committing traitorous acts against the U.S. for not reporting accurately; what the extremists are saying about their intent toward us.
Chapoutier: sounds like he’s a strict constructionist of the Constitution. FamilyMan: I may be wrong but, I think, that’s were your coming from.
BTW: The founding fathers; were for the most part non-christian. G. Washington was not and, if I remember correctly, T. Jefferson was not either. They were more Deists.
When the ACLU steps in and helps stop “Islamic Studies” including mohammedan prayers, dressing as arabs and reading the Koran in public schools I will be impressed. That would be public schools that don’t allow Christan Christmas.
So the Arizona Cardinals have been in a 61 year slump-isn’t it time? Who knows, maybe the Cubbies some year? No, let’s not get too giddy.
I suppose it’s barely possible the Detroit Lions could win soon…They’ve only been re-building since 1957.
When the Cubs win the Series…That is the sign of the Apocalypse.
Oh yeah – we all saw how the ACLU rolled up their sleeves and waded right in to the fray when Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter were being groundlessly persecuted by Florida State Attorney and all around a$$hat Barry Krischer.
Yep, their selfless courage filled me with pride.
Now if you don’t mind I’ll be keeping an eye out for them flying pigs and frozen pools of brimstone.
Not exactly sure what Ann Coulter has to do with anything, but I am pretty sure the ACLU does not involve themselves in drug cases.
And do you know if Rush sought the ACLU’s help?
I don’t think Rush asked for help after trying to place the blame on his hispanic housekeeper for getting his drugs. I’m not criticizing, just shows the ridiculous lengths people will go to be anti-drug. Drug hysteria has weakened the rule-of-law in this country.
All right…
Just figured out the Coulter connection, but maybe you could explain what free speech issues were present in the voting fraud case?
A prosecution may be politically motivated, but that does not mean that there is an actual issue of free speech involved in the trial.
Why do wealthy people with good health insurance have access to the best pharmaceuticals in the world ? Poor people or, the un-insured can’t get a scrip for drugs that help them relax. define the difference please.
Obama is the Messiah! A miracle already!
No, not true; some but not most were Deist. Jefferson was certainly a Deist-Ben Franklin was an out and out libertine most of his adult years but did return to Christianity in later life. George Washington always claimed to be a Christian but as a Mason refused to take Communion so that is problematic.
The founding fathers; were for the most part non-christian is often quoted but never well sourced-it is not true and MOST of them were rather bold in their faith.
Study the men themselves and see, read their own writings. At least 50 of the 55 framers of the U. S. Constitution were self proclaimed Christians. I have always wondered if Jefferson was afraid to be a Christian and having to meet God and explain Sally Henning and his slaves.
While the Bible has been used by many to justify slavery I think differently: Man Stealers are dealt with harshly-at least the chattle slavery of the later Hebrew period and Europe/America and the Arabs.
Our History and Heritage is rich and deep and well worth reading.
All Praise the Obama: Take pepto, it helps.
I appreciate the heads-up AZ.
I just didn’t get deep enough into it. Was correct as far as I went. The Founders were concerned about this being solely, a Christian country though.
Maybe they’re having a bit of cooling at Old Scratch’s place, but there won’t be a full-on freeze until the Saints go to the Super Bowl. We’ll get there some day, dammit.
Anyway, good on the ACLU.
Slavery, was a fact of life across races, countries, and cultures. The biggest offender of Black slavery was, strangely enough, Arab muslim slave traders.
Hey, The saint’s are doing better than the Lie-downs…Detroit sports are weak.
This is my plan. Get while the gettin’ is good and then hedge my bets later.
I’m jealous of Catholics for the same reason. Sin, then confess at the end. Just, don’t cut it to close…heh
Wonders never CEASE!
Chapoutier: OT but, the cinnamon worked out great. Just a bit but, it added a certain J’en a sais quoi.
Sorry…Je ne sais quoi !