When the Crosses Are Gone by Dr. Michael Youssef

Author:Dr. Michael Youssef
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dunham Books
Published: 2011-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Islamic Simulation

In early 2002, while America was still reeling after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a news story broke in Southern California that shocked the nation: Seventh-grade students at Excelsior Middle School in Contra Costa County were required to undergo a three-week course in which they essentially became Muslims. They took Islamic names, wore Islamic clothing, memorized verses from the Quran, practiced the Five Pillars of Islam (including fasting for Ramadan), and greeted each other with the words “Allah Akbar” (“Allah is Great”).

At the end of the course, students were asked to talk about what they had learned and how their opinions about Islam had changed. A handout sheet advised, “Be careful here. If you do not have something positive to say, don’t say anything!”

Students were required to only share opinions that endorsed the Islamic religion.

Concerns or critiques were not welcome.

The news generated a firestorm of controversy, which school officials tried to quell. Byron Union School District superintendent Peggy Green said, “Dressing up in costume, role-playing and simulation games are all used to stimulate class discussion and are common teaching practices used in other subjects as well.” Excelsior principal Nancie Castro added, “At no point do we teach or endorse religion.” But parents weren’t buying it.

In July 2002, the Thomas More Law Center filed suit to prevent the school from continuing its “Islamic simulation” program. Richard Thompson, the center’s chief counsel, explained, “While public schools prohibit Christian students from reading the Bible, praying, displaying the Ten Commandments, and even mentioning the word ‘God,’ students in California are being indoctrinated into the religion of Islam.… Just imagine the ACLU’s outcry if students were told that they had to pray the Lord’s Prayer, memorize the Ten Commandments, use such phrases as ‘Jesus is the Messiah,’ and fast during Lent.”

In December 2003, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of San Francisco issued a 22-page ruling—in favor of the school. The Islamic indoctrination program would be allowed to continue. In her astounding opinion, Judge Hamilton declared that the program—despite its prayers, rituals, fasting, and memorization of Islamic scripture—was free of “any devotional or religious intent.”

At the time, Judge Hamilton’s decision seemed stunningly irrational—but irrationality is just part of a pattern with Judge Hamilton. Six months after deciding this case, she shocked the nation by overturning a federal law banning partial-birth abortion.

In the end, Judge Hamilton’s decision in the “Islamic simulation” case was left standing by the activist Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The same instructional materials are still in use in that school system today.16

But there’s even more to this shocking story. The next twist begins with an incident in Washington, D.C.

In September 2003, a man named Abdul Rahman al-Amoudi was arrested at Washington Dulles International Airport, after arriving on a flight from London. British customs officials had caught him carrying $340,000 in sequentially numbered hundred-dollar bills. He later pled guilty to charges of illegal financial dealings with Libya and admitted involvement in an assassination plot against Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

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