Hijab Day Canceled in Ohio

Every once in a while, a public school will pursue such a staggeringly bad idea that one can only wonder if the staff drinks something a little harder than orange juice with their breakfast. Granted, the idea of holding a Muslim “Covered Girl Challenge” at Ohio’s Mason High School came from the students, but it was the faculty that thought it was a fine event to sign off on. It was the faculty that sent permission slips home to parents. And it was the faculty that was forced to cancel the event and apologize when the community expressed their outrage.

Though Mason Principal Mindy McCarty-Stewart still maintains that she meant no harm with the celebration, she admitted in an email that there were strong feelings that she hadn’t considered. “I now realize that as adults we should have given our students better guidance. After much consideration and after talking with the student event organizers, we have cancelled the event.”

The event in question was to be sponsored by the Muslim Student Association. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, that association has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization with known links to Islamic terrorism. If one needed another reason to question the wisdom of the Mason High School faculty, that tidbit of information might do it.

But even though the school will not be playing host to hundreds of high schoolers running around in Muslim headscarves, one can’t help but wonder at the audacity of letting it even approach the planning stages. A kid can’t pray in the school cafeteria without winding up on the front page of USA Today, and this school thought it would be okay to hold a Covered Girl Challenge?

If nothing else, this shows our willingness to extend Islam the benefit of the doubt. The worse the atrocities get, the faster we rush to embrace this dangerous religion. After all, we’re the country that elected Barack Hussein Obama no more than seven years after 9/11. There is a deep wellspring of forgiveness and tolerance in Americans. In some ways, it is our greatest national trait. On the other hand, there is a difference between forgiveness and blindness.

The same people who think Mason High School should have gone ahead with this event would have been frothing at the mouth had it been a Bring Your Bible to School Day. Not because of the separation of church and state, but because they see Christianity as a grand evil, full of bigotry and privilege. They can overlook the Twin Towers, the Boston Marathon, the ISIS videos, the attack on Charlie Hebdo, Boko Haram, and the countries whose citizens live under brutal Islamic rule. But they can’t overlook a florist who would rather not sell flowers for a gay wedding.