[FoxNews] A religious liberty advocacy group is threatening to slap a Seattle-area school district with a lawsuit claiming the district has urged teachers to bless Muslim students in Arabic during the holy month of Ramadan and give them preferential treatment, including skipping tests.The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) claims the Dieringer School District is officially endorsing Islam and is following a script by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that urges schools to make special accommodations for Muslim students and to wish them "Ramadan Mubarak," which means "Happy Ramadan," or "Ramadan Kareem," which means "Have a generous Ramadan."
The CAIR guidelines also instruct teachers to monitor Muslim students fasting and suggests teachers not schedule any tests on the Islamic holidays of Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha.
“By urging teachers to bless Muslim students in Arabic, the district is running roughshod over the First Amendment’s mandate of government neutrality toward religion,” said Daniel Piedra, FCDF’s executive director. “A school district would never order teachers to ‘welcome’ Catholic students during Easter with ‘He is risen, alleluia!’ Singling out Muslim students for special treatment is blatantly unconstitutional.”
The defense fund claims Dieringer Superintendent Judy Martinson blindly followed the recommendations of CAIR and "enacted the letter as official district policy." The defense fund sent Martinson a letter stating their complaints after a teacher and parent complained about the new procedure.
The May 6 letter also warned Martinson about CAIR's anti-semitic advocacy and alleged ties to radical Islamists, which the group has long denied.