A 10 year old Florida girl gets sent home for wearing a T-shirt that reads “Islam is of the devil” to school. It makes me wonder does the girl really believe what she wore? Or is she simply absorbing her parents prejudices? It’s really frightening how much hate parents can teach or convey to their kids. A 10 year old should not be involved in hate politics. According to WFTV, the words on her T-shirt are the same as those at an outreach center where her father is a Pastor. If our religious leaders are the ones spreading hate, is it any wonder that the rest of society feel hatred as well?
Here’s an excerpt from the article on AOL:
Florida School Nixes Anti-Islam T-Shirt
(Aug. 25) — A 10-year-old Florida girl was sent home on the first day of school for wearing a T-shirt with an anti-Islam slogan, local media reported. Faith Sapp showed up at the Talbot Elementary School in Gainesville on Monday wearing a white T-shirt with the words “Islam is of the devil” spelled out in red capital letters on the back, WFTV.com reported.
Here’s the rest of the article:
http://news.aol.com/article/school-sends-girl-home-for-anti-islam/639468
The source of the story is WFTV here’s their version:
http://www.wftv.com/news/20545179/detail.html
Do you think the school reacted appropriately and fairly? Or should they have done something different? Do you think the parents should be held to account? Or does their right to freedom of speech and expression trump everything else?
my heart bleeds at this, some months ago an acquintance asked me why i was a muslim that islam was a cult, my reply? it is a complete way of life. insha Allah i find it very difficult to relate with him anymore.
First, I love your site, I’m not Muslim, but I’ve been trying to learn. Second, regarding the news story… Things like that are not from the kids, they’re from the parents. And yes, the parent should be held accountable. It was a political statement. Yes, we have freedom of speech, but in school, you also have to take into account that kids should be learning in an environment where they feel safe. After reading the aol article, I’m not surprised (unfortunately) that the father was a pastor. It’s really disappointing that someone would not only pass this behavior along to a child, but use it to bring more people to his church.
I’m psyched to hear that! I hope you give us suggestions for what type of content you’d like to see more of.
You’re right, parents pass on their prejudices. I think that the most dangerous thing in the world is ignorance. Ignorance breeds intolerance, racism, hate, and confusion. Whenever I read or hear about such hatred towards Islam I just wish people knew more about the truth. Hardly anyone knows that during the peak of the Islamic Caliphate Muslims offered the most freedom to minorities that lived amongst them. To this day no other civilization (as far as I know) has offered the type of freedom that Islam offered during the caliphate of Umar Bin al-Khattab. For instance, Christians and Jews living under Islamic rule were allowed to create their own separate courts and they could choose to be judged either by their own laws or by Islamic law. What country in the world today offers that to minorities? Everyone is judged by the laws of the country they live in whether or not they agree with those rules.
I just wish people would be more tolerant until they knew more.