<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/us/10textbook.html
<b>Bowing to Sikhsâ Call, California Wants Textbook</b> Change By JESSE McKINLEY Published: March 10, 2007
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/0.../10textbook.jpg âThe image itself was offensive to the Sikh community,â said Thomas Adams, director of the Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division of the State Education Department. âAnd it wasnât defensible on the issue of accuracy, because it is from a later periodâ than the one in which Guru Nanak lived...
The bookâs publisher, Oxford University Press, did not return a call for comment. But education officials and other publishing houses said the episode was just the latest example of a textbook change prompted by concerns about giving offense to various racial, ethnic or religious groups.
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From a recently trashed thread on BR, want to save this particular post from Johann.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The State Department is a relatively marginal figure in the IRF.
Like most of these other mandatory annual reports, they are the result of some sort of succesful Congressional initiative by a group of politicians.
In this case it was the IRF Act passed in 1998.
The act also created the 'US Commission on International Religious Freedom' USCRIF.
These are the people who really write the annual IRF report, and make the recommendations for designating countries as being of 'Particular Concern' or below that on the 'Watch List'.
All of the countries on the two lists are either Muslim states, or Communist ones.
However the USCRIF has been openly pushing for the last few years to put India on the watch list, and the USG has resisted.
The USCRIF has 11 commissioners - some come from a variety of religious organisations, while others are legal specialists.
Two specific observations/recommendations;
- Richard D. Land who is a big cheese in the Southern Baptists Convention is the commissioner Indians should be most concerned about. He is the one, along with Khaled Abou El-Fadl who keeps pushing at India.
- There are no Hindu or Buddhist commissioners. This is ridiculous, and this is something that a number of Indian/Hindu/Buddhist organisations in the US can and ought to do something about.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
American Hindu foundation wins textbook case
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/23book.htm
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A Hindu foundation in the US has won a major victory with the California State Board of Education accepting its suggestions to make textbook adoption process more transparent and incorporate 'critical' protective measures.
The changes follow a verdict in favour of the Hindu American Foundation in a lawsuit filed by it against attempts at 'subverting' the public process by the SBE.
"Last year Hindu parents were shut out of the textbook adoption process by the SBE implementing underground regulations and holding closed door meetings, subverting the public process," said Suhag Shukla, legal counsel for the Hindu American Foundation.
"Our legal victory has opened the door to not only Hindu parents, but all California parents who are entitled by law to have a voice in how their children are educated and we are taking advantage of that," Shukla said.
The Foundation contended that illegal procedures were followed in adoption of instructional materials for six grade social studies textbooks for use in California Public Schools.
Among its other demands accepted was that experts retained by the SBE in future curriculum framework development and textbook adoptions have expertise in the specific subject area and be screened for potential conflicts of interest.
Much of the current controversy began last year when for the sixth grade textbooks covering Hinduism, the SBE retained a professor of linguistics who, the Foundation said, was allegedly well known for his antagonism towards Hindu Americans.
"The SBE must work proactively with the public in order to adopt curricula and textbooks that portray accurately and equitably the diversity of American society," said Shukla. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-Admin+Mar 21 2007, 04:02 AM-->QUOTE(Admin @ Mar 21 2007, 04:02 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Jan 23 2007, 08:02 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mudy @ Jan 23 2007, 08:02 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>FACING THE CHALLENGE OF AMERICAN PLURALISM ON THE FUTURE OF THE NRI COMMUNITY</b>
By - <b>Jakob De Roover</b>
Research Centre
Vergelijkende Cultuurwetenschap
Ghent University, Belgium
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<b> Is American Pluralism Inimical to Hindu Culture? Perspectives on a paper by Dr. Jakob DeRoover</b>
<i>By Chitra Raman</i>
Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/324sjc
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<b> The Swami, the Priest and the Rediscovery of the Indian Traditions: A Reply to Chitra Raman
Tiny URL : http://tinyurl.com/34hq99</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> http://www.mercurynews.com/lifestyle/ci_5598528
<b>Targeting anti-Hindu speech </b>
By Chris De Benedetti
The Hindu American Foundation, led and founded by Fremont physician Mihir Meghani, is following the lead of organizations that seek to rid the world of religious and racial intolerance by monitoring Web sites they consider hateful.
