Taxpayers Funding Islamic Schools in TN

Tennessee is forcing taxpayers to fund Islamic indoctrination camps teaching Sharia law and jihad to children under the guise of "education." This will come to the rest of the U.S. if not stopped.

A new government-funded “school choice” program in Tennessee is already funneling taxpayer money to multiple Muslim schools across the state that openly embrace Sharia (Islamic) law and jihad. School leaders are also using the students to lobby state officials.

The revelations are fueling fresh criticism of the taxpayer-funded “choice” scheme. Known as the “Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship Program,” opponents warned early on it would lead to more government control over private education and homeschooling.

Now, concerns are growing about just what sort of “education” taxpayers are being forced to fund. Even a cursory review of social media profiles of Islamic school leaders and the schools themselves reveal deeply controversial activities that taxpayers would frown upon.

Tennessee Representative Jody Barrett, a conservative Republican now running for an open seat in the U.S. House, warned his colleagues about the fact that this would happen when the government-funded “choice” legislation was voted on. He was right.

“They were all aware when we voted on this that there was no prohibition on tax money for these types programs,” he said after being asked about the funding for Islamic schools. “It was discussed and everyone who voted on it knew that they would be allowing tax dollars to go to Islamic programs along these lines.”

Among the Muslim schools listed on the state’s website as eligible for receiving taxpayer funds is “Pleasant View School.” On its website, the school claims to offer “Excellence in Education Through Islam.”

The school also says it provides a “strong foundation” in Islam that is “at the heart” of its mission. That way, the marketing material continues, students will “love Islam, learn Islam and live Islam.”

The website explains that starting in pre-K, students will learn how to “fully live a practicing Islamic lifestyle.” In elementary school, the children will gain an “in depth understanding” of the Islamic prophets including Muhammad, who married a young child and waged ruthless war on those who refused to accept Islam, as “role models to emulate.”

By middle school, students at the school will learn “detailed rules” for life under Islam, as articulated in the religion’s holy texts. And in high school, they will “come to understand Islam as a mission that guides their lives.”

Public announcements reveal that Pleasant View School students have been working with the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) to influence Tennessee politics. In fact, on social media, the school brags about joining with other Islamic schools and using its students for Islamic advocacy.

In March, the school boasted about taking more than 40 of its students for a “historical Muslim Day on the Hill.” They had dozens of meetings with lawmakers and officials, “ensuring our voices were heard at the highest levels of state government,” the school said.

“Our message was clear: Tennessee’s Muslim community is engaged, organized, and committed to advocating for justice,” the tax-funded school said on its social media pages.

Other Islamic schools on the taxpayer dole — some of which also participated in the lobbying — include Nashville International School, Annoor Academy of Chattanooga, Annoor Academy of Knoxville, and others.

Critics are sounding the alarm. Lepanto Institute President Michael Hichborn, whose organization is named after the famous 1571 battle in which Christians destroyed the Islamic forces seeking to invade and conquer Europe, told The Newman Report that Islamic ideologies “are inimical to the United States and to all Christians.”

“It’s entire political and religious philosophy is rooted in theocratic conquest, domination, and subjugation of non-Muslims, which makes a perpetual, peaceful co-existence impossible,” he said. “The very idea that the taxes of Christians should be financing Islamic indoctrination is both unjust and dangerous.”

Calling on lawmakers to immediately cease all public funding for Islamic schools, Hichborn said the root of the crisis was “religious indifferentism and multiculturalism.” Pouring taxpayer funding into this only exacerbates the problem, he warned.

“As long as policymakers in this country maintain an indifferent attitude toward religion, there will always be the risk that schools indoctrinating kids in Islamic ideologies will receive public funding,” he said, warning it was already happening in “multiple other states.”

Christian Education Initiative Chairman Richard Hawkins, who leads an umbrella group of ministries promoting biblical education, also sounded the alarm about the Tennessee program funding Islamic schools. Government funding of ideas and ideologies that would “overthrow our constitutional republic” is extremely dangerous and irresponsible, he said.

“The implementation of Islam in America by jihad with Sharia law to expand the Umma, a community of Muslims, is the goal,” warned Hawkins, whose organization rejects the idea of government funding for any and all education.

Citing experts on Islam and even Islamic leaders, Hawkins warned that support for Islamic law is mandatory for Muslims. They believe their deity and their leaders will one day rule the entire world. “Your tax dollars in the form of vouchers will support this subversion,” added Hawkins, calling for an end to the program.

Former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas pointed out the irony of it all. “Isn’t it ironic that the same government that 60+ years ago took away our children’s right to prayer a short, simple, non-denominational prayer in school, under the guise of government funded ‘school choice’ and equal access, now funds and helps create schools that will teach children to hate the very country and citizens who are providing those resources?” she said in comments to The Newman Report.

Representative Barrett, who voted against the voucher scheme earlier this year, slammed the program funneling tax money to these and other schools. It was never really a “choice” program in the first place, he told The Newman Report. “It does not create any new choice,” continued Barrett, adding that 90 percent of those taking tax money were already in private education.

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Noting that the overwhelming majority of his constituents opposed the measure, Rep. Barrett called it “fiscally irresponsible” to spend half a billion dollars creating “scholarships” for 2 percent of the population. “This is not creating a pathway to educational freedom,” he warned.

Of course, Republicans, who control state politics, would not be comfortable with taxpayer funds going to these Islamic schools, explained the lawmaker. “But I should note that the state is also intentionally withholding necessary information to fully understand what is going on here,” Barrett added.

Eventually, these programs will lead to government control over formerly independent and private schools. “There are already regulations: testing requirements, private schools must administer state-approved tests, and the results submitted to state,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

“The controls may not happen in the first year or the second, but those who take the money will eventually find themselves under the thumb of the state,” warned Barrett, who is facing a barrage of political spending against him for opposing the “choice” scheme. “They will no longer be fully private or autonomous.”

As The Newman Report documented this summer, taxpayers were forced to give $5 million to expand an Islamic school in Pennsylvania. The grant, announced by Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro, will help the Muslim school go from 300 to 3,000 students, officials said.

In other states, numerous “schools” owned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and other Islamic individuals and institutions are also receiving large flows of public funds. More scandalous revelations are expected in the months and years ahead, fueling more calls for government restrictions and controls.

Forcing American Christian taxpayers to subsidize Islamic, pagan, godless, or communist indoctrination of children is an outrage. And yet, under the “school choice” schemes proliferating in Republican states, it is inevitable. It is time to build a wall of separation between school and state.