A Mason, Ohio school has cancelled their “Covered Girl Challenge.” The event, organized by Mason High School’s Muslim Student Association, invited fellow students to wear a headscarf for the day in order to “combat stereotypes students may face when wearing head coverings.”
But the event (of course) caused stirrings in certain corners of the internet where the phrase “creeping Sharia” is very popular. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that, as a result, the school’s principle, Mindy McCarty-Stewart, cancelled the event and apologized to parents on Thursday. A school board spokeswoman told the paper that the event also crossed their threshold for separation of church and state, even though it was voluntary.
There were other objections as well. Via the Cincinnati Enquirer:
This is not the first Muslim-themed controversy to hit the Mason school community. About a decade ago, former school board candidate Sharon Poe and then-board member Jennifer Miller publicly blasted school officials for allowing Muslim students to have a separate lunch hour for fasting during Ramadan, which occurs during the ninth month of the Muslim calendar.
That is a holiday practice still continued at Mason schools. The area, however, is open to any student, regardless of faith, Carson said.
Poe is also opposed the Covered Girl event, she said.
“My belief is wearing these hijabs represents the oppression of women and Sharia law,” she said.
“I do not recall ever getting an email announcing a Christian Cross Wearing day or a booth for information about the Christian persecution from Islamic terrorists. What happen to the argument of the separation of church and state?”
Image of British schoolgirls via Getty.