Virginia schools shut down because of threats and anger from anti-Muslims

This incident came up during an hour-long radio interview that I did a couple of days ago, but I had, at that point, heard nothing about it.  Now, though, Jabra Ghneim has alerted me to these two articles:

“When a school assigned homework on Islam, it drew so many threats the district shut down”

“Augusta County Schools Will be Closed on Friday Due to ‘Tone and Content’ of Calls and E-mails”

 Okay.  Maybe she shouldn’t have assigned precisely the shahada for her exercise in Arabic calligraphy.  That, I suppose, was bound to inflame somebody somewhere.  However, it’s a very common subject for calligraphy, and it’s scarcely surprising that she came across it.

But good grief.  You don’t become a Muslim merely by saying or copying the words of the shahada.  You have to have what Islamic jurists call نیّة (niyya, or “intention”) before repeating the shahada means anything at all.

I myself routinely repeat the shahada in my classes at BYU, as well as in public lectures.  Heck, I’ve probably repeated it at least a couple of dozen times in Latter-day Saint chapels.

This is beyond ridiculous.

And what do you want to bet that, if the people doing the angry phone calls and sending the angry notes have any particular political preference, it’s very likely to be for Donald Trump?

And, while I’m on this theme, is anybody out there really surprised that Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump recently seem to have formed a mutual admiration society?  After all, unless Mr. Trump is merely posing (as Bill O’Reilly has suggested), they’re both Strong Men Who Believe in Doing What They Think Needs to Be Done (little niceties of the law be damned).

And there’ve been at least two apparent cases of anti-Muslim vandalism in Salt Lake Valley over the past two days.  (I think I’ve met the owner of the car repair place.  A really nice guy, if he’s the person I’m thinking of.)

I’m worried for my country.  And not merely, alas, because of the terrorist threat.