by Rusty Pugh and Jody Brown
Teachers at a Massachusetts high school admitted they were on high alert recently to protect Muslim students from discrimination during a school event — yet they allowed and condoned blatant anti-Christian bigotry.
The Catholic League is seeking the maximum penalty against teachers at Sharon High School in Massachusetts for allowing and condoning student behavior that it considers to be anti-Christian. At the school's recent Halloween party, students were given a prize for their costumes. According to Catholic League spokesman Patrick Scully, teachers awarded prizes to two male students dressed as pregnant nuns and another dressed as a priest who impregnated them.
Scully calls the incident an outrageous display of religious discrimination. He adds that school officials offered an apology — but that is not enough “because where there's wrongdoing, you have wrongdoers,” he says. “There's been absolutely no attempt to discipline these teachers. It would be one thing if the students voted on the best costume or funniest costume — they're kids. But these are supposedly responsible educators.”
Scully says the Catholic League wants the teachers disciplined with the maximum penalty for such an offense. “We are appealing to both the superintendent of the Sharon schools and David Driscoll, who's the commissioner of the Massachusetts Education Department, to enforce their own regulations … on discrimination and harassment as it pertains to religion. All they have to do is enforce their own rules. We want disciplinary action taken against the teachers.”
Section 26.7, Part 2 of the Massachusetts Department of Education regulations states that “harassment or discrimination based on religion must be prevented,” and that all schools shall respond promptly when it occurs. Scully says so far, no action has been taken. Ironically, he says, the teachers involved acknowledged they were on the lookout for any “anti-Muslim” costumes at the party, while they permitted Christianity to be ridiculed and mocked.
eBay Incident
Meanwhile, the Catholic League was successful this week in getting an Internet-based auction site to remove from its website what it calls “the most vile recorded attack on Catholic priests that we have seen.” According to William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, his organization complained to eBay about a CD entitled “Catholic Priests ——- Children” by the group The Grey Wolves. The CD included a pornographic sketch of children on the cover and a picture of a Catholic priest.
Donohue, who says he is appreciative of eBay's quick response to the complaint, indicates he had hoped “Catholic bashing” would wane following the events of September 11. But he says “there is plenty of evidence that the anti-Catholics have stepped up their efforts.”
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)