France has a problem; it seems as though Muslims are not integrating well in their country, and many are making unrealistic demands of secular schools, including adding halal to the cafeteria menus, sizing down courses that teach about other world religions, and an opt-out option for classes about the evolution, the Holocaust, or France’s war in Algeria. In other words, they want an education that matches their anti-Semitic, revisionist, and creationist point of view.

Anti-Semitism … surfaces during courses about the Holocaust, such as inappropriate jokes and refusals to watch films” about Nazi concentration camps, it said. “Tensions often come from pupils who identify themselves as Muslims.”…Teachers found they could discuss the transatlantic slave trade but met criticism from pupils when they brought up the history of slavery within Africa or in the Middle East. Reflecting the promotion of anti-Darwinist thinking in Muslim countries, “evolution is challenged by pupils who posit divine or creationist action without any argument for it.

The country is desperate to figure out how to integrate Muslims which now number over 5 million. This problem isn’t limited to France; other countries are also feeling frustrated over the fact even second generation Muslims are refusing to properly integrate into the culture. The backlash, of course, is all Muslims are seen as potentially subversive and viewed with suspicion, something that’s likely to be returned in kind. So what’s to be done?

I’d suggest any student who has a problem with secular curriculum can simply stay home and remain ignorant; there’s no reason to allow the kind of inappropriate distraction to continue, and students who are there to actually learn and benefit from a free education are the ones really losing out. Attempting to humor the ridiculous demands of religionists only makes them want more power and control. Despite the fact moderates are convinced their specific religion is only interested in helping people with spiritual issues, the real M.O. of organized religion has always been to dominate the lives of everyone here on Earth. We live in a historically unique time where we’ve managed to marginalize their political influence here in the West (mostly), but there’s no reason to assume it’ll be like that in the future, especially if we humor their ludicrous demands. If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.