It seems that one of the Gulenist schools, Syracuse Academy of Science, keeps a library of Fethullah Gulen’s books in its “prayer room.” Likewise, the prayer rugs are shelved in close proximity to the books -- as evidenced by a video that was sent to this website.
As part of their religious practices, Muslims kneel on prayer rugs while they recite their daily prayers five times a day (at daybreak, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening). So it’s safe to assume that at least twice a day (noon and mid-afternoon), the Muslim teachers and administrators are praying on school property in the designated prayer room -- which is being paid for with public funds.
Note that as the videographer walks through the hall on the way to the “prayer room,” she videotapes the Syracuse Academy of Science sign as evidence that she is in fact filming at the school site.
Call me crazy, but since when are public school funds designated to pay for religious literature and prayer room space? I thought that was illegal…and at the very least, rather suspect and highly unethical. People are entitled to their religious beliefs and practices, but the tax payers are not supposed to subsidize religious activities, that's what private schools are for.
The guys that run that school, along with the other 139 “Gulen-inspired” and American tax-funded schools constantly deny any affiliation with Fethullah Gulen, and yet – this particular school has a designated prayer room that also shelves Gulen related reading material.
Horizon Science Academy Denison Middle School in Cleveland also had a prayer room that was adjacent to the Director’s office, where the door was always closed to the non-Muslim and Turkish school population. That room also housed prayer rugs and was only used by the Turkish administrators and teachers, and kept secret from the rest of the staff and students.
Below is the video link to the video of the Syracuase Academy of Science prayer room:
https://vimeo.com/105578274
In a separate but related issue, and one previously reported on this website (Playing Ball for Jesus with U.S. Tax Dollars blog), a group called The Freedom from Religion Foundation out of Minnesota , has “Urged more than a dozen publicly funded charter schools…to withdraw from the Texas Christian Athletic League”. The group did not rule out a possible lawsuit against the charter school should they decide not to “opt,” out, citing that the schools’ affiliation with the TCAL would, “Undoubtedly lead an objective student to believe that the school is endorsing religion over non-religion and Christianity over all other faiths,” (Mosier), and that would be a clear-cut violation of federal and state funding guidelines.
As previously noted, four of the Gulen-inspired Harmony schools (Beaumont, Houston, Brayan, and El Paso), had applied for membership in the TCAL, despite knowing that the league pushed Christian values. It’s confusing – the Islamic guys running the American tax-funded charter schools want their students to join a Christian based sports league. It’s like a type of religious schizophrenia that’s being treated with public school funding.
Below is the article written by Jeff Mosier and published in the Dallas News:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140823-atheist-agnostic-group-urges-charter-schools-to-quit-christian-sports-league.ece
Atheist, agnostic group urges charter schools to quit Christian sports league
By Jeff Mosier, staff writer
[email protected]
Published: 23 August 2014 11:04 PM
Updated: 23 August 2014 11:23 PM
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging more than a dozen charter schools, including Prime Prep Academy, to withdraw from the Texas Christian Athletic League.
The Madison, Wis.-based nonprofit, which champions atheists, agnostics and skeptics, said the Christian goals of the league would “undoubtedly lead an objective student to believe that the school is endorsing religion over non-religion and Christianity over all other faiths.”
The letters do not explicitly threaten a lawsuit. They do say that “in order to avoid further public school entanglement with religion, the School must end its relationship with T-CAL.”
Foundation attorney Sam Grover later said that a “lawsuit is never out of the question.”
Texas charter schools are operated by nonprofits with state funding. That makes them public schools and subjected to separation of church and state.
The Texas Can Academy campus in San Antonio has already dropped out of the league in response to the letter.
Darryl Crain, the league’s executive director, said he fears that more could follow, even though accommodations have been made for public schools.
Some religious requirements were made optional, such as chapel service and pregame prayer, after charter schools joined a few years ago, he said.
“We’re keeping to the tenets of what we feel like we’re called to do but allowing other groups to be involved,” Crain said. “We are who we are, and we let them [charter schools] be who they are.”
In a letter to member schools, Crain described the group of mostly small Christian schools and home school leagues as being “persecuted by radical elements of our society.” He wrote that the silent majority is being bullied.
Grover, whose organization has more than 20,000 members, said the situation in Texas is clear-cut.
“So far all the responses we have received have been favorable, as this is a pretty obvious violation,” he wrote in an email. “We will follow up with any school that fails to respond to our initial letter and will evaluate our legal options after that point.”
Crain described the foundation as underhanded. He said having funding threatened is enough to scare off charter schools.
“It is very easy to intimidate people who are involved in the charter school movement,” Crain said. “In most charter schools, their athletic program isn’t a high priority enough to risk something like that.”
