In the name of God, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful!
Growing up, I attended the St. Joseph's Covent in Quetta, Pakistan. My dad was in the Pakistan Army and he had a double posting in Quetta - meaning I stayed in Quetta for a while and attended the convent from middle school until nearly high school when our family got posted out of Quetta.
This convent was set up by European nuns. Schools run by the missionaries trying to establish Christianity in Pakistan are very common. For some schools, the administration changed and secular or Muslim administration was brought in. When I was attending the convent, it still had missionaries as some of our teachers - for example the Austrian Ms. Ostrich - our homeroom teacher in 8th grade whose husband died and whose funeral our class attended in a church in Quetta, Pakistan. The Principal was a Muslim and perhaps the main missionary administration was no longer governing the school.
We had a FANTASTIC religion class system operating in 6th grade. During the religion class, the Muslim students who were in the majority, would study Islamic Studies. The Christians would study the Bible and the Hindus would study their own scripture. The school had a system for all three religious groups which is just FANTASTIC and how it should be. The school was basically providing a service to those who wanted to study religion and not push one religion over the other. We didn't have atheists in our class so I am not sure what they would have studied.
The principle of Separation of Church and State in the USA is something similar. The school administration in public schools IS NOT providing the religion class HOWEVER those who wish to pursue religion in school be it, prayers or some religious service or CHURCH or MASJID or SYNAGOGUE or HINDU TEMPLE, are free to do so as long 1) as the STATE doesn't enforce it AND 2) the STATE doesn't ban it.
What actually happens in US public schools is something entirely different. In many schools, Muslim students will probably get a chance to slip into one of their five daily prayers. However, the administration seems to be usually gungho in banning any Christian prayers - according to many news that I have read - because perhaps they feel Christianity is the main religion. If someone including a coach or a teacher is doing it, then it might feel that the STATE is enforcing Christianity even though when the coach or the teacher is doing it, it is in their own personal capacity and not virtue of their STATE-appointed privileges. Tricky but manageable - however you can count on the religiophobes or the Islamophobes or the Christophobes to ban any religion. But the worst part is the knuckleheads in Christianity. They are blaming Muslims for banning the Christian prayer in public schools as I often hear during my interfaith exchanges. Hey, we can barely take care of ourselves and haven't reached that far to ban you.
Coming back to the example of a Pluralistic Religious Society, St. Joseph's Covent in Quetta, Pakistan did it beautifully in the 1980s when I was growing up. People were free to practice their religion and no group enforced their religion on another group.
The crazies of France, like Macron, who feel that Muslim women who wear niqab and hijab are enforcing their religion on others are not accurate because:
these Muslim women are a) NOT forcing it on OTHERS but b) only practicing it on SELF.
These crazies in France are very similar to the knuckleheads residing in the administration of public schools in America who deny Christian or Muslim students the right to pray because, in their minds, a person by virtue of practicing a religion on their self is, in fact, enforcing it on another. Crazy logic but nevertheless it exists.
Coming back to another crazy - in this case, the Indian leader Modi - he needs to be stopped. I am not going to go through all the crimes against humanity that Modi and state-sanctioned Hindu nationalistic mobs have committed. However, this guy needs to be stopped.
Today, insha'Allah, we have a screening of a BBC movie on Modi in Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas at 6 pm. It is screened all over the country. I will publish a little intro here from the organizer. Please do attend, those who can, and stop this lunatic Modi from destroying India. Modi had been killing Muslims for a while in India but the Christians probably didn't care until this lunatic turned against the Churches and Christians in India as well. I like Vivek Ramaswamy a lot and I am hoping that Vivek doesn't follow Modi. Anyway, please share and educate insha'Allah!
Free Screening of " India: The Modi Question " BBC Documentary.
Please join SMU and IAMC for a free screening of the BBC documentary that sheds light on the tensions between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India's Muslim community, investigating claims about his role in the 2002 riots that left over thousands of people dead. The movie will be played on Thursday, Sept. 28th, 6PM - 8PM on the lower level of the Hugges-Trigg Center at SMU. The event is free and open to the public with registration.
https://form.jotform.com/232544339238055
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