Wellesley Students Participate in Muslim Prayer

A video has surfaced of several male schoolchildren from Wellesley, Massachusetts (less than 15 miles west of Boston) participating in noontime prayers during a field trip to the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center last May.

The video was released by a group called Americans for Peace & Tolerance. The organization is led by Dr. Charles Jacobs who has also been involved with the American Anti-Slavery Group and The David Project. (I should note that I met Jacobs on a couple of occasions many years ago.)

Bella Wong, the Superintendent of Wellesley Public Schools, has issued an apology. But what I find amusing is that Bilal Kaleem, President of the Muslim-American Society of Boston, insists the schoolchildren must have participated on their own. Kaleem said, "Our policy is very clear with our tour guides who never invite anyone to take part in any of the actual activities that are happening here." Yet I find it hard to believe that sixth grade students would participate in a Muslim prayer unless they were asked or told to do so. At the very minimum you would think Kaleem would have offered an apology for not enforcing their own rules. But no apology has been forthcoming.

Believe me if the Wellesley students went to a Catholic church and ended up receiving communion the liberal press would go absolutely beserk (and rightly so.) Long story short. Why is Muslim proselytizing of our students acceptable while Christian proselytizing is beyond the pale?

Of course, why a public school would send its children to a religious institution whose founder is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence for financing terrorist activities against our country is beyond me. Equally troubling are statements made by one of the Islamic Center's imams, Abdullah Faaruuq. During a speech Faaruuq gave to a mosque in Brighton last March he exhorted those assembled to "grab onto the shovel, grab onto the gun and the sword. Don't be afraid to step out in this world and do your job." And would that job involve killing oneself and taking as many innocent civilians as possible along with you?

Schools in the Boston and surrounding area would be wise to cancel or indefinitely postpone any planned visits to the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center.