https://www2.cbn.com/news/us/court-rules-chicago-board-ed-violated-students-rights-forcing-her-practice-hindu-rituals

“An Illinois Circuit Court has ruled in favor of a former Chicago public school student who was forced to participate in Hindu rituals by her school, directly violating her Christian beliefs.

Mariyah Green was awarded $150,000 in damages and legal fees by the Illinois Circuit Court last week for violations of her First Amendment rights by the Board of Education of the City of Chicago and the David Lynch Foundation, over mandated participation in Hindu rituals while attending Bogan High School.

Students were required to participate in a program called “Quiet Time,” which was a Hinduistic religious program encompassing the practice of Transcendental Meditation.

Green and other students participated in a portion of the program that required them to engage in a Puja initiation rite. This ceremony included reciting statements recognizing the power possessed by various Hindu deities and invitations to channel their powers. 

Those who did not want to participate in the “Quiet Time” program were warned that their failure to participate could impact their grades and disqualify them from participating in their respective graduation ceremonies. 

Green was told that her grades – and thus her eligibility to play basketball – would be negatively affected if she did not participate in the “Quiet Time” program.”

P.S. – Also see https://1love1god.com/2023/08/28/what-is-hindutva/ and check out the Hindu practice of Sati (not all Hindus are of Hindutva nor of this Sati practice but none the less interesting to not when one rejects Jesus based off of things that hypocrites did in the name of Jesus): “Opposition to the practice of sati by evangelists like Carey, and by Hindu reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy ultimately led the British Governor-General of India Lord William Bentinck to enact the Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829, declaring the practice of burning or burying alive of Hindu widows to be punishable by the criminal courts.” – Wikipedia.

I first learned of the Hindu practice of Sati from a book assessing all the world’s religions in 1901:

I posted in https://1love1god.com/2024/01/04/god-is-love/ that:

“I have been reading “Story of the World’s Worship” ( https://archive.org/details/storyofworldswor00dobbuoft/page/1/mode/1up ) which is quite a comprehensive review of the world’s religions for its time (1901) and comparing its findings with modern day online resources like wikipedia and encyclopedia brittanica etc etc.

The more I read the more I am convinced and glad to be trusting in Jesus!”