Thursday, May 25, 2017

Suit Challenges School District's Anti-Islamophobia Program

Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund announced yesterday that it has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit in a California federal district court against the San Diego Unified School District.  The suit, filed on behalf of a group of parents, challenges an Anti-Islamophobia program instituted by the school district to combat bullying and harassment of Muslim students.  The lawsuit particularly objects to the school board's collaboration with CAIR, a group which plaintiffs say has ties to radical Islam.  The complaint alleges in part:
Under the guise of this anti-bullying program, Defendants have fallen in with [CAIR] to set up a subtle, discriminatory scheme that establishes Muslim students as the privileged religious group within the school community.  Consequently, students of other faiths are left on the outside looking in, vulnerable to religiously motivated bullying, while Muslim students enjoy an exclusive right to the School District’s benevolent protection.