I understand it’s part of the religion, at least killing the apostate. That’s a very ugly part of the religion. Christianity and Judaism have some ugly parts, too; Islam probably has more.
If you can ban a school because it teaches from a holy book that in parts advocates killing others there’ll be a lot fewer schools soon. If we can’t, it’s a potentially serious problem. Could get interesting.

Saudi Arabia has been playing this duplicitous game for too long. It’s time for the Saudi rulers to decide if they are for the promotion of a hate-filled ideology (Wahabism) or if they are for moderate Islam.

While this discussion is going on, I certainly hope no one brings up the Holy Bible. The fact that the Christian Bible contains several death penalties, for rape if it happened in town and the woman did not scream, disrespectful children, etc is not the same because after all, Christianity is the true religion and Islam is not.
I mean really, how can Muslims believe theirs is the chosen religion when obviously, Christianity holds that title. Silly Muslims!
And, do not bring up Jimmy Swaggart: “If a gay man looks at me, I’ll kill him and tell God he died”. After, he is a Christian leader…he is not Muslim. And, this is not the time to bring up Fred Phelps:
Westboro Baptist Church…he is not Muslim…he is Christian.
And please, the RCC has probably not killed anyone for being non-Christian in years. Though their teachings have been the inspiration for thousands of people to commit suicide.
Please do not misunderstand, I do not defend Muslims that promote violence. Nor, do I support agnostics, atheists, Christians, and Jews who promote violence, intolerance, prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination.
It is sad that so often when there is a story such as this one…that the part about violence, etc gets overshadowed by the fact they are Muslims.
Peace!

It is a private, religious school, so does the State Dept. have the authority to check out the things in their books? Or is it just because it is a Muslim school and “we are at war?”

Fomenting violence or riot is illegal no matter who says it, no matter the context, private school or not.
Further, a “school” gets is license to operate from the state, typically. The law says a student must attend school until they are 18 at which time they are a legal adult and can decide for themselves whether or not to continue school. Therefore, a sanctioned school still has to pass a specified state curriculum minimums (e.g., “x” amount of years of english, history, math, science, world language, etc) in addition to whatever electives are offered.
If the private school does not meet standards, by law, unless home schooled, the student must attend a school that does meet those standards.
I have no problem removing certification from a school such as this.

This from the Bible:
“I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.” Leviticus 26:29-31
Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and provoked me to anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’
2 Kings 22:16-18
I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.”
Jeremiah 16:17-19
Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols.
Ezekiel 6:3-5

Thanks, ecl. I honestly didn’t know the answer to the questions I asked,(guess I should have said control of religious ed.) even though I spent 10 years teaching in a RC school. I knew they had to teach the required amount of hours of required subjects… English, Math, history etc. to meet state/federal standards, but as to religious ed., I didn’t know how much control from outside there was.
So, if indeed this school is teaching violence? Not good.

This is also in the (other) bible:
“His blood be on us and our children.” Matthew 27
“You are of your father the devil.” John something or other
Are we going to play oneupmanship games now? I have never seen a normal Jew use our bible to justify killing non-Jews. That would be blasphemy of the worst sort.
The texts in this Islamic school are advocating killing you, me, and every person who has posted here. In our own borders. That is completely unacceptable. We can’t (and shouldn’t) control what is taught in other countries. But we can – and should – and will – here.

Were they advocating doing that or were they teaching from a book that contains that? Important issue if you want to distinguish between teaching from part of the Quran and teaching from part of the Bible/Torah.
In theory anyone who believes every word of the Bible is true apparently believes some of us should be killed. The question, it seems to me, is what they were being taught.
But a big part of me doesn’t want Wahabism taught in the US or in fact, anywhere. The thing is, we must be a nation of laws.

OK, so someone tell me who is “The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom “, and why does their word or opinion mean something significant? I have no way to know if they are credible, if this material is actually there (corroborating evidence from another scholarly group would be useful), or how these books are used.

Google: “U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom” beliefnet
You’ll find they’ve shown up here several times before. Once not that long ago but I don’t recall what it was about.
They have a web site, of course. They go around the world at our expense giving their opinions about various countries’ religious condition. And apparently they do it here, too. They may show up to inspect your sermon some sunday, j.
But what they’ve pointed out could be serious. Of course since it’s run by the Saudi government, if we don’t like it we can just stop doing business with Saudi Arabia.

1. I don’t understand the purpose of the quotes from the Torah. They have nothing to do with textbook teaching.
2. As Scott said, no Jew would use stories from the Torah to justify teaching violence today.
3. Rabbbis will tell you the stories from the Torah are examples of what to do/how to act as well as how not to act and what not to do.
4. Many rabbis will tell you the stories are, at least in part, allegory and metaphor.
5. You cannot just quote from the Torah without knowing the larger context as well as consulting the rabbinical commentary.
6. Further, the Torah says what was supposed to have taken place then, in addition to trying us how we are to live now.
7. #2 bears repeating. No Jewish religious school will teach killing of all those who are not Jews, or anything even close to that.
8. Jews also believe there’s a place for all the righteous in Heaven, or the World To Come, that it’s not reserved for a select few.

Amen, eastcoastlady! I agree with all eight points you made!
Also, for those who quote parts of the Bible which have not so savoury statements, I give you Romans 12:19-21:
‘Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’

My point is, you can find bad parts in all the usual holy books. My hope is few people in any of those major religions pay attention to those parts. But you can’t accuse only one based on what’s in the holy book.

nnmns, that’s fine, don’t accuse based solely on parts of one’s holy book taken out of context.
But do look closely at what’s in a textbook or the lessons taught outside of religious classes.
Iceberg – thank you. Are you new here?

“don’t accuse based solely on parts of one’s holy book taken out of context”
I understand your point but one person’s context is another person’s blasphemy. As long as it’s in there, it’s dangerous. Admittedly some are more dangerous than others but none is without threat to others.

No problem, eastcoastlady!
I am fairly new to commenting on the Beliefnet blogs, but I’ve been a member here for a couple years now.

iceberg, keep posting, as we welcome fresh comments.

Yes iceberg, we need fresh ideas.

Thank you all for your encouragement! I will stick around a while, I think (and I hope!).