Assignment on Islam Statement of Faith Backfires in Virginia

News Staff : Dec 18, 2015
CBN News

The result of parents take big time action.

[CBN News] Schools in a Virginia county are closed Friday due to parental backlash over an assignment on Islam. (Photo via CBN News)

CBS News reports Augusta County officials closed all schools after the school district was flooded with "profane and hateful messages from all around the country."

Many parents were outraged over a world geography assignment that required students to practice calligraphy by writing the Islamic statement of faith in Arabic:

"There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is the messenger of Allah."

Students did not receive a translation of what they were writing.

The Augusta Public Schools website says the lesson wasn't "designed to promote a religious viewpoint or change any student's religious belief" and that "a different, non-religious sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future."