Everybody?s all upset over at the Christian Broadcasting Network (the Pat Robertson Channel) because today?s school kids might be learning about Islam. And worse, they might be learning that it isn?t all evil. Fortunately, David Brody, CBN?s crack Congressional Correspondent, is on top of things with a piece entitled A Seat at the Table: Islam Makes Inroads in Education.

CBN.com ? WASHINGTON — If you look closely, what is inside your child’s textbooks may shock you. They are full of evolution theories, and many liberal historians are rewriting American history as well.

Good God, no! They?re learning biology and being exposed to the horrid idea that people lived in North America before Christopher Columbus arrived! No wonder CBN sent their Congressional Correspondent to cover this important story.

But there is even more.

That practically boggles the mind.

How Islam is portrayed in today’s textbooks is a subject of concern also.

I can only imagine.

The familiar images of Islam include praying at Mecca, and the prophet Muhammad, a man Muslims say is the messenger of God. But this is not the whole story.

No, ladies and gentlemen, there?s also the little fact that Islam is the religion of Satan.

Since the early 1990’s, teaching Islam to kids has taken on a new dimension. As our society moved into the era of political correctness where it became taboo to offend any one group, many educational analysts say that the controversial nature of Islam started to not only be downplayed, but to be totally ignored.

?Many educational analysts.? I love when ?reporters? use phrases like that.

Here?s an example (citing an American Textbook Council report) of what?s being ignored:

And the report says, when it comes to women, most textbooks do not mention how many men in the Islamic world look at women as just another possession. Many times, it just ignores that aspect altogether. One textbook says, “Although men had most of the power in Arab society, women had some freedom. For example, women could own and inherit property. Women contributed to the group through such activities as spinning and weaving.”

The nerve!

At this point, ace congressional reporter David Brody decides to provide some balance and asks Shabbir Mansuri from the Council on Islamic Education if students are getting a ?complete and true picture? of Islam.

Mansuri answered, “I think that is a valid point. I don’t think it’s a point we shouldn’t put on the table for us to discuss. I think it’s a valid point.”

But, Mansuri says, with just a few pages devoted to Islam in the textbooks, you can only include so much. And, he says, kids in grade school may not be ready to comprehend it all, anyway.

Mansuri added, “You can make an argument that we want them to know the good and bad of it. Valid argument. [But] are they equipped to understand the good and bad of it?”

One wonders how CBN would react if there were a clamor to discuss ?the good and bad? of Christianity in school textbooks.

Mansuri said that all his group is trying to do, is to make sure that what is written about Islam comforms to the textbook standards in each state. In California, the standards say, “When ethnic or cultural groups are portrayed, portrayals must not depict differences in customs or lifestyles as undesirable, and must not reflect adversely on such differences.”

So, Mansuri says that he strives to make that happen.

Sounds like an evil man to me.

But Historian David Barton says that all the facts must be put on the table. Barton remarked, “They [Muslims] may want to be presented well today, but historically there are some footprints that have to be looked at.”

And he says those footprints are not always so flattering. Barton said, “There was a Barbary Powers war that went on for 16 years in America, where America was dealing with Muslim terrorists for 16 years back, from 1790 through 1806. That is the reason we have the Marine Corps hymn. ‘From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli’ was because the American Marines went inland in the same area where they are now, to release enslaved Americans [who] had been taken prisoner by Muslim terrorists. And for 16 years, for four presidents, we fought a war against Muslim terrorists.”

Having recently read Max Boot?s excellent book about small wars (like the Barbary Coast incidents) that greatly affected US history, I would agree that the story of Tripoli doesn?t get the attention it deserves. But Barton?s point is ridiculous. Because the Barbary pirates were Muslim, he?s saying that these stories should be included in textbooks when they?re discussing Islam. Does this mean that Barton would include the major wars of Europe when discussing Christianity because the participants were at least nominally Christian? Or how about the Crusades? Or the European pogroms? Are those ?footprints? that must be ?looked at? as representing Christianity?

But in today’s textbooks, Muhammad is not made to look bad at all.

Replace Mohammed with Christ and imagine how the Wing Nuts would howl.

He is mentioned numerous times in a positive light, but critics are curious as to why there is no mention of the controversy in which he supposedly had multiple wives, and one of them was a very young girl. Instead, you find role-playing exercises for students, like reading the Koran in class or dressing up as Muslim pilgrims on their way to Mecca.

Again with the unnamed ?critics.?

Just who is this Barton guy? CBN Congressional Correspondent David Brody and he made a special appearance at the Dark Window back in June in which they shared many of the same ideas we?re hearing from them today:

Political correctness seems to be the problem. In an effort to not offend any one group, especially when it comes to history, what happens is that the full story is not being told. Barton says key information is ignored or left out. Like with the Native American Indians.

Says Barton, “There were just some Native American tribes that were cannibalistic and that’s just the way they were, and you just can’t make them look good.”

Dave has an excellent point. If little Jeffy doesn?t learn these important facts, he?s in grave danger of becoming lunch for a tribe of hungry savages.

So how would Barton have our textbook writers frame history for the kids instead?

Barton says when writing history, those writing these textbooks might want to look at how the Bible does it.

Okay, so he?s a nut. A real live Wing Nut. But why devote so much space to him? It?s not like he has any influence.

Well, except that he does.

Barton is the founder of an organization called Wallbuilders, a group ?dedicated to the restoration of the constitutional, moral, and religious foundation on which America was built.?

WallBuilders? goal is to exert a direct and positive influence in government, education, and the family by (1) educating the nation concerning the Godly foundation of our country; (2) providing information to federal, state, and local officials as they develop public policies which reflect Biblical values; and (3) encouraging Christians to be involved in the civic arena.

And, you know, to talk about how the cannibalistic Commanches are just waiting for a chance to eat your kids. Don?t forget that one.

It would be easy to dismiss the WallBuilders as a fringe group but they seem to have some prominent fans:

?While watching [your] tape The Spirit of the American Revolution, I wept thinking how far our nation has moved away from the concepts of the Founding Fathers . . . . What can we do to get back to the founding concepts and blessings that our forefathers received???U. S. Senator Sam Brownback (Kansas)

Well, if we?ve learned one thing today, Sam, it?s that you won?t find that answer in your kids? textbooks so you?d probably better just ask Dave.