The result is the group's 52-page report titled "Hyperlink to Hinduphobia: Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus."
Exposing hate speech online is a crucial front in the fight against stereotypes about the Hindu religion, the report says.
Hinduism is most closely associated with India but has followers around the world. Many Hindus follow concepts such as karma, reincarnation and practices including yoga, meditation and a vegetarian diet. The religion also encompasses beliefs ranging from monotheism - the belief there is just one god - to polytheism - the belief in more than one god, according to the report.
These notable differences from Judeo-Christian beliefs sometimes make Hindus an unfair target of ridicule, Meghani said.
The report lists 37 Web sites that allegedly use hate speech toward Hinduism, Meghani said. Words such as "demonic, dirty and filthy" are used on the Web sites to describe the religion, the report states.
Meghani founded the Maryland-based Hindu American Foundation, which has about 5,000 members nationwide.
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<!--QuoteBegin-Admin+Mar 30 2007, 12:08 AM-->QUOTE(Admin @ Mar 30 2007, 12:08 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> Translations, or Travesty of Traditions
by Prof S N Balagangadhara
Tiny URL : http://tinyurl.com/ys8jnl</b>
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Second article in the above series.
<b> ââ¦To Follow Our Forefathersâ¦â The Nature of Tradition
By S N Balagangadhara
Tiny URL : http://tinyurl.com/2ogt3a</b>
From good old California: Undergarments with images of Hindu Deities!
Now the question is whether Witzel, Farmer, FOSA, FETNA, FOIL, EKTA, PAA, CAIR, Christian Dalits, Khalistani Sikhs and all those sundries who claimed to speak for Hindus speak out or show off their full 'moon'/culture on at Half Moon Bay beach?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In the previous email, you read about Witzel's crazy claim defending Steve Farmer for bashing British historian Frances Yates, and claiming that Genesis 1:28 contains God's words and this is a crucial reason to not accept the views of Yates. You also read how a courageous California parent took on Steve Farmer and exposed his bible-thumping PhD thesis. This is despite the fact that the Farmer-Witzel duo had dangerous groups on their side.
FeTNA, a group to which Witzel extended heartfelt thanks for helping him in his crusade in California (against science) is a dubious group, whose ex-director has been arrested for trying to procure surface-to-air missiles. Lars Martin Fosse, a Christian fanatic and an a loyal assistant of Witzel desperately appealed to the Catholic priest John Dayal for help in the California textbook issue. When the textbooks containing astounding claims about the resurrection of Jesus, Witzel and Farmer were extremely delighted. Witzel and Farmer also received help from St.Alban's church in New Jersey.
Now, Steve Farmer is desperate to shove the truth under the carpet. Here, he is seen begging for not giving his foolish claims any attention. This is the second time he has become very desperate. The first was on Mar 8, 2006. This was around 10 days after the historic speech by the brave parent exposing his biblical claims. Farmer tried dissociating himself from the quotes, but the scanned pages from his thesis appeared on the internet nailing his lie. During his weak attempt to refute the expose, Farmer was very close to tears and almost burst out crying.
Read below to see how he begs others to not give attention to his claims, but pretend that they don't exist. He also now claims that it was Pico who made those claims. Now, Farmer has joined Witzel in claiming that Pico refuted Yates. How could this have happened when Frances Yates was born 405 years after Pico died?
Here is the relevant part from Farmer's PhD thesis again: [Frances Yates] should first note well God's words to man in Genesis 1:28 , "And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."
Also notice that the original speech exposing Farmer has been cleverly snipped from Farmer's response below.
<b>Open challenge to Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer: If you can prove your claim that Pico rose from the dead and refuted Yates, you get 1 million dollars. </b>
<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
From: Steve Farmer <saf@safarmer.com>
Subject: Re: [Indo-Eurasia]
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 05:59:59 -0700
To:xx
Dear All,
I can assure you that messages like the one below from
xxxx don't go to the Indo-Eurasian Research List,
despite the address on "To" line. This person can't tell the
difference between the author of a medieval text and the translator of that text, or a study of medieval philosophy from an endorsement of it. He has tried to spam the List before.
