The students were required to copy the words in Arabic, as part of a calligraphy assignment. The statement given to practice calligraphy read controversial when translated in English.
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But some in this deeply religious area in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains said the lesson angered them, especially because of what they said were efforts to marginalize Christianity in the schools. Discussions about religion and education have been ignited across the county.
But some parents accused the teacher of trying to convert their children to Islam, inciting an angry outcry in the largely rural district nestled in the Shenandoah Valley. It was like a spark. Some of them even demanded the teacher be fired for the assignment.
Some of the tens of thousands of emails and Facebook posts “posed a risk of harm to school officials” and threatened protests, Superintendent Eric Bond said in a message to parents and employees Friday. Speaking the Shahada before witnesses is an important step in converting to Islam.
After the incident county school system removed the “Shahada” from world religion instruction and said that a different, non-religious sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future.
Meanwhile, more than 20,000 like-minded parents and others gathered in the sanctuary of Good Will Ministries with Kimberly Herndon who kept her son home from schools to voice grievances against the school and also against the teacher.
At a school forum during the week, one parent said the assignment promoted a false religious doctrine.
At the school campus worries about security have started mounting.
Franklin Community Schools in IN were shut on Friday after a high school was evacuated a day earlier due to a threat. However, it didn’t refer to the homework assignment.
The outcry in Augusta County comes during a steady drumbeat of anti-Muslim speech by politicians and a nationwide wave of hate crimes targeting Muslims, including physical assaults and acts of vandalism and arson at mosques and Muslim-owned businesses, in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California.
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“The communications have significantly increased in volume today and based on concerns regarding the tone and content of those communications, Sheriff Fisher and Dr. Bond mutually decided schools and school offices will be closed on Friday, December 18, 2015”, the statement said.
