Defenders of Muslim Prayers in Public Schools

Toronto Sun education reporter Moira MacDonald quotes two proponents of Muslim prayer in public schools:

...There are limits, says Jim Spyropoulos, the TDSB’s superintendent in charge of inclusive schools. A religious group can’t hold services at school because it feels like it.

“Unless it is part of the faith requirements, then it doesn’t happen during instructional time,” Spyropoulos says. Muslim teachers also cannot be excused from teaching to go to Friday prayers — that is considered undue hardship for the employer, as described in the human rights code.

As for the supposed no-go on religious teaching most of us expect at public schools, Spyropoulos says there’s a difference between exposing all students to a particular religious teaching or practice — such as reciting the Lord’s Prayer — and allowing those who already identify with a religion the time and space to engage with it at school if their faith requires it.

“I don’t think they’re taking anything away from the secular system by doing that,” says Ali Baig, a former Valley Park parent and current volunteer with the school’s prayer program.

If anything, he adds, religious practice builds kids’ character and makes them better contributors to society.

It’s unrealistic and undesirable for kids to check their faith at the school door. And it looks like the set-up at Valley Park works for them — no one at the board has heard any complaints, until now...

I have no doubt that "religious practice" that includes quotations from scripture about, say, Islam's founder turning Jews into monkeys and pigs "builds kids' character." The question is: What kind of character is it building?

As for no complaints arising until now--that's only because up till now the public didn't know about it.

 Now that it does--and going by the comments on this article--I have a feeling there will be no shortage of complaints.

Update: But wait--it gets better (i.e. worse):

TORONTO - The Ontario government is allowing some elementary school students to be taught in Mandarin and Arabic by going around requirements that demand classes to be taught in English and French the official languages of Canada.

Chinese students at Prince Philip Elementary School in Hamilton are taught Mandarin 50% of the time from junior kindergarten to Grade 3, school officials said, adding as many as 100 others from F. W. Begley Public School in Windsor receive half of their education in Arabic also until Grade 3 before transitioning to English, school officials said.

“This is a very popular program with the Arabic community,” said Scott Scantlebury, of the Greater Essex County District School Board. “We are the only school in Ontario with an Arabic language program.”

He said the pilot language project has been in place for about eight years and it stemmed from a large Arabic population in the area...

For some strange reason the phrase "remorseless Islamization" just popped into my head.