Just for the record, for those he sent this to who don't know me: I
study the history of religion from neurobiological and historical
perspectives, but I'm not religious, let alone a Christian. Premodern religion for me is simply data.
Please do not respond to this person's messages, which just
encourages him. Note that I did not send him a copy of this message.
Best,
Steve Farmer
On Apr 30, 2007, at 1:06 AM, xxxx wrote:
> Michael Witzel now claims that Pico who died in 1494 rose from the
> dead and refuted the argments of one Frances Yates (who died in
> 1981)! Note the refutation to the argument of Frances Yates at
> http://www.sabha.info/docs/misc/aif/Pg337.html (the highlighted
> section is the refutation to Yates's interpretation that Pico's > work defined a new position for European man). This scanned page is
> from Steve Farmer's PhD thesis.
>
> An anti-bible-thumper spoke during the textbook adoption process at
> California and mentioned the bizarre section in Steve Farmer's PhD
> thesis that used "God's words" as the clincher in the argument
> against Yates's interpretation! ....
>
> This is what Witzel had to say about that speech:
> http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa ?
> A2=ind0602&L=INDOLOGY&P=R2887
&I=-3
>
> Incidentally, the funniest thing today was that one Hindutvavadin
> got up and read some 'Christian' quotations out of Steve Farmer's
> dissertation on Pico that should have made Farmer a Bible thumping
> creationist -- only that those sentences were Pico's, half a
> millennium ago, not Farmer's.
>
> So the refutation of Yates (1899 -- 1981) was done by Pico and not
> Farmer! Farmer merely quoted Pico refusting Yates! How did Pico
> refute Yates nearly 500 years after he died? Is this another
> miracle like the one mentioned by James Heitzman?
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Farmer <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>CAPEEM's motion to compel exposes Witzel's evangelism</b>
In a stunning expose, Witzel is shown to be a volunteer editing Wikipedia for evangelical groups and who liases with racists, anti-hindu hate groups.
The Subpoena and motion to compel Witzel is available at the URL: http://capeem.org/docs/CompelWitzel.pdf
Background on the ongoing Hindu Civil Rights case is provided at http://capeem.org/aboutmore.php
California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Materials ("CAPEEM") has requested the Court to compel compliance with a subpoena issued to Michael Witzel ("Witzel"). The California State Board of Education (CSBE) used Witzel as a content-review expert â a role that required Witzel to be neutral â in the most recent HistoryâSocial Science textbook review and adoption process conducted by the State of California. In the underlying caseâ¦among other things, CAPEEM claims that Witzel â who was supposed to be an expert advisor to the state â was biased, and engaged in a coordinated campaign against Hindu Groups. The Subpoena is pointed and seeks communications and documents relevant to Witzel's bias, coordination with certain third parties with respect to the process, and other procedural improprietiesâ¦
The Subpoena compels Witzel to reveal the true identity of "Arun Vajpayee".
â¦It is now widely known, and documents produced by third parties confirm, that Witzel coordinated with other anti-Hindu groups who objected to the Initial Revisionsâ¦DFN' s founder, Dr. Joseph D'Souza is also the President of the "All India Christian Council" and maintains close ties to evangelical Christian groups such as the 700 club.
<b>Adoption of Final Revisions</b>
â¦In the view of the Hindu Groups, the final edits failed to correct material errors with respect to their religion, culture, and history, and generally treated Hindu culture in a derogatory manner.
<b>Procedural Background</b>
â¦The Court ruled that a showing by CAPEEM that "only Hindu groups were subject toâ¦repeated scrutiny of proposed edits; secretive processes in making final decisions; and hostile academic advisors" could establish grounds for relief under the Equal Protection Clause. The parties are currently conducting discovery, and CAPEEM issued the Subpoena to Witzel as part of its discovery.
