Maryland parents John and Melissa Wood filed a lawsuit against La Plata High School after they say their daughter was forced to profess to the Islam faith during a class.
The lawsuit, filed through the Thomas More Law Center, says when John Wood complained of the indoctrination, he was banned from campus.
“Defendants forced Wood’s daughter to disparage her Christian faith by reciting the Shahada, and acknowledging Mohammed as her spiritual leader,” Thomas More president Richard Thompson said, according to Fox News.
The Shahada is the Islamic Creed which claims exclusivity about Allah and Muhammad.
The center said that for non-Muslims, reciting the statement is akin to converting to Islam.
“The course also taught false statements such as Allah is the same God worshipped by Christians and Islam is a ’religion of peace,'” Thompson said.
The lawsuit claims students spent one day studying Christianity---and two weeks studying Islam.
Students were also allegedly instructed that “the Islamic religion is a fact while Christianity and Judaism are just beliefs.”
The school declined to comment on the lawsuit, but Charles County Schools sent a statement to WTOP about the world history curriculum.
“The particular unit in question is on the formation of Middle Eastern empires in which students learned the basic concepts of the Islamic faith and how it, along with politics, culture, economics and geography, contributed to the development of the Middle East,” the statement said.
“Other religions are introduced when they influence or impact a particular historical era or geographic region. For example, when reviewing the Renaissance and Reformation, students study the concepts and role of Christianity. When learning about the development of China and India, students examine Hinduism and Buddhism.”
