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Muslim parents are complaining about flyers for Easter egg hunts

JEDIYoda

JEDIYoda

Lifer
I really see this as being a non - issue.......Easter Egg hunts and Apple pie and the USA go hand in hand!! I don`t see how you can construe an Easter Egg Hunt to have anything to do with religion.....


http://news.yahoo.com/now-muslim-parents-complaining-flyers-easter-egg-hunts-125007042.html

In Dearborn, Mich., home to over 40,000 Americans of Arab descent, some Muslim parents have complained about flyers handed out at public schools advertising an Easter egg hunt at a local Presbyterian church.

The Muslim parents assert that the flyers – emblazoned with the word “Eggstravaganza!” – violate the separation of church and state widely ascribed to the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Students at three Dearborn elementary schools received the flyers. A large number of Muslim students attend the schools.

The “Eggstravaganza!” is scheduled to take place on April 12 event at Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church in Dearborn.

The flyer urges students to RSVP “to secure your free spot,” note the Free Press. The associated imagery includes a festive bunny and some eggs.

The event will feature a traditional Easter egg hunt as well as an egg toss and a relay race.

“It really bothered my two kids,” parent Majed Moughni told the Free Press. “My son was like, ‘Dad, I really don’t feel comfortable getting these flyers, telling me to go to church. I thought churches are not supposed to mix with schools.”

Moughni added that he believes the flyers are “a serious violation of separation of church and state.” Noting that his kids had previously received something about a Halloween event at a church, he said he is worried that Christians are trying to convert Muslim kids through propaganda distributed at public schools.

The Muslim father of two kids, aged 9 and 7, said he would be equally opposed to the distribution of flyers about events at local mosques.

Pastor Neeta Nichols of Cherry Hill Presbyterian noted that the event has absolutely nothing to do with religion.

“It’s designed to be an opportunity to invite the community to come for a day of activity,” she told the Free Press. “There is not a religious component to this event.”

Greg Lipper, a lawyer at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, proclaimed his concern that the flyer is advertising an Easter egg hunt that will occur at a church. In his view, “context matters”—and it matters even more when young kids are involved.

Easter eggs are a symbol many Christians use to celebrate the Christian holiday of Easter. In pagan religions, eggs represented fertility, birth and rebirth. More generally, they symbolize springtime. Kids typically tend to associate Easter eggs with candy and people in rabbit costumes.

For 136 years (as of next week), the president of the United States and his family have hosted the White House Easter Egg Roll. This year, the theme is “Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape.” Over 30,000 people will convene on the South Lawn on Monday, April 21 for the festivities
 
The problem is with the offended family not the flyer. Personally I found any religious crap in school annoying (they made us say the Lord's Prayer everyday in public school :/) but whatever. My friend goes to that church and pointed out that they were advertising an activity not trying to convert people to Christianity. Not interested? Don't go.
 
It's America, people have too much time on their hands and tend to get butt hurt by the smallest things.

Let's be honest, the real religious meaning of Easter (the resurrection of Christ) has absolutely nothing to do with colored eggs. If the search was for the hidden Jesus, they might have a point.
 
I really bet the kid came home and said that.

Far more likely he said "Hey dad I want to go get easter eggs with my friends." And Achmed replied "Infidels!!!!"
 
Pastor Neeta Nichols of Cherry Hill Presbyterian noted that the event has absolutely nothing to do with religion.

“It’s designed to be an opportunity to invite the community to come for a day of activity,” she told the Free Press. “There is not a religious component to this event.”
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they're going to have some good Christians who show up on April 12 to pass out brochures and spread the word about the "real" Easter. The Pastor, who will be decked out in her pastor attire, will tell the Muslim parents she can't do anything because its a public event for all.
 
They can go fuck off and get out of the US, and take their bullshit culture/religion with them. Tired of people coming here and wanting to change everything to be like their shithole they ran from.
 
rpanic said:
They can go fuck off and get out of the US, and take their bullshit culture/religion with them. Tired of people coming here and wanting to change everything to be like their shithole they ran from.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what the pilgrims did to the Indians?
 
I'm going to go out on a limb and call the father a liar. I don't think 7 and 9 year olds come home from school complaining about the separation of church and state. Somebody needs to sit him down, look him in the eye and tell him to get the fuck over it. If he doesn't like that, there are whole lot of grains of sand and a camel that miss him back in his homeland. I'll pitch in for the tickets for him and his family.
 
Personally, I think that in an ideal society this should be a violation if the school was handing them out (religious holiday even taking place at a church). However, that's not how it works; we're not living in the ideal epitome of the laws as they were intended/anticipated when created. I think, rather, that the purpose of the law is to prevent forced religion rather than its very presence and that it has been viewed contrarily due to societal changes and, of course, the never-ending money grab.

Perhaps my viewpoint would be different if I didn't think Islam was such an invasive, hostile, petty, backwards religion compared to the times we live in now, but I don't think the school did anything wrong here when considering mine, or the common interpretation, of the separation of church and state since it is being advertised as a non-religious social event for all.

Also, I'm with TerryMatthews on what probably happened when the kid came home. I could also see a kid being trained by a fanatical religion (or his father) to just sit idly and wait for something in the ballpark of a separation of church and state issue to say exactly what the father claims he said, though, for either a money grab or to attempt to do what religions rooted in fanaticism do: attempt to destroy opposing religions by inhibiting their awareness to inject their own fanatical beliefs into society.
 
her209 said:
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they're going to have some good Christians who show up on April 12 to pass out brochures and spread the word about the "real" Easter. The Pastor, who will be decked out in her pastor attire, will tell the Muslim parents she can't do anything because its a public event for all.
Click to expand...
And somehow I doubt that.
 
Given that state shouldn't be doing anything with religion, I can see their point.

Seriously it's being held at a church after all.


MongGrel said:
Screw em, next they'll want to eliminate all fireworks on July 4th as being overly dangerous.
Click to expand...

Already banned for personal use where I am, due to the risk of starting fires and whatnot.
 
Easter egg hunt is part of the pagan ritual and nothing to do with Christianity so they have little to fear of being converted and perhaps use it as an opportunity to educate those wayward Christians.😛



It's not like they are going to take the kids to a church, separate the boys from girls and then have the boys perform obeisance to their god.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOpsBcZ-vcc
 
We can talk about how idiotic the father is for pursing this, and we'd be right.

But we can also talk about how this is not a school activity and takes place on a Saturday.

So Mr. Muslim father - fuck you. I dislike religion, but we have this awesome thing called 'free speech'. You aren't being forced to go. It's not during the school day. They passed out the fliers at the school. That's it.
 
Why are flyers not created by the school being handed out in the first place? Were flyers being handed out or was a flyer posted on a community event board?

Personally I couldn't care less but I certainly understand the parents concern. Can they start creating their own events at their place of worship and hand them out at the school? How many here would have a problem with that?

At the very least it's a slippery slope and the school should simply avoid the issue all together.
 
Everyone in America complains anyway. Some in this forum being the worst, why have an opinion about someone else's complaints if you're a complainer yourself.
I don't even read complaints like these, I have my own to worry about.
 
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