<b>The Subpoena</b>
The Subpoena seeks Witzel to produce the following: (1) communications with Publishers regarding the Adoption Process, (2) communications with SBE/CDE, (3) communications with Stanley Wolpert, James Heitzman, Shiva Bajpai, or Steve Farmer, relating to or referencing the Adoption Process, (5) copies of certain postings to the Indo-Eurasian Research List, (6) communications with third parties ( e.g. DFN) regarding the Adoption Process, (7) communcations with Roger Pearson or any other person associated with the Journal of Indo-European Studies, (8) communications with Arun Vajpayee, or which discusses, mentions, or relates to, Arun Vajpayee or his identity, (9) communications transmitting edits or revisions of the Hindu Groups, (10) communications transmitting the textbooks (or relevant portions) which were revised as part of the Adoption Process, (11) communications with Harvard University regarding the Adoption Process, (12) communications regarding the purpose of the Indo-Eurasian Research List, and (13) the contents of the web page accessible via the following URL: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu%7Ewitzel/Kazanas.htm
<b>Discussionâ¦Witzel's Bias, Hostility, and Back-Channel Communications are Squarely at Issue</b>
Witzel's conduct during the Adoption Process is central to CAPEEM's caseâ¦that Witzel (and others) were "hostile" academic advisors and engaged in secret processes is relevantâ¦
The sought after communications are necessary to show procedural improprietiesâ¦While the CDE prevented Professor Bajpai from communicating with Publishers and being "lobbied" by Publishers, it is likely that Witzel was allowed to freely communicate with Publishersâ¦
The sought after communications are necessary to show biasâ¦In one of the emails produced by DFN, Witzel notes <b>"(p)lease check what Wikipedia says about your organizationâ¦They always put back what I erase." </b>In reaction to the forwarded message, DFN's Executive Director asks whether "(DFN) canâ¦edit this ourselvesâ¦I do not want to start being identified as a mission (sic) organizationâ¦" â¦many principals of DFN are unabashed in their antagonism towards Hinduism. For example, Kancha Ilaiah, one of the signatories to a DFN letter to the CDE and an affiliate of DFN stated in an interview that he "hate(s) Hinduism." Mr. Ilaiah states: "Is Hinduism a religion of the stature of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity? In my view, Hinduism is not a religion. It is a cult of worshipping certain violent figures. A religion never worships a violent figure. Religion is a very enlightened social force. Religion is a very civilized thing that came into existence. Religion establishes certainâ¦covenants. Hindiusm is basically a spiritual fascist cult." Witzel's communication with DFN and other third parties show his biasâ¦These include his communications with Roger Pearson (an avowed racial purist) in whose journal Witzel's article appeared, and certain postings to internet webpages where Witzel makes statements indicative of his bias.
It's not over yet. Pranams to all who worked so hard.
Hindu body, California educ board reach agreement over textbooks
'In our meeting (on May 8), we discussed key problems with the previous textbook adoption process; the need for scholars with requisite expertise, especially in Hinduism, to be involved in the process; and the importance of interfaith understanding and respect,' Dr Meghani said in a press release.
'<b>We also impressed upon president Noonan the outrage in the Hindu-American community when a non-Hindu academic, with no expertise in Hinduism, was able to politicize an academic process and stymie community efforts.</b>'
'We felt a meeting would provide the right forum to go beyond the rhetoric of legal arguments and misunderstandings after litigation, and begin a constructive dialogue towards awareness and education,' said the HAF legal counsel Shukla.
Column in Deccan Chronicle, 8 July 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->US textbooks stereotype India
By V. Balachandran
In 1976, Asia Society, New York, published the results of their survey on the treatment of Asia in American elementary and secondary school textbooks. <b>A team of 103 experts reviewed 306 books used in 50 states. The portrayal of India was "the most negative among all Asian countries" according to Prof. Arthur Rubinoff of the Toronto University who felt that this was one of the reasons why Congressional perceptions on India had been negative. John W. Mellor, author of India, A Rising Middle Power said that US policy towards India was the product of similar stereotypes, in which India was portrayed "as poverty-stricken and helpless" since American legislators and decision makers were subject to the same impressions as the general public. A state department (Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs) study in 1982 found that "American attitudes about India, more than about any other place, focus on disease, death, and illiteracy."</b>
Since 1990 official and Congressional perceptions on India had undergone a substantial change. Part of the credit for this should go to the wealthy and proactive Indian American community who are the biggest fundraisers for the Congressional and presidential candidates. The same could be said about American business community as they are developing closer business connections.