Grover said this campaign was a response to a complaint from a parent about the organized prayer and frequent Christian “iconography” at venues. He declined to reveal the parent’s name or school affiliation.
Most in Houston area
Charter schools participating in the Christian league include campuses of prominent charter operators. They include KIPP, Texas CAN Academies, YES Prep Public Schools and Harmony Public Schools. Most of the participating schools are in the Houston area.
The foundation was previously active in a Rowlett fight over what a local atheist group said was “Christian only” prayer before City Council meetings.
Prime Prep Academy Superintendent Ron Price declined to comment about the letter. He referred questions to board president T. Christopher Lewis, who did not return phone calls.
The charter school co-founded by former Dallas Cowboy and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders joined the Christian sports league after Prime Prep was unable to meet the University Interscholastic League’s residency requirements.
Prime Prep’s football team won a state championship last year as a member of the league.
Officials at Phoenix Charter School in Greenville had not received the foundation’s warning yet but praised the league. Still, Superintendent Lula Turnipseed said she would forward the letter to the school’s lawyers and wait for a recommendation.
“It’s unfortunate that they [the foundation] decided to go that route,” said Derrick Love, chief academic officer for Phoenix.
Newman International Academy of Arlington, which features a cross in its logo and holds classes at Fielder Road Baptist Church, is one of the few local charter school members. Assistant Superintendent Betty Sims did not respond to requests for comment.
Already withdrawn
Jeanne Culver, a spokeswoman for Texas Can Academies, said the San Antonio campus withdrew from the league after receiving the foundation’s letter. That school had participated in girls volleyball and boys and girls basketball.
“The superintendent learned that this is not appropriate because of public funds,” Culver said.
Austin Can Academy was previously a league member but withdrew before the letter.
Grover said his organization has never encountered public schools participating in a “Christian sports league, where you could be ousted as a school for not upholding Christian standards.”
The league’s bylaws say that involuntary termination can result if a school “fails in the area of ethics, eligibility, or Christian conduct.”
Crain said the bylaws had been amended late last year to remove the phrase “Christian conduct” but had not been updated on the league’s website.
State and national organizations said they haven’t heard debates like this elsewhere.
The principal and superintendent of City Center Health Careers in San Antonio said his school had left the league before receiving the warning letter.
“We saw several issues where there was indeed a church/state incorporation and allowed for exposure to one specific religion rather than an eclectic approach to exposure to other cultures or religions,” Michael Moretta wrote in an email.
“Our charter specifically makes clear we will not mix church and education, even in athletics.”
As part of their religious practices, Muslims kneel on prayer rugs while they recite their daily prayers five times a day (at daybreak, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening). So it’s safe to assume that at least twice a day (noon and mid-afternoon), the Muslim teachers and administrators are praying on school property in the designated prayer room -- which is being paid for with public funds.
Note that as the videographer walks through the hall on the way to the “prayer room,” she videotapes the Syracuse Academy of Science sign as evidence that she is in fact filming at the school site.
Call me crazy, but since when are public school funds designated to pay for religious literature and prayer room space? I thought that was illegal…and at the very least, rather suspect and highly unethical. People are entitled to their religious beliefs and practices, but the tax payers are not supposed to subsidize religious activities, that's what private schools are for.
The guys that run that school, along with the other 139 “Gulen-inspired” and American tax-funded schools constantly deny any affiliation with Fethullah Gulen, and yet – this particular school has a designated prayer room that also shelves Gulen related reading material.
Horizon Science Academy Denison Middle School in Cleveland also had a prayer room that was adjacent to the Director’s office, where the door was always closed to the non-Muslim and Turkish school population. That room also housed prayer rugs and was only used by the Turkish administrators and teachers, and kept secret from the rest of the staff and students.
Below is the video link to the video of the Syracuase Academy of Science prayer room:
https://vimeo.com/105578274
In a separate but related issue, and one previously reported on this website (Playing Ball for Jesus with U.S. Tax Dollars blog), a group called The Freedom from Religion Foundation out of Minnesota , has “Urged more than a dozen publicly funded charter schools…to withdraw from the Texas Christian Athletic League”. The group did not rule out a possible lawsuit against the charter school should they decide not to “opt,” out, citing that the schools’ affiliation with the TCAL would, “Undoubtedly lead an objective student to believe that the school is endorsing religion over non-religion and Christianity over all other faiths,” (Mosier), and that would be a clear-cut violation of federal and state funding guidelines.
As previously noted, four of the Gulen-inspired Harmony schools (Beaumont, Houston, Brayan, and El Paso), had applied for membership in the TCAL, despite knowing that the league pushed Christian values. It’s confusing – the Islamic guys running the American tax-funded charter schools want their students to join a Christian based sports league. It’s like a type of religious schizophrenia that’s being treated with public school funding.
