LA PLATA, Md. — A school district in Maryland has been sued by a former Marine and his wife for allegedly promoting Islam in student assignments.
In 2014, John Kevin Wood expressed objections to the assignments given to his daughter in her 11th grade world history class at La Plata High School, which included writing out the Islamic Shahada and memorizing the five pillars of Islam.
“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,” the Shahada reads.
The Woods state that the study materials told students that “[m]ost Muslim’s faith is stronger than the average Christian,” that Islam is “peaceful” and that “[t]o Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism.”
The lawsuit filed this week in federal court further alleged that the Woods’ daughter and her classmates were “instructed that the Islamic religion is a fact while Christianity and Judaism are just beliefs.”
“Qur’an is the word of Allah as revealed to Muhammad in the same way that Jews and Christians believe the Torah and the Gospels were revealed to Moses and the New Testament writers,” one reading stated.
The couple says that while Islam was studied for two weeks, the class only spent one day studying Christianity.
Kevin Wood called the school to object to the assignments, and requested that his daughter be provided with an alternative. According to the Woods, Vice Principal Shannon Morris denied the request and stated that if their daughter did not complete the assignments, she would receive zeros.
“Wood informed Defendant Morris that [his daughter] would not be completing the assignments that promoted Islam and that he was dissatisfied with Defendants’ treatment of [his daughter] and refusal to provide [his daughter] with an alternative assignment,” the lawsuit states.
Wood also told Morris that if she “wished to retaliate” against his daughter for her objection to Islam, that he would pursue recourse through an attorney and the media. As a result, the following day, the high school resource officer called Wood to advise that Morris had filed a complaint against him and that a “no trespass” order was in place, meaning that he was prohibited from setting foot on school property.
Wood says that that the order kept him from attending any school events or appearing at any parent/teacher conferences. He also states that his daughter was indeed given zeros for the incomplete assignments and sent to the school library following his complaint.
The Wood’s lawsuit seeks an injunction against any further promotion of Islam over other religions and seeks to lift the trespassing ban issued by Morris.
“Parents must be ever vigilant to the Islamic indoctrination of their children under the guise of teaching history and multiculturalism,” said Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center, in a statement. “This is happening in public schools across the country. And they must take action to stop it.”
A response has not yet been provided to the lawsuit by Charles County Public Schools.
______________________________________________________
SEE ALSO:
Marine Dad Takes Stand After Daughter Gets 'F' for Refusing Islamic Indoctrination
John Wood is taking on the administrators of his daughter's school because they refused to let her opt out of Islamic indoctrination. (Thomas More Law Center)
The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) today announced its representation of John Kevin Wood, and his wife, Melissa, in their battle with La Plata High School in Maryland over the Islamic indoctrination of their 11th-grade daughter in her World History class. Their daughter was required to complete assignments where she had to affirm that "There is no god but Allah" and the other Five Pillars of Islam.
The case gained national attention when the school banned John Wood from entering school property after he objected to the religion of Islam being taught in his daughter's history class and demanded that she be given an alternative assignment. The school refused.
Wood, a former Marine who served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and lost friends in that action, saw firsthand the destruction caused in the name of Allah and that Islam is not "a religion of peace;" and he would not budge from his position.
The Thomas More Law Center is a national public-interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. TMLC Senior Trial Counsel, Erin Mersino, and Maryland attorney, Michael F. Smith of The Smith Appellate Law Firm, represent the Wood family. Yesterday they filed a request for records relating to the case under Maryland's Public Information Act.
On Oct. 22, 2014, John Wood discovered that his daughter was being forced to repeat religious tenets of Islam as a part of her World History class assignment. She was required to write how the prophet Muhammad was visited by the angel Gabriel and preached that there is only one true god, who is Allah. The assignment made her write that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah and that the Quran is holy text.
The assignment required her to affirm that "Allah is the same god that is worshipped in Christianity and Judaism" and that the "Quran is the word of Allah revealed to Mohammad in the same way that Jews and Christians believe the Torah and the Gospels were revealed to Moses and the New Testament writers." The assignment also forced young women such as the Woods' daughter, to fill in the following sentences: "Men are the managers of the affairs of women" and "Righteous women are therefore obedient."
When John Wood discovered the Islamic propaganda and indoctrination, he was rightfully outraged, and that evening unsuccessfully tried to contact the school by phone to voice his objections. Wood witnessed firsthand the destruction caused in the name of Allah and knows Islam is not "a religion of peace." He served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and lost friends in that action. On 9-11, Wood responded as a firefighter to the smoldering Pentagon. He refused to allow La Plata High School to subject his daughter to Islamic indoctrination despite the threatened academic consequences.
The next day, Oct. 23, Wood had a phone conversation with a La Plata vice principal where he again reiterated his objections to his daughter being indoctrinated into the religion of Islam. The vice principal indicated that his daughter, a high school junior with college hopes, would receive zeros on her assignments on Islam if she did not complete them. He asked how the religion of Islam could be taught when schools are prohibited from teaching the religion of Christianity.
The following day, Oct. 24, John Wood again spoke with the vice principal. She again refused to allow an alternative assignment.