<b>However, this positive perception about India and its culture has not permeated into the US educational system.</b> Yvette C. Rosser, well known educationist, author, founder of Badshah Khan Peace Initiative and co-founder of the G.M. Syed Memorial Committee, wrote in Teaching South Asia: An Internet Journal of Pedagogy (Winter, 2001): <b>"Stereotypes about India and Hinduism when taught as fact in American classrooms may negatively impact students of South Asian origin who are struggling to work out their identity in a multicultural, predominantly Anglo-Christian environment."</b> The same conclusions are arrived at in a new book, <b>Invading the Sacred: Analysis of Hinduism Studies in America brought out by Infinity Foundation, a Princeton based non-profit organisation founded by Rajiv Malhotra</b>, who defines himself as a "non-Hindutva Hindu." This book contains 13 brilliant essays by different scholars, four of whom, including Yvette Rosser, are of non-Indian origin. Kalavai Venkat, a contributor, is "a practising agnostic Hindu."
Several reasons are attributed for this state of affairs. Yvette Rosser while analysing the Asia Society survey had said in her 2001 paper that <b>the authors of textbooks on India had the choice of three approaches: Asia centred approach, progress centred approach and western centred approach. Seventy-six per cent of the textbooks followed the last approach and came to wrong conclusions. She comments, "Textbook writers often discuss only the western contributions to Asian life and fail to mention any Asian initiative and strengths at all." </b>
Dr S.N. Balagangadhara of the Ghent University, Belgium, who wrote the foreword of the present book also felt that the study of India occurred during the last 300 years within the "cultural framework of America and Europe" which gave more prominence to the caste system, worshipping "strange and grotesque deities," discrimination against women, widow burning and corruption. The book says, "Selective, questionable academic research and its conclusions filter into American classrooms, textbooks and media." The book gives many examples how these scholars distort India and Hinduism. <b>The core of the influential American Academy of Religion (AAR) has been following a traditionally negative approach towards India as chaotic and backward, compared to the US business schools who view India as a creative, problem solving land of opportunity. "The producers and distributors of this specialised knowledge comprise a sort of closed, culturally insular cartel, which has disastrous consequences for original thinking about India and Hinduism."</b> This attitude will adversely affect the ordinary Americanâs perceptions on Indians ethnics: "Native Americans, Blacks, Jews, Gypsies, Cubans, Mexicans, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Vietnamese and now Iraqis have suffered brutalities that were legitimised by depictions of them as primitive/exotic, irrational, heathen, savage and dangerous and as lacking in human values."
The book does not blame the AAR alone for this state of affairs. "<b>Indians themselves have contributed to the problem in significant ways." While American universities have major programmes for studying world religions, their Indian counterparts do not offer any comparable courses resulting in scholarship being confined to "Ashrams, Mattas, Jain Apasaras and Gurudwaras." Those who want to seriously study Indian religions have to go to American, British or Australian universities. "Even China has recently established numerous well funded Confucius Institutes around the world that teach Chinese civilisational approaches to human issues on par with western models." The book blames rich Indian Americans who are merely content with building temples "while their cultural portrayal in the educational system and in the media has been abandoned to the tender mercies of the dominant western traditions."</b>
Is there a way to tackle this imbroglio? <b>A recent California experience has shown that it is possible to reverse the trend with hard work. In 2005, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim groups complained to the California State Board of Education (SBE) that their religions were negatively portrayed in some textbooks. The board was in the mood to make the changes proposed by the Hindu groups, but reversed the stand on the motivated intervention of Prof. Witzel, a Harvard Sanskrit professor. As a result, the changes made by the SBE did not satisfy the Hindu groups who chose court action. Their suit that the textbooks tended to demean and stereotype Hindu beliefs and practices, opening itself to ridicule was decided partly in their favour in 2006. The court held that fair and open process was not followed in adopting textbooks to Standard VI students and ordered SBE to pay part of the costs to the litigants. However, their demand to scrap the textbooks was not allowed, although during this year advance consultations on the textbooks had begun from March onwards.</b>
Financially strong Indian associations should emulate this example. It will not be irrelevant to mention here that the American Jewish groups have been able to wrest fair treatment for their community only by aggressive ground action through their Anti-Defamation League.
V. Balachandran is a former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat
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Now Obtain Free Textbooks - Online!
