By Amanda Dyer
Still not satisfied with the treatment of religions in her son's seventh-grade textbook, Korina Self aired her concerns Tuesday night at Lodi Unified's board meeting.
Backed by nearly a dozen family members and friends, Self delivered a prepared statement asking the board to remove the book "History Alive!: The Medieval World and Beyond" from classrooms.
"To know that a textbook was selected and put into use by our district that is blatantly one-sided, whitewashed, and that our children are being spoon-fed this information with sugar on top ... I feel is negligent and intolerable," Self said.
Self stopped to gather herself several times during her statement, in which she said the book's description of the Crusades and its definition of several Islamic terms, including "Jihad" and "Shari'ah" are incorrect.
Korina Self and her husband Jim decided to review their 12-year-old son's textbook late last month after hearing that he was learning about the Prophet Muhammad.
After reading the book, which was published by the Teachers' Curriculum Institute, the Selfs took issue with what they feel is an undue amount of attention to the teachings of Islam, historical inaccuracies and a lack of information on other religions.
Initially, ...   more »

By Linda Harvey
"Guess what? I have my own demon!"
That's what some children may soon be telling – or not telling – their parents, encouraged by the movie "The Golden Compass," starring Nicole Kidman, which opens Dec. 7. Chances are your child's friends will be rushing to see it, but parents: beware.
In this movie, every human has a personal "daemon" (pronounced, yes, "dee-mon"), and on the film's official website, you can "Meet Your Daemon," which happens after one answers a questionnaire. The site explains that these daemons take the form of an animal and represent a person's soul living outside one's body.
And that's just for starters. As the pagan worldview continues, much of action in the film centers around a golden compass, which is a tool of divination. Only the girl heroine, Lyra, knows how to interpret its mysterious signs and symbols. A colorful representation of this device is featured on the film's website to further intrigue our youngsters, and plans are in the works for a toy replica. Soon, adoring fans can be seers right in their own bedrooms.  
This lavish production has Oscar written all over it. Based on the novel by Philip Pullman, ...   more »