c. 2007 Religion News Service

Saudi textbooks, school under federal scrutiny

WASHINGTON (RNS) Textbooks used in Saudi Arabian schools and a Saudi-funded school in Northern Virginia have come under scrutiny by a federal watchdog panel charged with monitoring international religious freedom.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has asked to see the textbooks, which critics say teach hatred of non-Muslims, but so far has gotten no response from Saudi officials.

Some U.S. officials worry the books will not promote peace in the next generation of children.

“World leaders can wrap their arms around each other at diplomatic signing ceremonies,” said Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., at a press conference Thursday (Oct. 17), “but peace won’t come as long as children are … incited, encouraged … to wrap grenade belts around their torsos and blow things up.”

The commission is also looking at the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) outside Washington, a Saudi-run school that may be using the disputed textbooks on U.S. soil.

“They talk about hate,” said Ali H. Alyami, director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia. A practicing Muslim who grew up in Saudi Arabia, he said the textbooks teach that “Christians and Jews are the enemies of Islam.”

Imam Talal Y. Eid, a member of the religious freedom panel, said he raised concerns about the one-sided presentation of Islam in public school textbooks when he came to the United States in the 1980s.

School superintendents and politicians responded by revising the textbooks into the “reasonable” books they are today. Eid said he would like to see reciprocation on the part of Muslims and have their textbooks “clear of any … issues that may inflame or promote hatred toward non-Muslims.”

If the U.S. government finds hateful language in the textbooks, USCIRF recommends “appropriate action,” Eid said, though he did not elaborate on what he meant by “appropriate.”

Alyami, however, insisted that government action will not be enough to create lasting change. “Taking a few words from here and there make(s) no difference whatsoever,” he said. “You have to transform the institution.”

Calls to the Saudi embassy in Washington were not immediately returned for comment.

_ Heather Donckels

City Council drops Lord’s Prayer before meetings

AKRON, Ohio (RNS) For decades, the Akron City Council opened its weekly meetings with “Our father, who art in heaven … .”

Council president Marco Sommerville said the practice “goes way, way back.” Reciting the Lord’s Prayer was most likely meant to show citizens that council members looked for outside guidance, he said.

But after a Washington, D.C., group threatened litigation, council members decided Monday (Oct. 15) to instead pray privately before meetings. They’re also working on finding a nonsectarian prayer to replace the Christian prayer.

“I’m delighted that the Akron City Council did the right thing and that no one attending those meetings now feels like a second-class citizen because they don’t believe in the Lord’s Prayer,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “The people who wanted to pray are going to do so before they go into council chambers, and that’s fine.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio also applauded the move.

“Government is there for people of all faiths and people of no faith,” spokesman Gary Daniels said.

Many municipalities still include prayers at meetings, said John K. Mahoney, deputy director of the Ohio Municipal League.

City Councils can pray, but the prayers can’t be specifically suited to one religion. Such a safeguard is inherent in the U.S. Constitution, said William Rich, a University of Akron professor consulted by the Akron City Council.

“The Constitution requires this degree of separation in part to protect religion from being influenced or co-opted by the government,” he said.

All 13 Akron council members agreed to cease saying the Lord’s Prayer, not wanting to fight _ and lose _ a threatened court battle from Lynn.

“I don’t see anything wrong with people who have been elected, who have to make decisions for the majority of people in the community, to start the meeting off with a word of prayer,” Sommerville said. “Unfortunately, we just can’t say the Lord’s Prayer.”

_ Laura Johnston

Court rules against Messianic Jewish postman

COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS) For 10 years, the Chagrin Falls Post Office allowed a mail carrier to take Saturdays off to observe the Sabbath.

But in 2002, with a staff shortage and pressure from other mail carriers upset at more having to cover weekend assignments, the post office ended its arrangement with Martin Tepper and began scheduling him to work on Saturdays.

Tepper, who joined the post office in 1980 and became a Messianic Jew a few years later, filed a complaint with the Postal Service that was rejected. He then sued the Postal Service in federal court in Cleveland in 2004, and lost again.

Tepper then appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But on Monday (Oct. 15), the appeals court upheld the lower court, saying Tepper cannot prove he has been discriminated against or that his employer failed to accommodate him.

“The removal of the accommodation did not result in a change of title, job status, pay or job responsibilities and conditions,” a three-judge panel ruled.

“While Tepper now has to work on Saturdays, this is simply a requirement of the job for which he was hired; it is not an adverse change in employment,” the unanimous ruling stated.

Tepper could not be reached for comment, and his attorney, Edward Icove, did not return calls for comment. They could ask the appeals court to reconsider the decision or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Full-time mail carriers work five days a week and could be scheduled any day Monday through Saturday.

In 1992, Tepper requested and was granted his special scheduling arrangement, which also included allowing him to be off on certain Jewish holidays.

But between 1998 and 2003, the Chagrin Falls post office dropped from 36 mail carriers to 32, which meant carriers were drawing more Saturday shifts to cover for Tepper.

In October 2002, with Tepper absent, the letter carriers union met and unanimously voted to end Tepper’s scheduling accommodation. Later that month, during contract negotiations between the union and post office, special scheduling for Tepper was dropped from the contract.

Former Chagrin Falls postmaster Thomas Pecka told Tepper he could use unpaid leave or vacation days or swap shifts with co-workers to avoid Saturday work. Tepper charged that using unpaid leave was tantamount to reducing his annual pay and eventually his pension.

_ Reginald Fields

Quote of the Day: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

(RNS) “Being here at the birthplace of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has been a very special and moving experience. … It is also, I think, personally for me a reminder that the Prince of Peace is still with us and is still with me and with all of us.”

_ Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking Wednesday (Oct. 17) in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, about her visit to the Church of the Nativity.

KRE/LF END RNS