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Thursday 05th of July 2007 Obtaining free school textbooks via the internet has increasingly become a realistic possibility, with many easy-to-share resources growing in cyberspace.
There have been global debates over the rapidly rising textbook prices with responses from teachers, students, schools and governments. Making textbooks affordable in different parts of the world has also become part of the growing debate.
Now there are quite a few examples of textbooks being made available online - free of cost - though one hasn't heard about such initiatives in India.
While BookPower.org is free only to developing countries, the California Open Source Textbook Project can be accessed at opensourcetext.org and a similar project is on commontext.org. There are also free high school science texts at <b>nongnu.org/fhsst/ </b>and the Open Textbook Project at <b>otp.inlimine.org</b>.
Critics have focussed on issues like the 'textbook pricing crisis' and called for changing the world into a place where knowledge can be more easily shared.
Libertas Academica OA textbooks are available at la-press.com/texts.htm while MedRounds Publications can be accessed via <b>medrounds.org </b>, Next/Text at <b>futureofthebook.org/next/text/</b> and the Potto Project at <b>potto.org</b>
Textbook Revolution is a portal and collection, and is often labelled the 'best single site' at textbookrevolution.org and Wikibooks, linked to the Wikipedia project, is at <b>en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks_portal</b>
India-based activist Prabhala, who till not long ago headed the Southern African Access to Learning Materials project at the Consumer Institute, South Africa, works on issues related to accessing textbooks.
One of the recent studies he worked on was about barriers to access to learning materials in primary and secondary schools in selected 'developing countries', with a focus on copyright law.
Yet another was on the feasibility of an 'open textbook policy' for primary and secondary education textbooks, to be adopted by the South African government.
Prabhala told IANS: 'I'm not aware of any initiatives that create or distribute open access textbooks in India. One important example is the Free High School Science Texts project in South Africa ( <b>www.fhsst.org</b>).'
He argued that while it would 'be great' to have such initiatives in India, the country already has cost-effective textbooks at the primary and secondary school level.
'This is partly because government mandated curricula (state syllabi and Central Board of Secondary Education) have a role in regulating the price of their learning materials,' he said.
Prabhala noted that textbooks in Karnataka were available online, were freely downloadable and could be republished, thanks to the Azim Premji Foundation that has been working with the state education department.
'So while in theory all government textbooks are open access - not all states, nor the central government, have their books up online,' Prabhala said.
Technically, this also means that multiple publishers, could in theory, put out their own versions of the books at different prices and with different embellishments such as diagrams.
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Editorial in Investors Business Daily:
Jihad In Schools?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Political Correctness: Seems the ACLU couldn't care less that a San Diego public school <b>has set aside 15 minutes of classroom instruction time for Muslim students to pray, while non-Muslims twiddle their thumbs.</b>
Right now it has no plans to legally challenge the budding madrassa as endorsement of a religion by government. Apparently the establishment clause only applies to the practice of Judeo-Christian rituals in public places.
The special accommodations for Carver Elementary's nearly 100 Somali Muslims don't stop with organized prayer. The school cafeteria has banned pork and other foods that conflict with the Islamic diet.
<b>And the K-8 school has even added Arabic â the language of the Quran â to its curriculum, while segregating classes for girls, a la the Taliban.</b>
In effect, Carver administrators have carved out a school within a school expressly for Muslims, elevating them above Christian and Jewish students. They've had 15 minutes of instruction time taken away from them, so Muslims can roll out their pray mats.
It amounts to a special privilege afforded a specific religion, which plainly does not have our best interests at heart. That same privilege is not extended to other faiths that are part of our traditional culture â and do not wish us ill or pray for the demise of our system of government.
Tough, say Muslim-rights groups. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is defending the Carver program, insists public schools must cater to the growing number of Muslim students. "Our country is transforming demographically, religiously," said the spokesman for CAIR's San Diego chapter. "Our country has to now accommodate things that are not traditionally accounted for before."
But when does accommodation become promotion? In California's brave new schools, Johnny has been forced to recite the Quran along with Ahmed.
