Muslim Parents Stand Up for Their Values

Shadi Hamid’s “Muslims vs. Democrats: A Story of Betrayal” (Houses of Worship, July 28) highlights the decision by the Montgomery County, Md., public school board to take away parental notice and opt-outs for story books that push extreme ideology regarding gender identity and sexuality to kids as young as prekindergarten. My firm represents a group of Muslim, Catholic and Ethiopian Orthodox Christian parents, among others, who are suing the board for the ability to guide their children’s education in accordance with their beliefs. The school board’s actions demonstrate a brazen disregard for parental rights, childhood innocence and religious freedom.

The board forged ahead with its storybook mandate despite concern from its own elementary-school principals. In a memo sent to the board last year, and disclosed only this week, the principals raised concerns that the curriculum presented “questionable” facts, encouraged teachers to make “shaming comment[s]” to children who disagreed with the books, raised the “problematic” issue of normalizing “school age children falling in love with other children” and was “dismissive of religious beliefs.” The board doubled down anyway.

Eric Baxter

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

Washington

As today’s Democratic Party treats minorities and religious communities as narrow-minded and in need of enlightenment, the shallow constructs of intersectionality come tumbling down. Muslims seem to be coming to the conclusion that religiously observant Jews arrived at long ago: Vote your values. Minorities in America don’t need a party to protect them. They need freedom of speech to hold all parties accountable. Ideology should never be dictated by the state.

Natalie Mizrachi

New York