Reports of Islamic Indoctrination Spread to Georgia Public Schools

Islamic indoctrination in public school is occurring right here in our backyard. As we previously reported, the core tenets of Islam are being taught in public schools in a way that could violate the U.S. Constitution. Other religions, such as Christianity, are barely covered. Recently, reports out of Georgia paralleled what has happened in Florida, Wisconsin, and Tennessee.

Georgia schools are required by the Georgia Department of Education to teach about Islam. For example, the Georgia Performance Standards mandate that students be able to “Compare and contrast the prominent religions in Southwest Asia (Middle East): Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.” Much like other states, the Georgia Department of Education sets state-wide education standards and the local schools decide the curriculum. Local schools in Georgia, however, are reportedly adopting curriculums that appear aimed at indoctrinating—rather than educating—students.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on one local middle school that is taking their curriculum too far. The AJC reports:

“It is important that students understand the differences between each of these religions to help them understand the tensions that exist in the region,” the state standards, known as the Georgia Performance Standards, say.

In Walton County, that manifested itself in a homework assignment one parent found objectionable: “Allah is the [blank] worshiped by Jews & Christians,” the document said. The child filled in the blank with “same God.”

This is outrageous. State education standards require education on Islam, not indoctrination into the religion. Rather than explain the history of world religions, schools are reportedly forcing students to learn the Five Pillars of Islam—the creed one must learn to convert—and teaching students that Allah is the same God worshipped by Christians.

Unfortunately, this practice has been happening in schools for years. A spokeswoman for Walton County Public Schools stated that

“We are teaching the same stuff that everyone else is teaching,” she said, adding that the district hasn’t changed its curriculum on the topic in nine years. Her son, a senior in high school, told her he remembers doing a quiz along the lines of the Allah is the “same God” back when he was in seventh grade.

Parents are understandably outraged. As one frustrated parent told the local news, “We are seeing one page, five statements of Christian faith and 5 or 10 pages of Islamic faith, so there is no accountability to make sure it is equal.”

Something needs to be done. We at the ACLJ are working hard to investigate, expose, and end these unconstitutional practices, and are committed to fighting for the constitutionally protected rights of all public school students. We continue to receive contact from concerned parents and citizens.  We are working directly with our clients—parents of students in local schools—and preparing to send out demand letters to these schools if necessary. Moreover, we recently sent open records requests to every school district in Tennessee to find out exactly what is being taught in our schools.

The ACLJ will not stop until our students’ constitutionally protected rights have been restored.

To learn more about Shari’ah law’s threat to our constitutional freedoms, please see our booklet Shari’ah Law: Radical Islam’s Threat to the U.S. Constitution.