April 11, 2008

Muslim Charter School in Minneapolis

Vic's guest via telephone was Katherine Kersten, a columnist with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. She joined Vic to discuss the TIZA Academy, a taxpayer funded Muslim charter school in Minneapolis.

Katherine found out about this school last May while attending the Convention of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota at the Minneapolis Convention Center. At the convention she came across a booth with representatives from the school. In speaking with the representatives she learned that the school offered after-school Islamic studies.

After researching various documents and internal reports she learned that this is a very unusual public school. It is housed in the headquarters building of the Muslim-American Society of Minnesota which also houses a mosque.

Katherine cited various other features of the school that make it quite different from your typical public school. For instance, the principal is an Imam, a type of Muslim religious leader. The students pray daily. The cafeteria offers food that is permissible under Islamic law. The sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief and as mentioned, Islamic studies are offered at the end of the school day, however, no buses leave until those classes are finished.

The problem Katherine pointed to is the double-standard that exists. She presented the example of a charter school that was approved by the Minnesota Department of Education. The school intended on renting from a church that it had no connections with other than a landlord-tenet relationship. The Department of Education, however, would not let the school move in until a biblical time line on a hallway wall in the church was painted over.

Why does this double-standard exist? Are local, state and national political leaders in America afraid of Islam? Why is the A.C.L.U. so silent on this issue? These are questions to consider as you listen to this timely edition of Crosstalk.