Mark 13:13 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.”
A Christian couple in Maryland has lodged a federal lawsuit against their teenage daughter’s school district and other school officials, charging the school indoctrinated her with Islam and gave her failing grades when she wouldn’t complete assignments that violated her beliefs.
John Kevin Wood and Melissa Wood filed the civil rights in U.S. District Court last week, claiming the teachings at Charles County Public Schools promoted Islam over other religions.
The lawsuit alleges the couple’s then-16-year-old daughter was “instructed and indoctrinated in Islam” in 2014-15 during her 11th-grade world history class at La Plata High School. The Woods claim the course spent one day teaching Christianity and roughly two weeks teaching Islam.
The lawsuit claims the school violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by “implementing a curriculum that impermissibly endorses and advances the Islamic religion.”
One assignment allegedly required students to profess the Shahada, according to the lawsuit.
The statement is a key component of the Islamic religion, though translated into English it reads “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Making such a statement would have violated their daughter’s Christian beliefs, the Woods allege in court documents.
The Thomas More Law Center, which is working with the Woods on the lawsuit, released worksheets purported to be school assignments. None of them specifically prompt students to write the Shahada, though they do contain a fill-in-the-blank sentence where students can write “Allah” and “messenger.” If they do, they will complete the English translation of the Shahada.
“Defendants forced Wood’s daughter to disparage her Christian faith by reciting the Shahada, and acknowledging Mohammed as her spiritual leader,” Richard Thompson, the president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said in a statement. “Her World History class spent one day on Christianity and two weeks immersed in Islam. Such discriminatory treatment of Christianity is an unconstitutional promotion of one religion over another.”
The Woods also allege the class taught their daughter most Muslims have stronger faiths than average Christians, while another argument focused on a semantic difference in the teachings.
The lawsuit claims that the Woods’ daughter was taught that the “Qur’an is the word of Allah as revealed to Muhammad in the same way that Jews and Christians believe the Torah and the Gospels were revealed to Moses and the New Testament writers.” The use of “is” and “believe” in that sentence, the Woods argue, represents Islam as fact and the other religions as beliefs.
The lawsuit claims that John Kevin Wood called the school’s vice principal and tried to get an alternate assignment for his daughter, though the request was denied and he was ultimately banned from school grounds after he said that he would contact lawyers and the media.
The Woods claim their daughter didn’t complete the assignments and was given zeroes “because she refused to violate her beliefs and derogate her faith,” according to the lawsuit. The parents argue their daughter was punished “because she would not act contrary to her Christian faith.”
Thompson, of the Thomas More Law Center, warned similar lessons are being taught elsewhere.
“Parents must be ever vigilant to the Islamic indoctrination of their children under the guise of teaching history and multiculturalism,” Thompson said in a statement. “This is happening in public schools across the country. And they must take action to stop it.”
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the school violated the Woods’ civil rights and injunctions that prevent the school from endorsing or favoring Islam and banning John Kevin Wood from school property, according to the Thomas More Law Center. Defendants include the school district, its board of education and La Plata High School’s principal and vice principal.
The lawsuit identifies John Kevin Wood as a former Marine who fought in Desert Storm and later served as a firefighter who responded to the Pentagon following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Don’t you people understand that teaching facts is not the same as indoctrination? A student who learns the things these kids are being taught in their world history class, like the five pillars of Islam, and other tenets of the religion, could one day save his or her child’s life. If they are ever held hostage nby an Islamic terrorist, he or she may well survive? We are at war in a part of the world were Islam is the dominant faith so don’t you think it might be good to know a little about the faith that allegedly drives the f
Amen! Keep fighting and keep hold of the TRUTH!!!!!
Hallulajah!!!! This is exactly what I would do if I had kids in school. We pray that our lawgiver Yeshua/Jesus will go before this family and prepare the way for righteousness to take place. We are so sick and tired of hearing how Muslims are trying to get into every sector of our country. We come in agreement with this family and are believing that God will make a way where there seems to be no way. Lord God go before this family and make a way where there seems to be no way…you are the way, the life and the truth.
I SAY THANK GOD FOR PARENTS LIKE THE WOODS.
Thank you Jesus !! I come in agreement with this family
I commend the Woods for rebuking this injustice, and I pray they are successful in their lawsuit because they are indirectly representing many.
Praise God I pray more people will stand up like this dad did !!!! .
It should be on every TV station i this country