Hundreds of Christians who fled Egypt to the United States claiming persecution under Islam showed up outside a Southern California middle school yesterday to protest an extra-credit assignment urging students to participate in the Muslim Ramadan fast....

"The teacher at Royal Oak Intermediate School in Covina, Calif., wrote parents of students in his world history class, saying he wanted to take advantage of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan ’to promote a greater understanding and empathy towards the Muslim religion.’"
If we had a greater understanding we would have no empathy at all.

"But on a public sidewalk adjacent to the school grounds yesterday afternoon, about 500 people, according to organizers, gathered peacefully to ’tell the truth about Islam’ as classes ended for the day...

"About 450 of the protestors were Coptic Christian immigrants from Muslim-majority Egypt, whose families had suffered discrimination and persecution because of their faith...

"’Many of them were in tears, thrilled that they could come out and assert their First Amendment free-speech rights, which are found in no Islamic nation,..."

Backpedaling furiously, "Superintendent John Roach insisted the teacher meant only to promote empathy with Muslims, not with Islam. He conceded the instructor told parents in his letter the assignment was about empathizing with the Islamic religion. ’If I had the opportunity to correct the letter before it was sent out, I would have changed that paragraph,’...