WASHINGTON 鈥斅燰irginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is calling聽for Virginians to exercise more tolerance.
He spoke following an appearance on 海角精品黑料 Wednesday morning.
His comments come after a teacher in Augusta County had security assigned to her following a calligraphy lesson in her world geography class that聽involved students writing in Arabic.
Classes and school events were canceled in Augusta County Friday, Dec. 18 after the Riverheads High School teacher and the county school system received strong backlash from concerned parents, particularly on social media.
After聽聽his interview on 海角精品黑料, McAuliffe told reporters he did not agree with school administrators’ decision to cancel class and聽he has聽talked聽with the teacher.
鈥淪he鈥檚 a strong woman,鈥� McAuliffe said.
The lesson in question was for the students to practice calligraphy. The teacher had her class copy the Muslim statement of faith聽which聽translates to: 鈥淭here is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.鈥�
“You want children to have a broad-based education. To be taught different religions and languages, that’s all part of the experience of what we need here in America to be open and welcoming to everybody. It’s just unfortunate people overreact,” McAuliffe said.
The governor聽said the acceptance of others was specifically what the Founding Fathers, including former Virginia governor and President Thomas Jefferson, had in mind when drafting the Bill of Rights.
鈥淲hy is it now, hundreds of years later, we鈥檙e turning our backs on these folks?鈥� said McAuliffe.
鈥淚 think we need to elevate the debate.鈥�
