On April 16, I attended a function at Southwest Middle School to hear Adeel Ahmed give a presentation on “Facts and Myths of Islam.” The event was sponsored by the Albert Lea Human Rights Commission and the Choose Civility Freeborn County Initiative. The invitation was published in the Community Offerings section of the spring edition of the Albert Lea Area Community Education booklet. After introduction, the moderator remarked that the evening presentation was the fifth of that day. Three classes of our local high school had the presentation.

The first statement, “Allah and our Judeo-Christian God are one and the same,” set off alarm bells. Anyone who has made a study of the Muslim religion will realize that Allah is not the Judeo-Christian God. Also, the Muslim religion has a mandate to convert the entire world to Allah.

Because of concern that our local young people will not process the facts of this religion, I wrote to two members of the committees sponsoring the presentation. In addition, a letter was mailed to the superintendent of District 241 plus each of the school board members.

To date I have heard nothing. For this reason I’m wondering if parents were notified or are concerned that this presentation was offered during that day. Rick Santorum, former presidential candidate, spoke at a high school in one of our eastern states and was required to get parental permission to attend. Perhaps parents do not have any qualms about their child attending; if so please disregard. However, if there are parents who have concerns or questions, I urge you to contact our local school board.

 

Carol Bybee

Albert Lea