>>>and beheadings and suicide bombings - you know - standard Islamic stuff - would have happened if the situation was reversed and a bunch of Islamic kids went to a christian school..
>>>
>>>http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/17/school-apologizes-students-pray-allah-field-trip-mosque/
>>
>>And a field trip to a Christian church where the students would be told that "the only way to eternal salvation is through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" is different??????????
>>
>>Perhaps (but I rather doubt it) some of the parents now understand how I feel when I go to a public event (football game, graduation ceremony, etc) and hear the invocation followed by "We ask this in Christ's name."
>
>My question is: did the same occur when they visited a christian church? did they visit a christian church? The issue is these field trips were school trips so the shoe fits on either foot....

(decided I wouldn't even weigh in on this until you posted so I could tack this onto something that wasn't just going to make my head hurt one way or the other)

Bill's point, I think, is that if kids in a Muslim country had visited a Catholic church to meet people of that culture and observe them worshiping (in itself a bit unbelievable), had they then been taught to genuflect or make an act of contrition there would have been capital crimes involved under Sha'ria. Of course he's right about this.

The thing I find interesting - given the venue - i.e. Wellesley, MA (where an old friend of mine is Catholic chaplain at the college ) I can pretty much guarantee that had my Catholic church scenario involved this same group of kids there would have been Separation of Church and State outrage.

If I were a Christian by theological inclination as well as cultural background I would certainly object to my child being taught to pray as part of Muslim worship (which includes the Shahaadah - "There is no God but God and Mohammed is his prophet" - which repeated three times is considered to be a declaration to be a Muslim )

The Muslim declaration of faith is every bit as exclusive as the Apostle's Creed. A Muslim could never, with sincerity, recite the Apostle's Creed and a Christian could never, with sincerity, recite the Shahaadah as Mohammed could not be recognized as a prophet as he never accepted the tenets of Christianity ( in fact, the whole trinitarian aspect of what Christianity became is blasphemy to a Muslim)

So, Christians are outraged for religious reasons. Others of us are outraged by the PC hypocrisy of those who think this is fine because it is Obama-like in bending over backward to be "tolerant" and "inclusive" but who would go to the wall to prevent dangerous stuff like a cresh in city hall or a moment of silence to begin the school day.

I personally feel threatened by none of it, as my own belief system doesn't involve this kind of stuff, but I have enough respect for believers of any stripe that I would not mock their beliefs by faking them - even if it got me elected to something ... something big ...