Texas: Muslim School Gets Hostile Letter from 'Christian' Group
Wednesday December 29, 2004
Dar-Ul-Arqam is a private Muslim school in Texas that wanted to join the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. This would allow it to compete with other private schools in athletic and academic competitions. The letter they received in response to their request was astonishing, to say the least.
The Houston Chronicle explains:
In his correspondence, [TAPPS Director Edd Burleson] quoted a verse from the Quran as calling on Muslims to be violent toward Christians and Jews. He noted that most TAPPS member schools are Christian. "Why do you wish to join an organization whose membership is basically in total disagreement with your religious beliefs?" he asked in the two-page letter, which included 10 questions.
He asks about the school's attitude toward "the spread of Islam in America" and the goals of the school "in this regard." Finally, he suggests that some TAPPS members may not be tolerant of Muslims: "Why do you think that the current member schools of TAPPS will not be biased against your school, based on the fundamental difference in your religion and Christianity, since about 90% of TAPPS schools embrace Christianity?"
Iesa Galloway, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Houston office, said Burleson sent a similar letter to an Islamic school in the Dallas area. He said he was awaiting details of that case. Besides demanding an apology, Galloway's group has asked for reprimands against those responsible for the letter. "The TAPPS letter, a symbol of religious intolerance, has no place in a nation that was originally built by those seeking asylum from such intolerance," Galloway said in correspondence he sent this week to the TAPPS board.
The bylaws of TAPPS do not indicate that the organization is open only to Christian schools. ... "It's the venom in that letter that's so disturbing," Hamdani said. While the letter is structured as a series of questions, he said, "they're really more assumptions than questions." Martin B. Cominsky, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the letter "assumes some offensive stereotypes about what Islam is all about."
It is important to note here that TAPPS is not an explicitly Christian organization. If they were, they would be justified in wondering why a Muslim school would apply. The actual situation, though, suggests a very arrogant and even bigoted attitude. I wonder if Christians feel that because they form a majority of members, they should also control who can become a member. There are striking parallels here with how the Christian Right seems to treat U.S. citizenship.
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You cannot imagine what the christians (one particular group did in the community here in Tampa, For about 3 hs, screeming around the mosque (mention very ignorant remarks about the Profet and telling the ladys “go home to have 11 kids”, one man about 18 was holding the bible w/ one hand and gave a finger up w/ the other hand to one muslim boy age 12 (the boy was crying, they, was trying to get the boys to jumb on them, humiliate the muslims so bad and the little children ( from saturday class, running crying) they mention how bad parents they have, you parents are wrong, they need Jesus (peace be upon him) and etc.. Only half hs before they finish, since they did stop after everyone left to go pray, they call the police to help and the police said the is free of spcheet, this to me was the most unjust case because they had school on that time, kids was verbally raypid by the christins, they are too young for this king of confrontation ( I can understand adults but not kids, please …..now how do we know that they are not going to do the same when one this schools unit? My opinion, is not in order to cut the problem before it starts, the’re still lots of ignorant people and we need to shelter all of them until they are completed adults and make jujement for thenselves. don’t get me wrong, we can find lots of educated, christians but we don’t know who they are as much as the are confused about msulims, due to the fact that one member of islam do one wrong action is label islam did it so, everyone pays for it but if is christ or ju they never mention the religion only that particualar person. Just to have an idea, the people that verbally attack the mosque, was inside few weeks before, praying and taking classes and filming everyone, following week they dissapear and the next one they arrive as a enemy to Islam…. Guess what? Police (because they only was called half hr before they finished,) on news they mention “Peaceful Protest..” just imagine the oposite, what confrontation will the muslins be faced onthis entire country…..