Virginia Wesleyan College

The Associated Press, October 2, 2006

WASHINGTON. The Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a lawsuit by parents objecting to a three-week class for seventh-graders on Islam.

Jonas and Tiffany Eklund say pupils at a public school in California were given pages from the opening chapter of the Koran to read and studied Islam's Five Pillars of Faith in a world history unit on Muslim culture.

The Eklunds wanted the Supreme Court to find that the world history unit entitled "The Roots of Islam and the Empire" violates constitutional guarantees separating church and state.

"Parents entrust public schools with educating their children, not indoctrinating them in religion," the Eklunds' lawyers stated in a brief asking the Supreme Court to take the case. "The public school here had children become Muslims for three weeks."

The Byron Union School District "moved far beyond a mere explanation of the historical or literary significance of Islam," the parents' lawyers argued. The district is east of San Francisco.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Islam program activities were not overt religious exercises and therefore did not raise U.S. constitutional concerns.

The Eklunds say they were not told ahead of time that their son Chase could have chosen to opt out of the class on Islam. The next year, Chase's younger sister, Samantha, chose not to take the class, making her feel as though she was being singled out because of her religious beliefs, the Eklunds' lawyers stated.