Calif. School District Bans Drawings of Religious Figures After Students Asked to Illustrate Mohamed

A California school district has banned all religious drawings after receiving complaints over drawings of the Prophet Mohamed for a school assignment.

The Superintendent of Acton Agua-Dulce Unified School District in California recently banned all religious illustrations after a parent complained when students were given an assignment to illustrate different aspects of the Islam religion, with one of the defined terms being "Mohamed."

It is considered sacrilegious in the Islamic faith to draw images of Mohamed. The drawings were apart of an assignment entitled "Vocabulary Pictures: The Rise of Islam."

Melinda Van Stone, a parent at High Desert School in Action, California, told The Washington Times that she was "very upset" over the assignment given to her 12-year-old son.

"It's not appropriate to have our children go to school and learn how to insult a religious group," Van Stone told the media outlet.

Brent Woodard, Superintendent of the school district where the incident happened, told the Los Angeles Daily News that from now on, students will be banned from drawing religious leaders while in school.

"I have directed all staff to permanently suspend the practice of drawing or depiction of any religious leader," Woodard said. "I am certain this teacher did not intend to offend anyone and, in fact, was simply teaching respect and tolerance for all cultures."

Officials at the school have confirmed that the assignment reportedly did not come from a textbook but was a supplemental activity for students.