A Maryland federal district court has refused to completely dismiss a lawsuit filed by the parents of an 11th grade student who was required to profess belief in Islam in graded assignments.

The Religion Clause blog is reporting on the ruling which will allow a suit filed by John Kevin Wood and his wife Melissa to move forward. Even though the parents’ claim for injunctive relief was dismissed because their daughter has since graduated, the court is allowing the parents to move ahead with their Establishment Clause and compelled speech claim for damages against the school’s principal and vice principal of La Plata High School in La Plata, Maryland.

“Here, while discovery and trial may or may not prove otherwise, Plaintiffs allege in the Complaint that in addition to learning facts about the background and beliefs relevant to Islam, Defendants required C.W. to 'confess' the Islamic Profession of Faith....” the ruling reads.

The Wood’s case began in 2014 when their daughter was forced to profess and write out the Shahada, which is the Islamic Creed, in a World History class at the school, which is part of the Charles County Public School system.

One of the statements contained in the Creed – “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah” – is considered by Muslims to be sufficient to convert a person to Islam. The teen was also required to memorize and recite the Five Pillars of Islam.

According to the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Charles County schools also disparaged Christianity by teaching 11th graders that “Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”

Students were also taught that “Islam, at heart, is . . . peaceful . . .” and that Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism. In addition, they learned that according to the Koran, “men are the managers of the affairs of women” and that “righteous women are therefore obedient.”

Wood, who is a former Marine, was incensed by these teachings and immediately contacted the school to voice his objections and to obtain an alternative assignment for his daughter.

The school not only refused, but forced their daughter to either violate her faith by pledging to Allah or receiving zeros for the assignments. The family unanimously decided to remain true to their faith even though failing grades would harm her future admission to college and chances for scholarship money.

“Adding insult to injury, in an effort to silence all pro-Christian speech in her school, La Plata’s principal, without a hearing or any opportunity to refute the false allegations against him, issued a ‘No Trespass’ notice against John Kevin Wood denying him any access to school grounds,” the Center reports.

Wood, who served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and had lost friends to Islamic extremists, was well aware that Islam is not a “religion of peace”. And now, on American soil, he was being denied an opportunity to defend his daughter’s Christian beliefs, “even though as a Marine, he stood in harm’s way to defend our nation, and the Charles County Public Schools,” the Center states.

As a result, Wood and his wife decided to file a lawsuit against Charles County Public Schools, the Board of Education, and the Principle and Vice-Principal of La Plata High School.

The court’s decision this week is allowing the suit to go forward, as well as the father’s claim of retaliation against him by the school.

“Defendants forced Wood’s daughter to disparage her Christian faith by reciting the Shahada, and acknowledging Mohammed as her spiritual leader. Her World History class spent one day on Christianity and two weeks immersed in Islam. Such discriminatory treatment of Christianity is an unconstitutional promotion of one religion over another,” states Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center.

“The course also taught false statements such as ‘Allah is the same God worshipped by Christians,’ and Islam as a ‘religion of peace.] Parents must be ever vigilant to the Islamic indoctrination of their children under the guise of teaching history and multiculturalism. This is happening in public schools across the country. And they must take action to stop it.”

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