"Anti-Muslim" Literature Given to 9th Graders at NC High School

Triaq Butte’s daughter, Saira, is a student at Enloe High School in Wake County, North Carolina. Saira attended a ninth-grade orientation seminar where a representative of Kamil International Ministries Organization had been invited to speak. Kamil International is a Christian group based in Raleigh, and the speaker handed out to the students literature that compared the teachings of Jesus with the teachings of Mohammed. The pamphlets talked about how Muslims see Jesus as being just a prophet of God, and the literature goes on to level accusations against Islam’s prophet Muhammed.

"First of all, it slanders—things like, ‘Mohammed is a criminal is demon-possessed…that just made my blood boil," said Butte, who added that the literature given to the students is not just an issue of free speech, but one of defamation and slander.

Butte is not a practicing Muslim, and although his wife is a Christian, they have raised their children to respect all people of other religions. "So for a person like me to feel like that—I’ve never been to a mosque—to feel like that, for me to feel such hideous attacks, they were not just pointing out failures or weaknesses in Islam or Muslims, they were just attacking."

Butte told reporters that he tried approaching the principal and the teacher about his objections to the literature, but so far the only explanation he has been given is one of "diversity of opinion" and freedom of speech. "I pointed out to [the teacher] that there’s a limitation to free speech," Butte said. "For example, you cant’ have the KKK come to the school distributing their literature."

According to Butte, Beth Cochran, principal of Enloe, said that she encourages the exchange of ideas, and although the material that was passed out was inappropriate, she welcomes anyone from the Muslim community to come talk to the students. "In my view, I think they need to recognize that this is not just free speech and diversity of opinion, which I totally respect and have no problem with anyone talking about Islam and it's weaknesses, and I'm prepared to do that myself — what I don't like about it—but to slander Islam is unacceptable," Butte said.

One of the pamphlets given to the students was titled "Do Not Marry a Muslim Man." It compares Bible verses with those of the Koran, such as this example: The book of Islam (Koran 4:34) says, "Husband, beat your wives and deny them sex." The Bible (Ephesians 5:25) says, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her."

The pamphlet cautions women against being attracted to a Muslim man because of his "dark good looks, education, financial means, and the interest he shows in you." It warns that marrying a Muslim man would ruin a girl’s life. "You may be excited that you found the 'tall, dark, and handsome man' you have been looking for. His sweet words and attention may blind you regarding the power, importance, and influence of his culture and Islamic faith," the pamphlet says. "Because in the United States, we have freedom of religion, he may agree that you can remain a Christian and you may think there will be no problem with such a marriage. But do not be fooled and become a victim of his religion, Islam, which has very oppressive rules regarding women's status and rights. Such marriages will never be out of trouble."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote to the superintendent of the Wake County Public School system demanding an apology to the students as well as disciplinary action against the teacher. "It is unconscionable for a teacher at any public school to abuse his or her position of trust by forcing such hate-filled, inaccurate and intolerant materials on students," CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar wrote in the letter. "One can only imagine what a Muslim student in the class might have experienced and how students of other faiths will now regard their Muslim classmates." So far the group has received no response.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for CAIR, told FOXNews on Thursday that the least the school could have done was to invite someone from the Muslim community to come to the seminar and present the Muslim perspective. "At least that would have been something, but to just bring in this person, presented by an authority person like a teacher, 'here's someone who's going to teach you Islam ... if he was going to stage a public forum and denounce Islam, that's fine," Hooper said.

"This was a captive audience with captive minds who were offered no rebuttal to this type of bigotry."