Bias, politics distort kids’ history lessons
By Robert Holland, Columnist
MODERN textbooks often shy away from presenting a positive picture of Christianity and Judaism as important influences in molding the United States of America. But thanks to multicultural activism, that caution does not hold for the way many K-12 history textbooks now present non-Western religions, particularly Islam.
For instance, “History Alive: the Medieval World and Beyond,” a middle-school text adopted by California for statewide use, offers a decidedly unbalanced characterization of jihad, a concept that may be benign in individual uses but that is invoked by radical Islamists as a rationale for warring against Americans.
“Jihad represents the human struggle to overcome difficulties and to do things that would be pleasing to God,” the textbook asserts. “Muslims strive to respond positively to personal difficulties as well as worldly challenges. For instance, they might work to become better people, reform society, or correct injustice.”
That is no isolated sugar-coating of reality. The American Textbook Council, an independent organization that has studied social-studies textbooks since 1989, recently found that many political and religious groups seek to gain favorable treatment in textbooks, but the deficiencies in Islam-related lessons are “uniquely disturbing.” (CLICK HERE TO READ MORE)
The following is an excerpt from an article in American Spectator, written by Doug Bandow who is a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and the author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics
* Last year in Turkey five Islamic extremists bound, tortured, and killed three Christian religious workers.
* In Malaysia the nation’s highest court ruled that a Christian convert could not change her official religious affiliation without a ruling of apostasy in Sharia court — punishable by death or prison.
* Earlier this year Christian converts in Bangladesh were beaten and expelled by Muslim villagers.
* Last year in Sudan demonstrators demanded death for a British teacher — convicted and then deported — for allowing her students to name a teddy bear “Mohammed.”
* In 2006 the Afghan government, which survives only because of allied military forces, sentenced a Christian convert to death, before allowing him to emigrate for reason of “mental illness.”
* In Nigeria last year a Muslim mob murdered ten Christians, injured scores more, and destroyed nine churches in response to a claim that a Christian student drew a cartoon of Mohammed on the mosque wall at school.
* In Iraq in early March the body of kidnapped Chaldean Archbishop Paulus Faraj Rahho was discovered. Up to half of the prewar community of 1.2 or so million Iraqi Christians have fled abroad.
So it goes throughout the Islamic world. Not every Muslim hates Christians, Jews, and members of other faiths. And no, not every Muslim country persecutes religious minorities.
But pick any persecuting nation at random. There is a good chance that it will be Muslim, even if it is formally allied with the U.S. government.
YOU WOULDN’T KNOW that from the Western reaction. Right now, talk of interfaith dialogue and Muslim persecution is in the air.
Last November more than 300 Protestant leaders publicly asked for forgiveness for Christian sins against “our Muslim neighbors.” Vatican officials and Islamic leaders have been meeting to plan an interfaith summit. President George W. Bush recently named a special envoy to the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, which is dedicated to combating “Islamophobia.”
Fine. But the first item on every agenda should be the fact that most Islamic nations persecute their religious minorities. (Read more …)