Below is the article written by Jeff Mosier and published in the Dallas News:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20140823-atheist-agnostic-group-urges-charter-schools-to-quit-christian-sports-league.ece
Atheist, agnostic group urges charter schools to quit Christian sports league
By Jeff Mosier, staff writer
[email protected]
Published: 23 August 2014 11:04 PM
Updated: 23 August 2014 11:23 PM
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is urging more than a dozen charter schools, including Prime Prep Academy, to withdraw from the Texas Christian Athletic League.
The Madison, Wis.-based nonprofit, which champions atheists, agnostics and skeptics, said the Christian goals of the league would “undoubtedly lead an objective student to believe that the school is endorsing religion over non-religion and Christianity over all other faiths.”
The letters do not explicitly threaten a lawsuit. They do say that “in order to avoid further public school entanglement with religion, the School must end its relationship with T-CAL.”
Foundation attorney Sam Grover later said that a “lawsuit is never out of the question.”
Texas charter schools are operated by nonprofits with state funding. That makes them public schools and subjected to separation of church and state.
The Texas Can Academy campus in San Antonio has already dropped out of the league in response to the letter.
Darryl Crain, the league’s executive director, said he fears that more could follow, even though accommodations have been made for public schools.
Some religious requirements were made optional, such as chapel service and pregame prayer, after charter schools joined a few years ago, he said.
“We’re keeping to the tenets of what we feel like we’re called to do but allowing other groups to be involved,” Crain said. “We are who we are, and we let them [charter schools] be who they are.”
In a letter to member schools, Crain described the group of mostly small Christian schools and home school leagues as being “persecuted by radical elements of our society.” He wrote that the silent majority is being bullied.
Grover, whose organization has more than 20,000 members, said the situation in Texas is clear-cut.
“So far all the responses we have received have been favorable, as this is a pretty obvious violation,” he wrote in an email. “We will follow up with any school that fails to respond to our initial letter and will evaluate our legal options after that point.”
Crain described the foundation as underhanded. He said having funding threatened is enough to scare off charter schools.
“It is very easy to intimidate people who are involved in the charter school movement,” Crain said. “In most charter schools, their athletic program isn’t a high priority enough to risk something like that.”
Grover said this campaign was a response to a complaint from a parent about the organized prayer and frequent Christian “iconography” at venues. He declined to reveal the parent’s name or school affiliation.
Most in Houston area
Charter schools participating in the Christian league include campuses of prominent charter operators. They include KIPP, Texas CAN Academies, YES Prep Public Schools and Harmony Public Schools. Most of the participating schools are in the Houston area.
The foundation was previously active in a Rowlett fight over what a local atheist group said was “Christian only” prayer before City Council meetings.
Prime Prep Academy Superintendent Ron Price declined to comment about the letter. He referred questions to board president T. Christopher Lewis, who did not return phone calls.
The charter school co-founded by former Dallas Cowboy and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders joined the Christian sports league after Prime Prep was unable to meet the University Interscholastic League’s residency requirements.
Prime Prep’s football team won a state championship last year as a member of the league.
Officials at Phoenix Charter School in Greenville had not received the foundation’s warning yet but praised the league. Still, Superintendent Lula Turnipseed said she would forward the letter to the school’s lawyers and wait for a recommendation.
“It’s unfortunate that they [the foundation] decided to go that route,” said Derrick Love, chief academic officer for Phoenix.
Newman International Academy of Arlington, which features a cross in its logo and holds classes at Fielder Road Baptist Church, is one of the few local charter school members. Assistant Superintendent Betty Sims did not respond to requests for comment.
Already withdrawn
Jeanne Culver, a spokeswoman for Texas Can Academies, said the San Antonio campus withdrew from the league after receiving the foundation’s letter. That school had participated in girls volleyball and boys and girls basketball.
“The superintendent learned that this is not appropriate because of public funds,” Culver said.
Austin Can Academy was previously a league member but withdrew before the letter.
Grover said his organization has never encountered public schools participating in a “Christian sports league, where you could be ousted as a school for not upholding Christian standards.”
The league’s bylaws say that involuntary termination can result if a school “fails in the area of ethics, eligibility, or Christian conduct.”
Crain said the bylaws had been amended late last year to remove the phrase “Christian conduct” but had not been updated on the league’s website.
State and national organizations said they haven’t heard debates like this elsewhere.
The principal and superintendent of City Center Health Careers in San Antonio said his school had left the league before receiving the warning letter.
“We saw several issues where there was indeed a church/state incorporation and allowed for exposure to one specific religion rather than an eclectic approach to exposure to other cultures or religions,” Michael Moretta wrote in an email.
“Our charter specifically makes clear we will not mix church and education, even in athletics.”
