A controversial Saudi-funded school is trying to expand and drawing opposition, reports theNew York Times. The Virginia-based Islamic Saudi Academy is trying to build a new classroom building to consolidate students from two campuses onto one campus in Fairfax, Virginia. Some residents are concerned about the noise and the traffic, but others call the school a “madrassa.”
Get Religionpoints out some of the gaps in the NYT’s reporting of the school’s background. A year ago, WMB reported that the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom collected 17 textbooks containing passages that justified intolerance, violence and murder. This was after it recommended the school close until the Saudis kept a promise to excise any passages promoting violence. The Academy said that the Commission’s findings were based on “mistranslated and misinterpreted texts, and references to textbooks that are no longer in use at the Academy.”
