Federal officials are being urged to drop Obama administration policies that give special treatment to Muslim students in violation of the Constitution.

The request comes from the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, which is opposing in court several school districts over practices favoring Muslims.

The group’s letter is addressed to John Gore, the acting assistant attorney general in the civil rights division of the Justice Department, and Kenneth Marcus, the assistant secretary for civil rights in the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

The organization is asking the government to rescind policies in which schools “single out a religious sect for preferential treatment or otherwise classify on the basis of religion” and allow “sectarian organizations like CAIR to advance their political or religious agenda in schools.”

It also should define “bullying” and “harassment,” and focus “on an alleged bully’s objectively offensive conduct rather than his motive or intent.”

The letter explains: “To be clear, school districts do have a wide range of constitutionally sound measures to address violence, threats, and abuses. But schools should ensure an equally safe and welcoming educational environment for all students, regardless of religion.”

The letter points out that the current practices, implemented under Obama, include a “Fact Sheet” on how to combat discrimination “against Muslim students.”

There’s also a guidance called “Twenty Plus Things Schools Can Do to Respond to or Prevent Hate Incidents Against Arab-Americans, Muslims, and Sikhs,” which tells schools to identify special concerns of students with those religions and create “cultural awareness learning opportunities” about them.

“In addition, the DOJ has ‘sponsored a series of webinars,’ including ‘Strategies for Educators, Counselors, and Community Members to Bulid Protective Factors for America’s Muslim Youth.”

However, the letter argues, the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause “prohibit the government from officially preferring one religious group to another.”

‘To that end, the government ‘may not adopt programs or practices which aid or oppose any religion.’”

If fact, the FCDF explained, the government does “not have any similar policies directing school districts to protect Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, or atheist students from bullying.”

“The government should not be encouraging schools to divide students along religious lines,” said Daniel Piedra, FCDF’s executive director. “No doubt educators have a grave responsibility to protect students from bullying, including Muslim students, but the Constitution prohibits school districts from adopting any program that favors or disfavors a particular religion.”

The letter notes the issue is at the center of one of FCDF’s current cases.

Five families and two advocacy groups sued San Diego’s public school district in 2017 because of its “anti-Islamophobia initiative.” The district claimed there was wide-spread bullying of Muslim students.

“In doing so, the district school board relied on surveys provided by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic advocacy organization. CAIR claimed that after President Donald Trump’s election, a ‘plague’ of Muslim bullying had swept through district schools.”

But the truth was that in 2015 and 2016 there were only two reported incidents of bullying related to Muslim students, the letter says.

“On the other hand, the district reported 11 incidents of anti-Semitic bullying.”….