{"id":20947,"date":"2015-10-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/uncategorized\/islamic-students-opt-out-of-australian-national-anthem\/"},"modified":"2015-10-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-26T00:00:00","slug":"islamic-students-opt-out-of-australian-national-anthem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/news\/islamic-students-opt-out-of-australian-national-anthem\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamic students opt out of Australian national anthem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School in Victoria says a religious month of mourning is the reason Islamic children were allowed to walk out during a rendition of Australia\u2019s national anthem at a school assembly.<\/h3>\n

Lorraine McCurdy \u2013 who has two grandchildren at the school \u2013 told Neil Mitchell on 3AW that she witnessed about 30 Islamic students walk out of the assembly during the national anthem.<\/p>\n

“I saw red,” she said. “I felt, ‘you don’t walk out on my national anthem’.”<\/p>\n

School principal Cheryl Irving said during the month of Muharram Shi’a muslims are required not to participate in fun or joyous activities, such as listening to music.<\/p>\n

But this was contradicted by a number of 3AW callers identifying as Shi’a muslims who told Neil Mitchell they did not believe the students needed to avoid the national anthem in order to respect Muharram.<\/p>\n

LISTEN to Lorraine McCurdy on 3AW here:<\/strong><\/p>\n