Specifically, this should mobilize Orthodox Christians to organize, lobby our school systems, and host 'field trips' for schoolchildren at our churches across the United States and Canada.
According to the latest Pew Forum report on religions in America, Orthodox Christians and Muslims each comprise .6% of the population. This equivalence in numbers should work to our benefit in seeking to raise our visibility in America (which should also help us raise awareness of the plight of Eastern Christians (Orthodox, Coptic, Chaldean, Assyrian, etc.) being persecuted in the Middle East.
"The Ancient Christian Faith is Alive and Well in America," "Eastern Christians in the Western World," or similar tag lines, could be used to invite our school districts to add a fascinating new dimension to their social studies, historical studies and religious pluralism curriculum. Our iconography, Byzantine, Russian and Georgian chant, a capella singing of liturgically rich hymnography dating back to the fourth century and even earlier, the "smells and bells" of Orthodoxy, is so vivid as to leave a lasting impact on visitors.
Among ourselves, we might even dare call this initiative 'Project Leaven'.
This would be an especially worthy area of cooperation for the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops' Church and Society Committee, which could launch an initiative to educate all levels of American and Canadian society about Orthodox Christianity. Field trips, open house events, conferences, etc. — We simply must engage our culture in creative ways.
If we don't develop a vision for spreading awareness of Orthodoxy like leaven throughout society, we will soon be hearing the Muslim call to prayer all around us.
UK: Schoolchildren visit mosque, learn to recite prayers in Arabic
via Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch — Feb 7, 2014
Pre-prep school is for children before the ages of seven or eight, so these are essentially first graders who are being subjected to this indoctrination and subtle proselytizing. When is their trip to a church to learn prayers in Latin or Greek (or English, for that matter)? When is their trip to a synagogue to learn prayers in Hebrew? When is their trip to a Hindu temple? Somehow I don’t think any of these trips are on the schedule.
Yet another sign of Britain’s race to surrender to Sharia: “Pupils learn how to recite prayers in Arabic on visit to Crawley mosque,” from the East Grinstead Courier and Observer, February 7:
PUPILS from a Copthorne school were taken on a cultural visit to learn about Islam at a mosque.
Year 1 and 2 pupils at Copthorne Pre-prep School learned how to recite prayers in Arabic when they took a tour of Broadfield Mosque last month.
They heard how the mosque can accommodate 2,500 people and that many of the Muslim children attend a special school at the mosque from 5pm to 7pm to learn how to read the Qu’ran.
The children were shown how Muslims pray and were allowed to join in themselves if they wanted to.
The Year 1 pupils have also separately learnt about Chinese New Year.
