A group of Florida students have been sent home after  wearing “Islam is of the Devil” t-shirts. This apparently isn’t good. Understandable though it is that Muslims might get rather narked by somebody expressing this point of view, anyone who has read the Swords verses in the Koran is going to walk away expecting to be slaughtered at any moment so the knife cuts both ways (pun intended).

We read that:

“A handful of students were sent home from Florida schools this week after showing up in shirts proclaiming that “Islam is of the Devil,” part of a fiery church campaign to “expose” Islam as a religion of violence.

Three high schoolers were forced to leave Tuesday for wearing the shirts made by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., where school officials say violated the district’s dress codes. A middle schooler was also asked to change clothes because of the shirt, which got a 10-year-old fifth grader sent packing on Monday, when the incidents began.

“Students have a right of free speech, and we have allowed students to come to school wearing clothes with messages,” school district staff attorney told the Gainesville Sun. “But this message is a divisive message that is likely to offend students. Principals, I feel reasonably, have deemed that a violation of the dress code.”

So messages must not be “divisive”? And must not offend? Can’t find those bits in the 1st Amendment. And Muslims can call America “The Great Satan”, of course.

Question: if a Muslim turned up wore a t-shirt to school quoting Swords: “fight and slay the pagan (idolaters) wherever you find them” (sura 9:5); or “strike off their heads in battle” (sura 47:5); or “make war on the unbeliever in Allah, until they pay tribute” (sura 9:29); or “Fight then… until the religion be all of it Allah’s” (sura 8:39); or “a grievous penalty against those who reject faith” (sura 9:3) then would they have been sent home?

Not bloody likely.