Muslim leader's classroom visit sparks controversy

[The Straight Story]

Muslim leader's classroom visit sparks controversy

Tampa, Florida - Hassan Shibly, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, says he has one goal when speaking before a group: "We hope by clearing up these misconceptions, we can build a healthier, safer community."

Shibly says that was his goal when speaking to students in a history class at Steinbrenner High School on November 29.

"The students are curious. They had heard so much negativity about Islam," Shibly says. "We tell them Islam condemns terrorism, that there's no room for terrorist in Islam... they asked good questions, hard questions, tough questions. We had a good dialogue and conversation."

Shibly has received letters from students, thanking him for his visit.

But that visit generated close to 4,000 emails to the school district, mostly opposing Shibly's visit. School district officials say more than 3,500 of the emails are a standard letter, and less than half (1,672) are unique email addresses.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/231495/250/Muslim-leaders-classroom-visit-sparks-controversy

[msongs]

1. do they bring in Hindus, Buddhists, etc as well or only Muslims? nt

[The Straight Story]

2. District officials say students do hear from speakers of other faiths:

District officials say students do hear from speakers of other faiths when studying subjects such as World History and Religions.

[newfie11]

3. closed minds are dangerous n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

4. The Florida Family Association's at it again...

That Caton guy's both a bigot and an extremist. Definitely not representative of any families I'd want to know...

[no_hypocrisy]

5. One of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)'s goals

is to dispel misconceptions about Islam. Capt'n James Yee is an executive with the organization. He was the military chaplain who was wrongfully imprisoned at Guantanamo.

http://www.samaralectures.com/speakers/chaplain-james-yee/