Micah Beckwith For Indiana STOP deliberately lying to target Muslim children.
The sign is evidence of religious neutrality. It shows a tightly controlled accommodation for students practicing their own religion.
Separation of church and state does not mean students are forbidden from praying in public schools.
➡️It means the government cannot establish, promote, organize, or coerce religion. AHEM. 👀
The sign shows NONE of that.
It says a room is available to authorized students with a prayer-room pass during limited times:
* 7:30–8:20 a.m. for the morning prayer, before school.
* 1:30–3:00 p.m. as an availability window for Dhuhr, the midday prayer.
* During lunch periods from March 3–28, a temporary Ramadan accommodation.
The prayers themselves take only a few minutes. The room is available for a longer window because students have different schedules and may pray alone or in small groups. For most of the school year, a Muslim student would likely need the room only ONCE during school, for Dhuhr. At certain times of year, Asr may also fall before dismissal.
🚫This is not a school teaching Islam.
🚫This is not staff leading Muslim prayer.
🚫This is not compulsory.
🚫This is not favoritism.
🚫And no, it is not “anything but Christianity.”
👉Christian students have always had the same right to pray voluntarily at school. If Christian students had a sincere religious obligation requiring prayer at a specific time, they could request the SAME kind of neutral accommodation. The SAME protection applies to Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, and nonreligious students.
🇺🇸That is what equal religious liberty looks like.
➡️The difference is that Muslim prayer often occurs at prescribed times, while most Christian traditions do not require students to stop and pray at particular points during the school day. Equal treatment does not mean pretending every religion practices identically. It means applying the same neutral rule to everyone.
SO Why does Indiana’s lieutenant governor have a problem with Muslim children exercising the same religious freedom he constantly demands for Christians?
These are children quietly practicing their faith. You took a routine, lawful accommodation and presented it as proof that Christians are being persecuted.
How VERY Christian of you..
THIS ISN’T A DEFENSE OF CHRISTIANITY.
IT’S ISLAMOPHOBIA WRAPPED IN A FALSE NARRATIVE OF CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION.
And if there is a hell, using children as political targets to spread fear of their religion seems like exactly the kind of conduct that ought to earn someone a place there.
Disgusting behavior from a disgusting excuse for a man if you ask us. 💯
What people are saying:
- Secular Education Association: What kind of lieutenant governor shares drivel from Facebook User, anyway? 😬 You’d think a government official would steer clear of such trash. Apparently not.
- Facebook User: Secular Education Association well Micah is trash.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Ah, such a professional response from an upstanding news source.
- Facebook User: Facebook User sick burn, dude!
- Facebook User: Facebook User Way to prove their point!
- Facebook User: Facebook User Can you please check any school lunch menu for ANY Friday in spring? Can you notice any trends?
- Facebook User: If Christians cant have prayer by a flag pole because it’s against policy why are we accommodating Muslim Religion?
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User Where are Christians prohibited from praying by a flagpole? Student-led, voluntary prayer is generally protected. If you’re talking about a school stopping a school-sponsored or staff-led event, that’s a different issue than individual students choosing to pray. Which situation are you referring to?
- Facebook User: Facebook User you know the 9th commandment? You may want to study up on that please. And get Mr Beckwith to try too please if he’s a pal.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Ummm. I think you should remember the First Commandment! Also the school is supporting Muslim prayer by restricting access to these areas making it school sponsored where as prayer in my local area has cause issues.
- Facebook User: I must have missed the part where it specifies a religion
- Facebook User: Nobody is stopping Christian students from praying, you just can’t force everyone to pray with you.
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User oh but they are trying to do just that!
- Facebook User: Prayer is allowed in school as long to as it’s not institutionally required and student led. Providing students a place to pray isn’t any different from allowing student Christian clubs a room to meet in.
- Facebook User: I am a Christian, and I still find it gross that school force Christianity! In religious schools obviously that’s fine. But I went to a public, city school and every single team had to say a prayer before every single game or event. This sign doesn’t say “only Muslims allowed”. It says “with permission, anyone can come pray”.
- Facebook User: What’s limiting Christian students, or students of other faiths from getting this prayer pass?
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User nothing.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Christians don’t have set times that they have to pray–Muslims do.
- Facebook User: Secular Education Association then I dont see the issue here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User yep, because you’re not Islamaphobic and you understand religious freedom.
- Facebook User: Don’t have a problem with prayer rooms in general. Just don’t force anyone.
- Facebook User: No one is forcing anyone to participate in Muslim prayer
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User nope! They aren’t. But that propaganda works SO fast. Hate is stoked easily. Misinformation travels at a lightening speed it seems. Unacceptable.
- Facebook User: Yeah my kids don’t go to public school but if they did, there aren’t any required religious practices during school time, because Mass times accommodate work schedules. So there wouldn’t be any religious accommodations for them because they don’t need them. Muslim students should have prayer facilities, Jewish students’ religious absences should be excused, etc.
- Facebook User: Some people prefer to accommodate bigotry instead of love.
- Facebook User: Functional illiteracy is endemic and it’s in our government.
