Texas schools bus kids to mosques to 'experience Islam'— but are they bringing Muslim kids to church?

Outrage has exploded in Texas as public school students were seen in a video that went viral this week being loaded onto a bus to take a field trip so that they would “experience Islam” at a mosque. Critics were quick to point out that similar things are not always done with students going to Christian churches. 

Over 30 students from Humble ISD's Kingwood High School and Atascocita High School were seen in a social media video getting taken on a field trip to the Centro Islamico, which is operated by the organization IslamInSpanish in Houston, per The Texan. 

The visit included lunch from a halal food truck, a mosque tour, and the observation of prayer. Students left school after second period, and returned just before 4 pm. The trip took place in February as the Islamic holiday of Ramadan was beginning.

A representative from the mosque said in a promotional video, "This past week, right before Ramadan started, we were blessed to have a group of high school students from Kingwood High School and Atascocita High School come and visit the Centro Islamico." He noted that it was a mixed group and "their teachers wanted them to see a different side of the Muslims, the diversity within our community, and these are brothers and sisters."

"One of the greatest blessings that we can have is to be able to explain to the younger generation not only what Islam is and how it impacted our lives, but also giving them an insight to the work of IslamInSpanish, and also what the Centro Islamico means to us,” he added.
 

The representative said the students could go back after the visit to talk with their classmates and families “about what their experience was here … what they heard about when Islam impacted these individuals’ lives.”

The goal of the trip, according to the Islam center, was to have the kids avoid stereotypes about Muslims. However, there was a strong backlash to the video online.

“They've never bussed students to temples or churches. They said we must keep religion out of schools. WTF is going on??” one X user commented in reaction to the video.

Another pointed out, “This would be wall to wall coverage if they bussed kids to a Church.”

Along similar lines, user Eugenie Anderson pointed out, “Are these same schools also having field trips for Muslim students to visit Jewish temples, Catholic and Christian Churches?”