Terror suspect contributed to school 'religion guidelines'

Terror suspect contributed
to school 'religion guidelines'
Issued by Clinton, rules let students
pray to Allah, but banishes Christmas

A man arrested as a terror suspect for allegedly trying to transport $340,000 from a group tied to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, and who reputedly had connections to Osama bin Laden, helped write the "Religious Expression in Public Schools" guidelines issued by President Clinton during his tenure in office.

And that could explain why students at a California school were told as part of their required classes they would become Muslims and pray to Allah – and a federal judge approved that, and why an Oregon school this year is delivering similar lessons to its students, as WND has reported.

Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was president of the American Muslim Council and a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, worked with President Clinton and the American Civil Liberties Union when the guidelines, launched by Clinton in 1995, were being developed, according to reports.

Those are the same guidelines that the ACLU's Nadine Strossen referred to for authority when supporting organization lawsuits to restrict Christmas celebrations and the removal of the Nativity from public display, the reports said.

When Clinton issued the guidelines, he announced that they had been developed by "35 religious groups" but didn't disclose that many of those were civil rights organizations such as the ACLU, and committed whole-heartedly to the separation of church and state.

Alamoudi, who ended up serving time in jail, also founded the American Muslim Foundation and the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council.

He ran afoul of the law because the U.S. banned such money transfers under economic sanctions imposed in 1986 when Libya was tied to terrorist bombings in Vienna and Rome.

The U.S. attorney's office told WND at that time Alamoudi was accused under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

It was an affidavit filed with the complaint in which his support of the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas was described. There, he also said, "If we are outside (the U.S.) we can say 'Oh, Allah destroy America,' but once we are here, our mission in this country is to change it." He also allegedly had connections to relatives of bin Laden, reports said.

For a time he also was employed in choosing Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military and in his role as leader of the American Muslim Council, he frequently met with senior Clinton and Bush administration officials.

The Muslim leader said "he intended eventually to deposit the ($340,000) in banks located in Saudi Arabia, from where he would feed it back in smaller sums into accounts in the United States," according to the affidavit.

Before his close encounter with the law, however, he was described as a friend of Hillary Clinton and an adviser on Islamic affairs. It was during this time, as he helped with the presidential guidelines for schools, that Muslim beliefs started appearing in Houghton Mifflin textbooks, which are being used in some of the Islamic indoctrination courses.

The guidelines note that, "Students generally do not have a federal right to be excused from lessons that may be inconsistent with their religious beliefs or practices."

But under those guidelines, California, and now Oregon students, are allowed to be told as part of their public schooling: "You are beginning a simulation of the history and culture of Islam. It is important to study the origins of this religion and how it has affected mankind. … It is impossible to study Islam without understanding the relationship between the teaching of Prophet Muhammad and the entire Mid-Eastern culture. It was the early Muslims, primarily the Arabs, who shaped the future of a wide area of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Muslim contributions are extraordinary in art, architecture, philosophy, science, mathematics, government, and of course, religion.

"From the beginning, you and your classmates will become Muslims. You will be a member of a caravan starting from a trading center based around an Islamic city. The task of each caravan group is to be the first group to complete a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest of Islamic cities, with the most amount of dirhems (Arabic money). This pilgrimage or 'haij' is a requirement of all faithful Muslims once in their lifetime."

Those words are taken from text material provided to students in California, a district that was challenged by Christian parents, who just weeks ago saw the U.S. Supreme Court decline to intervene in the lower court's ruling.

"Today, Christmas and Nativity scenes are outlawed while Clinton's nominee, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton, recently approved 'Islam: A Simulation' where children learn to become Muslim, recite the Quran, fast for Ramadan and pray to Allah including this prayer: 'In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of Creation, The Compassionate, the Merciful, King of Judgment-day! You alone we worship, and to You alone we pray for help, Guide us to the straight path,'" wrote Jen Shroder, on her BlessedCause.org website.

"The double-standard is shocking, but one need only look at our public school guidelines and who wrote them, with clauses designed to open or close doors at the will of the ACLU, to discover how our nation finds itself in such a dreadful state today," Shroder continued.

Schroder, on the NewsWithViews.com website, said Clinton "preferred to 'negotiate' with Muslim leaders rather than answer terrorist bombings with our military.

"He colluded with the ACLU to present religious guidelines worded to manipulate court rulings at the ACLU's discretion, successfully censoring Christians and the Bible in public school while promoting every other faith, specifically Islam.

"Clinton disguised these guidelines with much profession of his Christian faith, but sincerity is lost when one examines the fruit," she wrote. "Lying under oath, dubious activities with staff, slipping in an ACLU document as written by 'religious groups' is compounded when one remembers how Hillary demanded public funding for (brace yourself) a dung covered depiction of the Virgin Mary, with breasts of elephant dung, surrounded by genital pornography at the Brooklyn Museum.

"America does not comprehend Muslim resolve to make America Islam," Shroder wrote. "Suicide bombers have already demonstrated their willingness to kill and die for it. … Clinton gave them … our schools, our very children with his religious guidelines."

Following the guidelines, the judge ruled that the Muslim teaching could continue in the Byron Union School District in California, deciding that it was just cultural education.

But Edward White III, of the Thomas More Law Center which handled the California lawsuit, asked, "Would it have been 'just cultural education' if students were in simulated baptisms, wearing a crucifix, having taken the name of St. John and with praise banners saying 'Praise be to Jesus Christ' on classroom walls?"

His comments followed the newest protest from in Nyssa, Ore., where one parent raised objections to the Islamic teachings. The district there, according to Supt. Don Grotting, is teaching a chapter in a history textbook "Journey Across Time" that talks about "how civilization has developed and some of the particular aspects of Islam."

He said one assignment was to learn the "five pillars" of Islam, study Ramadan and listen to guest speakers including an American Muslim who arrived dressed in her religious costume to talk to the kids about her Quran.

Parent Kendalee Garner, however, objected to having her son being taught Islam.

"I just don't understand the ban on Christianity but Islam has free rein," she told WND.

Grotting acknowledged to WND that textbooks do "take a slant" on some issues, because publishers "are wanting to sell a textbook that is meeting the needs of the state and federal mandates."

And in the California case, school officials also blamed the "possible cant" of the textbook.

A review online of information from the text shows that it teaches Christianity spread because "it gave meaning to peoples' lives, appealed to their emotions and promised happiness after death."

Its description also focuses on Christians' conflicts with Rome (when they were fed to lions), and splits between Christians following Roman teachings and those following the teachings of Constantine.

However, the article praises how the Muslims founded the system for banking, created important centers for learning, government and the arts, how they ran "government, society and business" and made valuable contributions in math, science and the arts.

The text also credits Muslims with inventing algebra and chemistry as well as creating beautiful buildings, citing the Taj Mahal, although the text does not mention that that is a tomb.

There's also no mention of the Quranic instruction that Muslims must behead infidels, or nonbelievers.

One blogger said Christians should think strategically on such issues.

"Cases like this present Christians with a golden opportunity to introduce elements of religious teaching back into the state curriculum by using the left's double standard towards Islam against it," said one commentator. "Now that this case is on the books in the Ninth Circuit as precedent, expect Christian immersion classes to follow."