October 15, 2019 ANN ARBOR, MI—The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to review the case of Caleigh Wood, a Christian eleventh-grade public high school student in Maryland who, despite threats of receiving a failing grade, refused to deny her faith by making a written profession of the Muslim conversion prayer known as the Shahada—“There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” She was also forced to view a series of pro-Islamic PowerPoint slides, including one that stated, “Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.” The high school’s content specialist, Jack Tuttle, testified that use of such comparative statement was inappropriate and that he would have advised the teacher not to use it. Nevertheless, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals opined that the teaching did not violate the Establishment Clause. The Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national nonprofit public interest law firm based.
