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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be angry that parents won't allow their children to go on school visit to local mosque?

346 replies

ptangyangkipperbang · 04/07/2007 14:06

DS2 is going on a school trip to the local mosque. However, the school nearly cancelled it because so many parents have refused to let their children go. I have only spoken to one parent who won't allow her child to go but she said "I'm not racist but...why should they visit a mosque when we daren't get a plane or go to a shopping centre because of that lot". Not racist .

OP posts:
MorocconOil · 04/07/2007 15:58

Chopster, If you want to go to a mosque, try and make friends with a Muslim family, then you can all go along together

CaptainUnderpants · 04/07/2007 15:58

It could be argued with those parents that we should also stop taking our children to the Doctors and hosiptals as some of those involved in recent events were doctors , try that one on them see what they say !

funkimummy · 04/07/2007 16:01

I think they should go. It's exactly comments like that that cause the rift between anyone who is Asian and therefore a 'suspect terrorist' and us.

I have some fantastic friends who just happen to be Muslim. I've joined in with some of their most precious religious ceremonies, and so have my children. Truly a beautiful thing to watch.

chopster · 04/07/2007 16:04

mimizam, thats a lovely idea, but unfortunately there aren't many muslims where I live now. I really should have done that while I was still living in Croydon!

My next plan is to take the kids to a hari krisna temple in watford. It looks beautiful there, and they have a cow sanctuary type thing too.

funkimummy · 04/07/2007 16:06

A H.K temple? Sounds cool. Whereabouts is it exactly? I'd like to take my two.

MorocconOil · 04/07/2007 16:07

I like the sound of the cow sanctuary.

StarryStarryNight · 04/07/2007 16:07

you can place an ad:
"Muslim family wanted for fun days out at the mosque, bbqs and trips to the park"

lol

sorry if this was in bad taste, but I have a warped sense of humour

MrsRecycle · 04/07/2007 16:09

We are NOT racist (my bil is from Pakistan and my best-friend is Muslim) but none of my kids are ever going to a Mosque again. dd1 (9) went on a school trip to one at the beginning of the year and witnesed someone pulling a knife out on someone - very scary for her. A random incident, I hear you all say - okay and I would agree - but, if that's the case, why do they have metal detectors all around the mosque??

MorocconOil · 04/07/2007 16:09

Starrynight

chopster · 04/07/2007 16:12

it's jsut outside watford, they have a website here

at starrynight!

speedymama · 04/07/2007 16:12

MrsReccyle, as a child I went to Sunday School (CoE) and I remember the teachers having to break up the fight between two boys dressed in their Sunday best. Has not stop me from sending my 3yo DTS to Sunday School.

chopster · 04/07/2007 16:13

here is about the cows.

chopster · 04/07/2007 16:14

mrs recycle, I think the metal detectors are to stop terrorists sneaking in weapons, not because muslims randomly attack each other. I think that is a bit of an overeaction tbh. If you saw a knife attack at a bus stop, would you avoid all bus stops in future?

MrsRecycle · 04/07/2007 16:15

Yes but not KNIVES - my dds go to church every Sunday and there are no metal detectors when we go and we have never witnessed people pulling out knives on each other.

MorocconOil · 04/07/2007 16:15

That place looks really interesting Chopster.

MrsRecycle · 04/07/2007 16:18

the metal detectors are there because their religion dictates that they can carry them - I researched the reason for them after the knife incident.

speedymama · 04/07/2007 16:20

That's interesting MrsRecycle. Would your BIL and BF go there or do they boycott it too?

MrsRecycle · 04/07/2007 16:22

Boycott it surprisingly - they are horrified at the amount of fanatatists(sp) that visit it and don't want their kids exposed to it.

speedymama · 04/07/2007 16:26

I don't suppose it is Frindsbury Mosque by any chance?

grouchyoscar · 04/07/2007 16:28

When I was a child my barking mad a quite racist mother (as I know now) prevented me from going on a trip to the sikh temple as I would have to wear a head scarf (or so she said)

Narrow minded bigot she is.

I would love to let DS go to a mosque. My Islamic friends say I do not need a designated trip, I could ask one of the Elders attend a session. Which I may do, there are more active mosques than churches round here TBH

MorocconOil · 04/07/2007 16:28

MrsRecycle, I wouldn't be surprised if in the current political climate members of the Mosque are afraid the mosque could be attacked by a counter group or racists.

It wouldn't stop me letting my children visit a mosque as part of their religious education.

speedymama · 04/07/2007 16:30

Some mosques are run by fanatics though and it sounds as if this is what MrsRecycle has encountered. I would avoid that particular Mosque in that case.

thirtysomething · 04/07/2007 16:32

Shame on them. Anyone who says "I'm not racist but..." usually is racist...How's that going to help our children to grow up in a more tolerant and accepting society? Haven't they ever noticed that children don't look at skin colour or other differences when they choose their friends? It's only when their parents start telling them why they shouldn't play with certain people that they start to become racist themselves. Those poor kids will grow up thinking Mosques and everything connected to them are the enemy. Playing right into the hands of the evil minority who want to say we're all anti-Muslim. I'm surprised the school hasn't made a stand on this.

DominiConnor · 04/07/2007 16:43

I agree, this is a point to make a stand. I wouldn't complain if my kids never went to a Mosque, but I object to the idea of them being stopped from going.
If I was the teacher, I'd retaliate by getting in an Imam from the local Mosque, and up the ante by bringing in representatives of Rastifari, Sikhism, Hindhuism and a black charismatic Christian sect. The more coloured, the cleric the better.

Must say that my DSs were deeply impressed by the Sikh wedding we went to at Cliveden. We came down the sweeping drive with a band that included drums, and the groom was on a horse wearing a sword.
Must better than the furtive hanging about by the blokes before a Christian wedding.

A religion where being armed is a requirement would be their choice every time.

DominiConnor · 04/07/2007 16:46

I can follow the logic of avoiding a Mosque run by fanatics, but if it's not physically dangerous, I'm not entirely 100% sure that that the kids should be kept away.

In my experience, kids can spot these people as unhinged very quickly, and having seen various forms of extremist propaganda uncensored, it tends to undermine their cause far more than hiding it from kids.