THE GUARDIAN: Council on American-Islamic Relations complains Muslims are portrayed as violent in series by foreign policy thinktank
A series of US children's textbooks on Islam contains misleading and inflammatory rhetoric about the religion, inaccurately portraying its followers as hostile and deserving of suspicion, according to a US Muslim civil liberties group.
The Pennsylvania chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has begun what it calls a public awareness campaign against the World of Islam books by Mason Crest Publishing.
"The overall theme of the books is that Muslims are inherently violent, that Islam is a second-rate religion and that one should be wary of Muslims in any society," said Moein Khawaja, the chapter's civil rights director. "These books do not fulfil the mission of a school, which is to educate."
Among dozens of examples cited by Khawaja, the book Muslims in America says: "Some Muslims began immigrating to the United States in order to transform American society, sometimes through the use of terrorism." Elsewhere, a picture of two smiling Muslim girls in head scarves appears on a page subtitled "Security Threats".
Mason Crest produced the 10-book series, which is designed for ages 10 and older, in partnership with the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute. >>> Associated Press | Wednesday, March 17, 2010