- Facebook User: Meanwhile, there are set periods in schools with Lifewise, a pull out
Southern Baptist program, where NO new instruction is to take place, during the school day, and 40 states require schools to release students for this.- Secular Education Association: Facebook User THERE SURE ARE.
- Facebook User: Bibles can be found in schools, you can even bring your own Bible to school and read it with your free time. That is no different to this, its only a place to pray. It does not infringe on anyone’s liberties, in fact its more American than anything.
- Facebook User: Hey, so our public schools literally run on a school schedule that follows Christian and Catholic holidays. I have students who are trying to get through classes and school while fasting during Ramadan, but little Chris gets two weeks off for Christmas. A prayer room that SOME students can CHOOSE to use isn’t going to hurt Christianity. Just because you’re not allowed to openly indoctrinate anyone anymore doesn’t mean you’re being silenced.
And just to add: schools I’ve taught at have all sorts of religious clubs, INCLUDING a Catholic or Christian faith club, so students who practice those faiths can, in fact, celebrate them. It’s just not being mandated that everyone has to.
- Facebook User: Jesus, my catholic school had a thing for this. It’s a reasonable accommodation to have.
- Facebook User: Facebook User
- Facebook User: So what you’re saying is they are allowing terrorists to practice their religion while preventing others. Islam isn’t compatible with America.
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User YOU are what’s not compatible with America. If you don’t like it, you can get the f*ck out. 💁♀️ No Islamaphobia allowed.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Your bigotry is so much more un-American than any Religion will ever be.
- Facebook User: Facebook User you do realize America is a melting pot, right 🤣🤣
- Facebook User: Secular Education Association Thanks for proving you don’t have an argument. Go learn about Islam then you’ll see.
- Facebook User: Facebook User what religion is not allowed to practice? I grew up in a Christian church in a very liberal area of California and we were allowed to have Bible Club, prayer and multiple other activities as long as we weren’t pressuring other students to be involved. We took over the gym during lunch once a week. The Mormons where allowed to leave school early to go do their religious education thing. As long as it was student lead and optional we were allowed to practice our own religions.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Not as much as your bigotry is. Try learning about things before talking.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Learning what? I went to college in Dearborn MI, so I have been exposed to many Muslim Americans, and many are great people.
You calling them terrorist proves your ignorance and hate, not mine.
Public schools allow prayer for all Religions, they just can’t force it on people. - Facebook User: Facebook User Sure, not every Muslim follows their religion but that doesn’t mean it’s not a terrorist religion. Learn about Islam then you can talk.
- Facebook User: Facebook User you’re a domestic terrorist for trying to cause religion to be regulated by the state
- Facebook User: Facebook User When did I try to cause that? Oh, I didn’t and you’re just talking shit because you want to defend terrorists?
- Facebook User: Facebook User you should take your own advice ma’am.
- Facebook User: Facebook User have you ever heard of christianity? Also very much a religion of terror.
- Facebook User: Facebook User Well you’re free to leave the US and go to a country that wasn’t founded on Christian values with laws based on Christianity.
- Facebook User: Facebook User you literally look like the next domestic terrorist check this guys hard drives guaranteed you’ll find both a manifesto and child porn Facebook User
- Facebook User: …says the insecure, weak, ignorant, unAmerican, mediocre white bigot…
Your comment has been reported for promoting hate. Grow the fuck up.
- Facebook User: Facebook User how tf were you ever prevented from practicing your religion?
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User THIS
- Facebook User: Many schools in Phoenix area allow students to leave their closed campuses to attend seminary at nearby LDS churches AND receive credit.
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User nope, not ok!
- Facebook User: I agree.
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User we will add it to the “the list”. WE must take back our public schools and make them fund their own missions. Whoever “they” may be.
- Facebook User: So the 10 commandments in school is ok, but not a prayer room!!!
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User that’s Christian Nationalism in a nutshell. It isn’t about religious freedom, quite the opposite-and they just can’t stop themselves from giving the game away.
- Facebook User: Secular Education Association I’m from Texas. When I saw that they passed that I immediately thought of all the nonreligious or non Christian kids I grew up with, including myself. They wanna cry about indoctrination, but don’t want to take into account the vast amount of different cultures in their community. If it’s not Christianity, it’s not welcome.
- Secular Education Association: Facebook User BINGO.
- Facebook User: Secular Education Association and that’s just sad
- Facebook User: I wish there was a reliable way to tell if this is a genuine question or if it’s just trying to rile up their base. I mean, I have a theory…
- Facebook User: When all you’ve known is privilege, equality feels like oppression.
- Facebook User: The difference is no one is being made to pray if they dont want to. No one is stopping a Christian child from saying a prayer at lunch time. No one should stop a Muslim child from prayer either. What we do want to stop is someone saying you must pray what we tell you to pray. Understand the difference.
- Facebook User: That’s what religious freedom means: providing the means to allow ALL religions to be practiced in a legal and not imposed manner.
- Facebook User: That is exactly how religious freedom should be accomplished. The room is available… thats all… just available for worship.
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