<b>Seventh-graders at a San Francisco-area school were required, even after 9/11, to "become Muslims" for two full weeks as part of California's world history curriculum. This included reciting the Muslim profession of faith â "Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger" â and chanting "Praise be to Allah" in response to teacher prompts.</b>
Parents naturally were outraged that teachers would be shoving Islamic beliefs down their children's throats. And some of them sued the school district, only to lose in federal court. They appealed, but the ultra-liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals out of San Francisco ruled that such Islamic catechism is constitutional.
There's a stealth jihad under way in our schools, and school officials, wittingly or not, are aiding it. The ACLU, which operates from a double standard, refuses to step in. That leaves it up to parents to stand up and insist that the purpose of our tax-supported public schools is to educate our children in English as Americans.
If Muslims want to spend class time bowing and praying to Allah and learning in Arabic, they have the right and the freedom to attend private Islamic schools
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http://tinyurl.com/ynqnrm (Daily Pioneer, July 24, 2007)
<b>'Dalit' twist to textbook row </b>(Sandhya Jain)
India 's internal affairs are increasingly witnessing an interventionist American nexus. Even as the Supreme Court asks the Union Government to justify giving so-called 'Dalit Christians' a share in the quota for Scheduled Castes, it may be instructive to see how US policy has inveigled itself into our domestic discourse, while maintaining severe pressure upon its own Hindu citizens of Indian origin.
The manner in which these issues play out is enlightening. Harvard professor Michael Witzel's supporters in the California textbook battle include two evangelical bodies: Dalit Freedom Network and Dalit Solidarity Forum in the USA. DFN president Joseph D'Souza also heads the All-India Christian Council; he appealed to a US Congressional Committee to get 'Scheduled Caste' status for India's 'Dalit' Christians.
This utilisation of converts by overseas co-religionists for covert agendas fuels Hindu anger against conversions. The DFN's mission is to partner Dalits in their "quest for religious freedom" (obviously these are non-Hindu Dalits), and includes upholding the "legacy of Mother Teresa who showed god's love in word and deed... and to follow the command of Jesus Christ who called us to be 'the salt of the earth' and 'the light of the world'." Its board of directors includes only two Indians, both Christians: Mr Joseph D'Souza and Mr Kumar Swamy. The rest are white Americans, namely, Ms Melody Divine, a former adviser to anti-Hindu Arizona Congressman Trent Franks; Mr Peter Dance; Mr Bob Beltz, Ms Nanci Ricks, Mr Richard Sweeney, Mr Cliff Young, Mr Ken Heulitt and Mr Gene Kissinger (chairman).
The DSF-USA is run by the Rector of St Alban's Church, Oakland, New Jersey. It works closely with Christian Aid, which sent a fax to the California State Board of Education (SBE) from the Church premises, but tries to conceal the fact that it is a proselytising group. Mr Lars Martin Fosse, a signatory of Prof Witzel's letter to the SBE, appealed to Mr John Dayal of the All-India Christian Council for assistance in their fight with the Hindu community that is demanding proper representation of its faith in American textbooks. Sure enough, DFN and DSF-USA jumped into the fray.
California Parents for the Equalisation of Educational Materials (CAPEEM), which is challenging Prof Witzel's role as content-review expert in the history-social science textbook review and adoption process, has discovered his deep involvement with evangelical groups like DFN, which can be proven through a trail of e-mails. Prof Witzel was active in erasing information about DFN's missionary nature on the free Internet encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. DFN director Nanci Ricks said she did not want the agency to be known as a 'missions' organisation.
CAPEEM learnt Prof Witzel advised DFN how to intervene in the public hearing on the textbook adoption process in California. Here DFN directors misrepresented themselves as a group of Dalits by suppressing their Christian identity. Prof Shiva G Bajpai, the independent expert engaged by the California SBE to debate every Hindu edit/correction with Prof Witzel in a private meeting on January 6, 2006, found that Prof Witzel and his cohorts in the US and India did not want to rectify the depiction of India and Hindu dharma in textbooks.
As Witzel and his friends are firmly entrenched in American academia, few established scholars dared challenge their version of Indian history and culture. Prof Bajpai could wrestle more than 75 per cent of the desired changes solely on the basis of his professional acumen and status as the only historian of ancient India in California. Prof Bajpai now believes that winning the war against the demeaning portrayal of India and Hindu dharma necessitates the rise of a new class of academics sensitive to the mission of reclaiming agency over Hindu studies and early Indian history and culture. This also involves cracking the formidable nexus between the establishment academics and publishing industry and media, which has hitherto been virtually immune to criticism and reform.
