Tennessee parents are voicing their concerns about a middle school history assignment in which students were asked to write "Allah is the only God."
Brandee Porterfield joined "Fox and Friends" this morning, saying she has no problem with her seventh-grade daughter learning about Islam as part of world history, but believes time should also be devoted to Christianity.
"They did this assignment where they wrote out the Five Pillars of Islam, including having the children learn and write the Shahada, which is the Islamic conversion creed," she explained.
Porterfield said she spoke with the Spring Hill Middle School teacher and principal, who said there would not be similar lessons on Christianity and Judaism.
She said she reviewed the state standards and there are upcoming lessons on Hinduism and Buddhism.
Unlike the lessons on Islam, however, Porterfield said students would not be expected to memorize a creed dealing with those religions.
"They don't study any other religions to this extent. ... It is the state sponsoring religion in schools. They're not going over anything else. For the students to have to memorize this prayer, it does seem like it's indoctrination," said Porterfield.
Maury County Director of Schools Chris Marczak issued the following statement on the curriculum:
Our teachers work together to make sure that our students are learning what is expected through the Tennessee academic standards. For this last section on the Islamic World this past week, our educators had students complete an assignment that had an emphasis on Islamic Faith. The assignment covered some sensitive topics that are of importance to Islamic religion and caused some confusion around whether we are asking students to believe in or simply understand the religion.
Marczak disputes that the school is emphasizing one religion over another or trying to "indoctrinate" students.