Retired Dutch politician Frits Bolkestein says the poor quality of Muslim-operated Islamic schools in the Netherlands distance Muslims further from Dutch society.

He fears this may result in ethnic segregation, creating areas in the Netherlands where Shariah is the rule of law.

Bolkestein warns against Islamic schools “where boys and girls are segregated, where Holocaust history is not taught, where anti-Semitism is not combated, and where the curriculum militates against the emancipation of women.”

A 14-year-old’s nose piercing has landed her a suspension from school and forced her into the middle of a fight over her First Amendment right to exercise her religion.Ariana Iacono has been suspended since last week because her nose ring violates the Johnston County school system’s dress code.

Iacono and her mother, Nikki, belong to the Church of Body Modification, a small group unfamiliar to rural North Carolina, but one with a clergy, a statement of beliefs and a formal process for accepting new members.

It’s enough to draw the interest of the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has contacted school officials with concerns that the rights of the Iaconos are being violated by the suspension.

The Iaconos say the school system is ignoring its own dress code policy, which allows exemptions on religious grounds.

Italy will fight Wednesday against a European court ruling that crucifixes in classrooms violate students’ right to freedom of religion.

The European Court of Human Rights found unanimously last November that the display of a particular religious symbol – such as the Christian cross – in a classroom “restricted the right of parents to educate their children in conformity with their convictions, and the right of children to believe or not to believe.”

But the court agreed in January to hear Italy’s appeal. Ten other European governments, dozens of European lawmakers and half a dozen non-governmental organizations have also gotten involved in the appeal.

A high school senior’s desire to build a Wiccan altar in shop class has forced a community debate about free expression.

Dale Halferty, who has taught industrial arts at Guthrie Center High School for three years, was placed on paid leave Monday after he acknowledged to district officials that he told the student he could not build the altar in class.

In what could eventually become a statewide precedent in California, a Riverside County judge has found no legal basis for a lawsuit brought on behalf of two girls kicked out of a Christian school for an alleged lesbian relationship.

An Illinois man lost a federal lawsuit that accused his daughter’s school district of unconstitutionally endorsing religion when it allowed a Texas-based evangelist to lead anti-drug assemblies.

In the UK, angry parents take a school to task for making children practice their handwriting by copying a Muslim prayer.

Teenager Lydia Playfoot today lost her High Court challenge over a ban preventing her from wearing a Christian “purity ring”.

A 16-year-old girl has gone to the High Court to accuse her school of discriminating against Christians by banning the wearing of purity rings.

The niqab left them utter strangers to me and their classmates, who simply forgot about them. The veil that those young women wore utterly isolated them. They sat in the classroom with us, but they weren’t part of the group. They were effectively invisible.

Students in England could be banned from wearing full-face Muslim veils for security or educational reasons under government guidelines to be published on Tuesday, officials said.

Liberty Union High School District officials have changed their stance on religious references in yearbook advertisements after parents raised concerns about freedom of speech constraints.

A civil liberties group has sued a public school district for holding its graduation ceremonies in a Baptist church, calling it a violation of a Muslim student’s religious freedom.

A Kearny High School junior on Monday drew some legal heavyweights into his battle with school officials over a teacher’s proselytizing in class.

The second most powerful member of the Texas House has circulated a Georgia lawmaker’s call for a broad assault on teaching of evolution.