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EXHIBIT B
Objections to "Across the Centuries" textbook
page 2

5. "The unique style of Muslim art is unmistakable, because it so often uses Arabic script as its inspiration. Arabic lettering had a special significance for Muslims, because it was used to write down God’s words as they had been given to Muhammad…" (Page 88 and 89)

More is discussed of calligraphy in mosques and how scholars agreed they believed images of humans and animals were forbidden (because the book states that animals have souls).

As this book is thick, I skipped around to various sections. These examples I stumbled on which leapt off the page:

What about the Roman ruler Nero and the intense persecution of Christians?

Nero put animal skins on Christians as they were fed to packs of wolves. He used Christian bodies as human torches to light up Nero’s gardens. Peaceful?

I could not find any instance in this textbook where Christians were persecuted (except by other Christians, which I challenge.) On page 315 there is a large 3-column block entitled: "Understanding Religious Persecution." It defines persecution, then states

"As Christianity in Europe grew stronger, it taught that
members of other religions were to be converted, by force, if necessary."

Segment also blames Christians for Jews persecution when actually everyone persecuted Jews (just as the Hebrew Torah/ OT Bible predicted they would be). While segment repeatedly blames Christians exclusively for perpetrating persecution on others, there have been more Christian martyrs than any other belief! It is amazing that only Joan of Arc is mentioned as a martyr (that I can find) and I believe she was the exception because it was an opportunity to criticize the Catholic Church.

"Christian" by definition means "Christ like." Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus say to convert people by force. To blame "Christianity" is false. Anyone can call themselves "Christian."

Unless a 7^th grader watches the dates carefully as this paragraph jumps all over the place, one would get the impression that the Christians persecuted the Jews so terribly, when in fact, the Christians were being hunted down like animals in AD 70.

"Romans are remembered for the peace they maintained in their provinces
by allowing people there to live as usual but under Roman law."

Didn’t they just say they destroyed Judea and sold hundreds of thousands of Jews off as slaves? Though it was confusing and gave the impression the Christians did it. Everyone is portrayed as good guys except the Christians!

What a TWISTED view of Christianity! Christians believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins, and because of Him we are holy and pure! The Bible teaches we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." There are MANY verses about how precious we are to God, He counts the numbers of hairs on our heads, our pictures are in the palms of His hands. To be Christian is to REJOICE. Clearly textbooks cannot be trusted to teach religious beliefs.

Again, this is an unbelievably twisted version of the gospel. Not one word that Christ died for our sins? That God so loved the world that He gave His only Son? Just, "believe as we do or burn in hell?"

Page 47: Five philosophies are presented in the textbook as "nuggets of wisdom," including

This textbook gives a huge amount of emphasis on various cultural philosophies and applauds them. This particular "nugget" is opposite of what Christ teaches and I object to opposite moral views being taught to our children as wisdom. That is the publishers opinion and not our beliefs.

Our children are told to write a humorous dialogue for a hostile barbarian armed with a knife? (given as an assignment). Humor in desperate refugee situations? Laughing at violence? Would it help future students to look back at us and imagine humor about gangs, knives, drugs, violence and death?

I think the government, though Christian, wrongfully barred the Jews. This book continually seeks to criticize Christianity. Again, "Christian" means "little Christ." Christ never at any time told Christians to persecute Jews. In fact, Christians are told to not even be haughty towards Jews!

Joan of Arc and Constantine both claimed amazing experiences with God. Joan of Arc’s prophecies even came true and were able to pass a clever test by the King to see if she was truly of God. Yet, the book states only that: "This helped convince the King that Joan spoke the truth." This approach would be totally acceptable except that Muhammad’s claimed experiences, with NO fulfilled prophesies, are given many substantiating statements and enticing emotional descriptions of his experience.

I originally became alerted when my son came home with an assignment to create his own "Tree of Life and Knowledge" using the Hindu pattern. He was to use oil pastels and Black construction paper to "make your tree come alive." Teaching our children about religion at a distance, and asking them to participate in them, learn them in detail, and imagine worshipping other gods; is two different things.

II: VIOLATION OF CHRISTIAN RIGHTS:

Christians are not to seek knowledge of other gods;

Where is the Christian’s "freedom of worship?" Are we to obey God or man? The school says I cannot opt my son out of this class and I forbid him to do the assignments, for my God says:

In addition, the Islam section asks questions like this in review:

Conversely in the Crusade review, children are asked, "How do you think other people felt to be called infidels?" In the reviews, children are continually asked to find the positive side of Islam, and the negative side of Christianity. And it is the Quran, not the Bible, that says "kill the infidel"!

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