-- From "Fishers school adjusts holiday program after conservative group protests" by Chris Sikich and Vic Ryckaert, IndyStar.com 12/12/09
A Hamilton Southeastern elementary removed a mention of Allah in its holiday show after it drew the anger of a national conservative Christian group.
Lantern Road Elementary Principal Danielle Thompson said school leaders sought to teach inclusiveness through the second-grade program, which included pieces about Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Las Posadas and Kwanzaa.
School officials removed a phrase saying "Allah is God" after the American Family Association launched a protest of the program on its electronic newsletter.
The change was made, Thompson said, because no other deities were directly named in the program.
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From "Second Graders Sing About Allah? " by Todd Starnes, FOX News Radio 12/14/09
. . . David Hogan['s]. . . daughter came home with a copy of the lyrics just days before the production. Hogan, a Christian, told the American Family Association, a conservative advocacy group, that he was deeply concerned to learn that his daughter had been singing, “Allah is God.”
Here’s what the children were assigned to sing:
“Allah is God, we recall at dawn,
Praying ‘til night during Ramadan
At this joyful time we pray happiness for you,
Allah be with you all your life through.”
But when it came time to perform the “Christian” part of Christmas, children were assigned to say:
“I didn’t know there was a little boy at the manger. What child is this?
I’m not sure if there was a little boy or not.
Then why did you paint one on your nativity window?
I just thought if there was a little boy, I’d like to know exactly what he (sic) say.”
Micah Clark, executive director of the Indiana AFA, launched an Internet protest once he heard about the allegations. “What surprised me here is that we’ve had a secular scrubbing of Christmas for so long and the school apparently didn’t see the problem with kids singing to Allah,” he told FOX News Radio. “You won’t even mention Jesus and you’re going to force my child to sing about Allah?”
In email correspondence the school initially defended the reference as a way to be inclusive of all religions. However, once complaints starting rolling in, school leaders decided to eliminate the Allah reference.
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