Texas school board tries to curtail "pro-Islam" textbooks
AFP
CHICAGO- The Texas board of education voted Friday to curtail what it sees as a "pro-Islam/anti-Christian" bias in textbooks, vowing to reject any books which paint Islam in too favorable a light.
The move comes months after the socially-conservative board enacted new social studies standards which championed capitalism and Republican party values and questioned whether the country was truly founded on the separation of church and state.
The resolution adopted Friday cites "politically-correct whitewashes of Islamic culture and stigmas on Christian civilization" in current textbooks and warns that "more such discriminatory treatment of religion may occur as Middle Easterners buy into the US public school textbook oligopoly."
Critics said the resolution, which passed 7-6, is a further attempt to politicize education and is based on false claims of bias.
"It is hard not to conclude that the members who voted for this resolution were solely interested in playing on fear and bigotry in order to pit Christians against Muslims," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which aims to counter the religious right and protect individual liberties.
The move comes amid a rise of anti-Islamic rhetoric in parts of the United States which has sparked violent protests and riots around the world.
An obscure Florida pastor sparked widespread outrage after he vowed to burn hundreds of Korans on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
While he eventually recanted, US officials said the nation's reputation had been significantly damaged.
The nation has also been embroiled in a politically-charged debate over the establishment of an Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York, one of the sites of the 2001 attacks.
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Critics said the resolution, which passed 7-6, is a further attempt to politicize education and is based on false claims of bias.
"It is hard not to conclude that the members who voted for this resolution were solely interested in playing on fear and bigotry in order to pit Christians against Muslims," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which aims to counter the religious right and protect individual liberties.
The move comes amid a rise of anti-Islamic rhetoric in parts of the United States which has sparked violent protests and riots around the world.
An obscure Florida pastor sparked widespread outrage after he vowed to burn hundreds of Korans on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
While he eventually recanted, US officials said the nation's reputation had been significantly damaged.
The nation has also been embroiled in a politically-charged debate over the establishment of an Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York, one of the sites of the 2001 attacks.
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