Chatham School District Sued

A Chatham Middle School mother is suing claiming the school is trying to convert students to Islam.  She's being represented by the Thomas More Law Center.  Is this the same group that sued our district years ago?  I didn't live here at the time so I don't know the full story.  

If you want to see "journalism" at its finest, the Chatham mother who is suing was interviewed on the Tucker Carlson show last spring I believe.  

https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/2018/01/26/mom-suing-chatham-schools-promoting-islam-middle-school/1068492001/

Yes.  It is the same group.

This seems pretty absurd, even taking into account it's the Thomas More center.

here's the alleged indoctrination video.

https://maplewood.worldwebs.com/forums/discussion/chatham-moms-complain-that-teaching-about-islam-at-school-is-proselytizing?page=next&limit=0#discussion-replies-3346096

If in fact this is the video (I got the link from the Thomas More website) then Mom is kind of lying here.

I hate these people.

from the article in the OP:

"This conversion video, replete with biased, chastising statements encouraging the students at Chatham Middle School, including (her son), to follow the Quran and become Muslim, concluded with a direct and explicit call for the children to convert to Islam," she alleges in the complaint. The video, the complaint reads, ended with: 'May God help us all find the true faith, Islam. Amen.

I'd like to read the actual Complaint.

drummerboy said:

If in fact this is the video (I got the link from the Thomas More website) then Mom is kind of lying here.

This is the video the center is referring to with that quotation:

LOST said:

I'd like to read the actual Complaint.

You're in luck.  Since the "Thomas More Law Center" (terribly misnamed, btw, imho) is composed of shameless hucksters interested only in self-promotion, it's on their website.

https://www.thomasmore.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/TIMED-STAMPED-HISLSENRATH-COMPLAINT.pdf

LOST said:

I'd like to read the actual Complaint.

The center’s press release:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-jersey-middle-school-instructs-students-islam-is-the-true-faith---thomas-more-law-center-files-federal-lawsuit-300587466.html

ETA: cross-posted

Remember the "War On Christmas"? Puppet Plaintiffs ride again!

-s.

Thanks.

The Thomas More Center opposes the promotion of Islam as violating the Establishment Clause but didn't they sue our District for not allowing the promotion of Christianity?

oops. my bad. YT must have moved to the next video by the time I decided to open the tab. I hate when it does that.

DaveSchmidt said:

drummerboy said:

If in fact this is the video (I got the link from the Thomas More website) then Mom is kind of lying here.

This is the video the center is referring to with that quotation:

Everybody knows Chatham is a hotbed of cultural relativism and Islamophilia.

Not a bastion of Christianity and old American values like Maplewood.

My sarcastic quip about whitebread Chatham may have been a little unfair.  The mayor of Chatham Borough (91% white, less than 1% black) is black and gay, albeit a Republican.    

Good editorial about the recent anti-Muslim actions (some with local government collusion), including litigation by the abominably-named "Thomas More Law Center":

In reality, only one party is in this for money: The Thomas More Law Center. This is a group of out-of-state wingnuts that filed frivolous lawsuits on behalf of mosque opponents in Bernards. Their suits stand little chance, but garner publicity that drives up donations.
 
It's a racket, fueled by those who believe our majority-Christian nation is a victim of secret Islamic indoctrination. The center raises almost $1.9 million annually, and its leader, Scott Thompson - who rants that "Muslims are not arriving on American shores to assimilate but to conquer" - makes $216,000.
 
When asked about this, Kate Oliveri, a lawyer with TMLC, said, indisputably, "Mr. Thompson's statements are his statements."
 
Michael Hrycak, a Westfield-based attorney, claims to know nothing about TMLC's anti-Muslim views, while working pro-bono on at least two of its cases.

He and Oliveri are now suing two middle school social studies instructors for teaching about Islam, the world's second largest religion, on behalf of Libby Hilsenrath, a mother who complained the Chatham school district was trying to indoctrinate her kid.   The attempts to harass and intimidate Muslims continue, as will the crazy screeds. But no matter how much money they raise or power they hold, the bigots keep losing the argument.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/02/nj_muslims_win_another_one_against_the_bigots_edit.html#incart_2box_opinion

Crazy the money towns shell out due to blocking mosques.

Hopefully the suit get tossed soon.

I don't know the history of these kinds of lawsuits but I think its going to take a while for the town to win this, assuming it heart is in the fight.  I don't doubt that the big picture will show that the video was part of a larger legit comparative religions curriculum, not an attempt to peddle Islam.   But the video, in isolation, is religious, no an academic/historical overview of Islam.  Plenty of the latter exist so I don't know why they don't choose their materials more carefully.      

yahooyahoo said:

Hopefully the suit get tossed soon.