BUT THE BLAINE AMENDMENT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ANTI-CATHOLIC:

New Arab academy caught in debate of religious pluralism, war on terror (John L. Allen Jr., 9/5/2007, National Catholic Reporter)

“Only in America” may be an overused phrase, but a debate is percolating in New York these days that reflects a uniquely American confluence of religious pluralism, church/state tensions, the politics of identity and fears unleashed by the war on terror.

At the eye of the storm is the new Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, which opened Sept. 4. New York already has charter schools that teach other languages, such as Spanish and Chinese, and the new academy is supported by a broad coalition of civic leaders, including clergy from various faiths and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Yet it has been denounced as a breeding ground for Islamic radicalism by local critics, who have organized a grass-roots coalition called “Stop the Madrassa.” [...]

There are enough ironies surrounding this story to keep a battalion of cultural critics busy. Consider:

- The school’s namesake, Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran, was not a Muslim. He was baptized as a Maronite Catholic, and after his family immigrated to Boston in the 1890s and Gibran began to move in the city’s artistic circles, he declared: “I am no longer Catholic. I am a pagan.”

- The principal of the academy is a New York Jew who grew up Orthodox, a veteran educator named Danielle Salzberg, who does not speak Arabic. She became principal after the first principal, a Yemini Muslim named Debbie Almontaser, was forced to resign.

Two of the most vocal backers of the school are a rabbi, Michael Feinberg, and an African-American Baptist pastor, Rev. Clinton Miller.