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| Harmony Science Academy rehearses for theTurkish Olympiad |
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| Harmony Science Academy in Turkish costumes meet Ambassador from Turkey |
One of every five Texas charter schools has religious ties
By Amy Hetzner of the Journal Sentinel
The same day that the West Bend School Board voted against entering contract negotiations with a Baptist pastor to run a publicly funded charter school, The Dallas Morning News ran a story focusing on the large number of charter schools in Texas that used to be parochial schools or had other religious ties.
In addition to noting that more than 20% of Texas charter schools have some kind of religious ties, the story says that such church-charter partnerships are popping up around the country and blurring the lines between church and state.
"You have to wonder what the impetus is," Dan Quinn, a spokesman for Texas Freedom Network, is quoted as saying in the story. "What is the catalyst for becoming a charter because at that point they've abandoned the mission of being a religious institution?"
The story also points out some non-Christian examples, including Harmony Public Schools run by Turkish Muslims and Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy run by Islam Relief.
The pastor who proposed the charter school for West Bend has said that his church would not play a role in the school and that it would abide by laws that forbid religious teachings in public schools. But West Bend School District officials and others raised concerns about the school's curriculum and funding model.
The Global Imam
ReplyDeleteWhat does the leader of the world’s most influential Islamic movement really want?
Suzy Hansen
November 10, 2010
http://www.tnr.com/article/world/magazine/79062/global-turkey-imam-fethullah-gulen
Meet the Mastermind Behind Turkey’s Imperial Foreign Policy
from the New Republic magazine in Washington DC
The leader of what is arguably the world’s most successful Islamic movement lives in a tiny Pennsylvania town called Saylorsburg, at the Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center, otherwise known as “the Camp.” The Camp consists of a series of houses, a community center, a pond, and some tranquil, woodsy space for strolling. From this Poconos enclave—which resembles a resort more than the headquarters of a worldwide religious, social, and political movement—Fethullah Gülen, a 69-year-old Turkish bachelor with a white moustache, wide nose, and gentle, sad expression, leads perhaps five million followers who, in his spirit if not his name, operate schools, universities, corporations, nonprofits, and media organs
Fethullah Gülen lives on the third floor of the lodge, but I hadn’t come expecting to see him. Gülen is ill, I was told, and only sees journalists when he has something specific to say. He stays abreast of the news through summaries that are provided to him each day by assistants. Sometimes, these assistants, fearful of upsetting him—Gülen is famously sensitive—try to shield him from the harshest events. Yet despite his limited contact with the world, a sense of his wisdom persists. “He knows everything,” Aksoy told me.
In a 2008 online poll devised by the British magazine Prospect and the American magazine Foreign Policy, Gülen was voted the most significant intellectual in the world. Graham Fuller, a former CIA agent and the author of several books on political Islam, says that Gülen is leading “one of the most important movements in the Muslim world today.” Yet there is much about him that is not known. One of the biggest mysteries is how much sway he holds over his followers. Some visit Pennsylvania as much as once a month; what do they want from their visits? At the end of my tour, as Aksoy was driving me back to a McDonald’s near the Camp where I had left my car, I asked him whether Gülen tells people what to do.
“He would never tell; he suggests,” Aksoy replied. “And then what do people do with that suggestion?” I asked. “Let me put it this way,” he said. “If a man with a Ph.D. and a career came to see Hocaefendi, and Hocaefendi told him it might be a good idea to build a village on the North Pole, that man with a Ph.D. would be back the next morning with a suitcase.”
http://www.tnr.com/article/world/magazine/79062/global-turkey-imam-fethullah-gulen
ReplyDeleteso what exactly is the link between the pictures and the news report in the bottom? perfct case of propaganda and deceivement in purpose.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous or should we say "Gulenist"
ReplyDeleteThere is a link because it shows how your group is indoctrinating children worldwide into Turkification and your Turkish Olympiads and showcases are your only goal not EDUCATION.
Judging from your spelling an horrid use of English I only hope you are not teaching American children.
Shame on you for this. Go teach the struggling children of Turkiye that have the worst education in the world!!! You are shameless and sneaky, the world is finding out everyday about your group.
Who cares who owns the school?? As long as the children receive a great education.
ReplyDelete