Last year, I patented (but not really) The Muslim Test. The Muslim Test is a foolproof way to determine if a conservative policy designed to “expand religious freedom” is really about religious freedom or if it’s just about expanding the freedom of conservatives to shove Christianity down our throat. Like, when conservatives insist that we need prayer in school and you ask them if they mind if a teacher reads from the Koran. The resulting freak out is a clear indication that they really just want Christian prayer in schools.

Well, Tennessee just failed The Muslim Test again and in a hilarious way. Via The Murfreesboro Post:

A pair of proposals rapidly moving through the Tennessee General Assembly could potentially divert tax dollars currently allocated to public schools to Islamic private schools, and two Rutherford County senators are raising concerns about the legislation. “This is an issue we must address,” state Sen. Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville) said. “I don’t know whether we can simply amend the bill in such a way that will fix the issue at this point.”

So what we’re really saying here is that, “we WANT taxpayer money to go to religious schools in direct contradiction of the First Amendment but we don’t want it going to MUSLIMS!”

The law of unintended consequences is in full effect here and they Tennessee GOP must be spitting fire over this. Here’s the specific, legislative problem:

The voucher bill, which is a high-priority initiative by Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration, includes Category I, II, and III private schools as beneficiaries of state dollars through the proposed program.

All SACS-accredited institutions qualify as Category III schools under current state law, and Pleasant View School, an Islamic school in Memphis, has already made application for accreditation and expects approval in June, Assistant Principal Calvin Shaw said.

Now, there are several ways around this, all of them bad. One way is to deny schools like Pleasant View their accreditation. This is tricky because you have to have a good reason (“Because we said so!” isn’t going to cut it). Tennessee would also have to find a way to keep them from getting accredited. This is even trickier because finding a requirement that a Muslim school cannot fulfill but a Christian school (the intended beneficiary of the voucher program) can might just be nigh impossible.

Another way is to redo the entire classification system and place all Christian schools in their own category and then pass a law making only that category qualified for vouchers.

A third way is just pass a law saying no voucher school can teach any religion originating after 570 CE (the year Mohammed was purportedly born). I’m sure there’s more ways to discriminate against Muslim schools, the GOP is nothing if not endlessly inventive in how they treat others as second class citizens. Of course, pretty much anything they can come up with will wither under the glare of the judiciary. It might get passed over by a wing nut judge or two but would never survive a proper court case.

The Tennessee legislature is overwhelmingly controlled by Republicans and the GOP LOVES vouchers so when you hear this from State Sen. Bill Ketron (a staunch “anti-Shariah” idiot):

“This issue gives me pause in voting for the governor’s voucher proposal,” he said. “These issues warrant further assessment.” “What’s the rush? Do we need to send these proposals to summer study (committee)?” he questioned.

And THAT, my friends, is how you utterly fail The Muslim Test.

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