America 's Hindu community has been dissatisfied with the final changes approved in 2006 as these have failed to rectify material errors about Hindu religion, culture and history. After inputs from myriad sources about Prof Witzel's biases, CAPEEM approached the courts to subpoena him to place on record his letters/e-mail exchanges with textbook publishers about the (textbook revision) Adoption Process; with the California Board; with Stanley Wolpert, James Heitzman, Shiva Bajpai, or Steve Farmer about the adoption process; postings to the Indo-Eurasian Research List; exchanges with third parties (like DFN) about the adoption process; exchanges with racial purist Roger Pearson or anyone associated with the Journal of Indo-European Studies; exchanges with Arun Vajpayee (the mysterious 'student' who asked Prof Witzel to stop the acceptance of changes in the textbooks); communications passing on edits/revisions of Hindu groups; transmitting textbooks (or portions) revised as part of the adoption process; exchanges with Harvard University regarding the adoption process; communications about the purpose of the Indo-Eurasian Research List; and so on.
CAPEEM believes Prof Witzel's conduct during the adoption process is central to its case as he (and others) were 'hostile' academic advisers and engaged in secret manoeuvres. A full disclosure of the records sought could reveal procedural improprieties by them. While the California Department of Education (CDE) barred Prof Bajpai from any contact with publishers, Prof Witzel enjoyed this freedom.
His exchanges with DFN are relevant to show anti-Hindu bias as many of its key figures are unabashedly antagonistic towards Hindu dharma. Prof Kancha Ilaiah, who signed a DFN letter to the CDE, claims he "hate(s) Hinduism" and calls it "a cult of worshipping certain violent figures... Hinduism is basically a spiritual fascist cult". Prof Witzel's exchanges with Roger Pearson, in whose journal his article was published, and certain Internet postings also establish deep prejudice.
The flip side of the California debate is a misconceived effort to associate American perceptions of India with the fabulous wealth of the Indian-American community, which is "buying protection" in its adopted land through bankrolling candidates for congressional and presidential elections; and the desire of corporate America to invest in India's blooming economy. This could be the thin edge of the wedge. Any attempt to accord primacy to secular education and employment (Mammon) is counter to the Hindu ethos wherein the hierarchy of values ( varnas) ranks mercantile and wealth-generating groups (Vaishya varna) as third, well after spiritual preceptors (Brahmin) and those who uphold the power of the state (Kshatriya).
http://books.google.com/books?id=S720d-apN...rFky4gA#PPP1,M1
This book titled the Great encounter is indeed an interesting one by RK Gupta. If you read the passages in the online edition, ,it becomes clear that the state of california is pursuing a course which is quite at variance with such stalwarts as Emerson, William Dwight Whitney, Elihu Yale and many others
A new kind of site.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Most US Newspapers, plus major newspapers in India have been reporting about Hindutvaâs attempt to hijack California school textbooks.
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While few people understand the wider background of Hindutva as a political religion here the first in depth study on the internet today.
http://soc.world-journal.net/SAsia.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hindu Prayer to Open California Senate Session <!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Reno, Nevada-based Hindu priest Rajan Zed will read the opening prayer before the California Senate Aug. 27 in Sacramento, according to a press release from Zed.
Zed will read from ancient Sanskrit scriptures. He will read the English translation of the prayer after that. The full text of the prayer will be recorded in the Daily Journal of the Senate, which is a permanent public record.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He will start and end the prayer with "Om," the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Didn't Witzel and his side-kick Farmer state that 'Om' was a goat's mating call?
If they want to buy a Greyhound bus ticket to Sacramento so that they can lodge a protest, I'm sure we can pass the hat around <!--emo&:blow--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blow.gif' /><!--endemo-->
It finally happened.
California Senate opens with Hindu prayer
Surprisingly the pack of anti-Hindu crowd in California didn't show up in protest. My guess is that it's a lot to do with some stellar work by organizations like CAPEEM (capeem.org) which stands for Hindu parents in California.
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