A former Marine and his wife filed a federal lawsuit against a Maryland school district Wednesday for forcing their daughter to complete homework assignments that allegedly endorsed Islam over all other religions.
The couple, Melissa and John Kevin Wood, worked with the Thomas More Law Center to file the civil rights complaint alleging that Charles County public schools violated their constitutional rights, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
The trouble began when the Woods discovered that their daughter’s world history class at La Plata High School was instructing students to complete homework assignments that reportedly promoted Islam in ways that the parents deemed to be unacceptable. The students were required to write out the “Shahada,” an Islamic creed that amounts to a conversion to Islam when recited by non-Muslims, according to the Washington Free Beacon. The creed states, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Other assignments included reciting by memory the five pillars of Islam.
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Photo credit: Shutterstock
“Defendants forced Wood’s daughter to disparage her Christian faith by reciting the Shahada, and acknowledging Mohammed as her spiritual leader,” Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, said, according to Southern Maryland Online. “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.”
When the Woods demanded that the school allow their daughter to complete alternative assignments, the school refused, stating that if their daughter would not complete the required homework assignments, she would receive failing grades, the Washington Free Beacon reported. The Woods’ daughter ultimately refused to do the homework.
The Thomas More Law Center stated that the Woods, as devout Christians, “believe that it is a sin to profess commitment in word or writing to any god other than the Christian God. Thus, they object to their daughter being forced to deny the Christian God and to her high school promoting Islam over other religions,” according to Southern Maryland Online.
The law center also warned other schools against promoting “Islamic indoctrination” in the complaint.
“Parents must be ever vigilant to the Islamic indoctrination of their children under the guise of teaching history and multiculturalism. This is happening in public schools across the country. And they must take action to stop it,” Thompson said, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
—