A 54-year-old British elementary school teacher in Sudan has been charged with inciting religious hatred for allowing her class to name their classroom teddy bear “Muhammad”.
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33 Comments
That’s absurd. Isn’t Mohamed one of the most common Arabic names? It’s as if she had called it John or Bob. Besides, teddy bears are a good thing, right?
she’s probably also takes vacations in Kenya, so i bet she had it comin …
Yes, it’s a common enough name, but the Musselmen are offended when something not human is named Muhammed.
now I know what my next pet’s name is going to be!
Actually now that I think about it I should name my next dog Mahound. Get it. Mah hound!
This sort of ignorant, reactionary behaviour on the part of supposed Muslims clerics is why Islam is taken as a failed religion by many. Further, the actions taken are more for politics and are not in the true spirit of Islam.
I hope your pet is a pot-bellied pig.
every religion except Protestant and Catholic Christian has become “HOLY”
Oh, my God, do NOT offend the Jehovah’s Witness, the Mormon, the Muslim, the Jewish, the Hindu, the Buddhist.
But, oh yeah, assume the Christian is a
1. lier.
2. sleeps around.
3. hypocrite, insincere.
It sort of gives me a buzz to watch a dude named Mohamed, Sulman, etc, drinking alcohol and eating pork. They think they’re cool, and stepping off their parent’s chains, of course.
“taken as a failed religion by many”??
First, I wonder what you precisely mean by that? A quick search on the web came up with various stats but The Council on American-Islamic Relations puts it at about 1.2 billion, representing 22% of the world’s population. Also, they grow about 3% a year, faster than world pop. growth.
Wishing does not make it so, my friend.
then: “Further, the actions taken are more for politics and are not in the true spirit of Islam.”
Second, are you serious? They’re too ignorant, as you say, to engage in political behavior with a purpose. No, my sense is that these people really believe in what they’re doing. They are, again as you say, true reactionaries precisely because they do not think.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) claims to “represent seven million American Muslims”, but only has 1700 members whose US$35-a-year dues payments totalled less than US$60,000 in 2006. (Yet, strangely, a US$3 million annual budget funded externally.)
Here’s a little more about CAIR.
Personally, I wouldn’t put much stock in anything that organization has to say, in particular anything about strength of numbers. I’d rank them ahead of Nigel’s crew as a source of information, but only barely.
“mjw”, Here is just one critic of today’s Islam that will help illustrate why I believe Islam is in danger of being a failed religion. Mind you, she is controversial but, nowadays, any thoughtful discourse about Islam is deemed controversial:
http://www.irshadmanji.com/
IMHO, Any religion that promotes violence and prolongates social injustice against non-members is a failure and I do not think I am in a minority in that opinion. Here is just one common example of what I mean about promoting violence and social injustice too.
Secondly, read the AP article again towards the end and review the current trend in politics in Sudan. This sort of action is clearly political in motivation. If you would read about the current events in Sudan, you could get an idea of the politics involved and Islam is just a pretext for much of what happens there.
My lord, what a bunch of nonsense. As if the situation that poor woman is in isn’t full enough of misunderstanding and intolerance, this comment thread is equally full of it.
Why do some people take what the radical clerics say and use it to pain Muslims as a whole with an intolerant, medieval mindset? Good grief, that’s like taking whatever Grand Dragon David Duke says and representing it as the voice of American Christians.
What must be understood and respected is that unlike a lot of western countries, there is little if any separation between church and state in much of the Muslim world. Religion is still a subject taught in the Emirati public school where I work, and they are not necessarily open to outside influences. For example, I am not allowed to discuss sex, drugs including alcohol and tobacco, (which for me is a normal boundary when teaching middle school girls) but I am also forbidden from talking about religion or politics, or anything to do with men. The school got calls when word somehow got out that I had a boyfriend. I hadn’t talked about it in class. One of the girls had seen me with him at Carrefour, but that didn’t matter. It’s not a topic for discussion. However, I can discuss any of these things with my local teachers and it’s completely acceptable. It’s just not appropriate in this culture to put anything controversial from the outside in front of students. However, I think the fact that myself and other westerners are here in the first place is a good sign.
It is a different set of standards. Just because they are not western morals and values does not make them wrong.
However, what is happening to that poor woman in Darfur is ridiculous. She obviously meant no harm or disrespect to THE Mohammed, it is the most common name on the planet, and it was chosen by the children themselves. If anything, when the parents complained, the bear’s name should have been changed to something else, or at most, removed completely. The possibility of legal action and arrest are ludicrous, and that’s why it’s on television. If the school and the government had done something reasonable, we wouldn’t even know about it, and she would be complaining in an email privately to a friend back home about how they took away her stupid bear.
Anyone who talks about “Any religion that promotes violence and prolongates social injustice against non-members is a failure” regarding Islam has obviously not read the Koran or familiarized themselves with Islam other than looking at the bad guys in movies or terrorists, who represent a tiny, exciting-to-watch-news-story minority. Refer to David Duke comment above.
As someone said above, it’s religion being used for political gain. I’m so sick of the extreme being used to represent Islam as a whole. R. Elgin, that link to the terrible story is a true one, but I think it would be hard for you to prove that that case is a “common” example. If you’ve ever seen anything on the American news stations or watched any daytime TV, there’s plenty of crap that people of other faiths do too, except they’re just presented as “people,” not “Muslims.”
I wish that poor woman all the best.
well put, nappunsaram.
“Nappunsaram”, your comments strike me as being naive.
As I did say, this incident is an example of religion used for political purposes but I would observe that Islam today has been effectively corrupted by the political, violent elements that have come to symbolize Islam today. Since meritorious muslims have not sought to exclude these intolerant hellion from their religion, they have unwittingly allowed them to define Islam by their use of violence and politics. Like it or not, Islam is very much in danger of being a failed religion because it does not police itself and that is a real tragedy for everyone.
This teacher — and the poor girl in Iran — were persecuted by the alleged representatives of Islam in their countries. Why does the Islamic community, as a whole, allow this injustice then? Why should I or anyone hold the Islamic community as acting in good faith when they do not actively exclude these sorts of people and their actions? I stand by my comment that by doing little or nothing about this injustice, Islam — as a whole — suffers to the point of having failed and is more so a surrogate for and sponsor of political intrigue.
These people that persecute the teacher claim to represent Islam and I am familiar enough with the history of Islam to know that this sort of behaviour is not representative of the highest part of Islam yet the moral majority is silent if not scared. Has the moral majority moved to America or Britain then and if so, what does this mean for the remaining so-called Muslims elsewhere?
Your claim that my comments are more a matter of cultural misunderstanding due to a difference in standards a grossly miss-educated comment based upon some notion of moral relativism that reminds one of the old joke that reads “Eat shit — 23 billion flies can’t be wrong”. Perhaps eating dung is a matter of having a “different set of standards” but somehow I don’t think I will be swallowing that line of reasoning.
Truly God does not lead the wicked.
Throw the blasphemer into the Blue Nile. If she sinks, then clearly she’s innocent. But if she floats, she’s guilty and may Allah have mercy on her.
Next thing you know they’ll be having public floggings of the blasphemous kids who voted for the name.
#14 “Truly God does not lead the wicked.”
Uh.. then how do you explain your president..?
– Mr Bush, who became a born-again Christian at 40, is one of the most overtly religious leaders to occupy the White House, a fact which brings him much support in middle America.–
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/.....78,00.html
Bush quote: ‘God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq’
Why does the Christian community, as a whole, allow this injustice then? I am familiar enough with the history of Christianity to know that this sort of behaviour is not representative of the highest part of Christianity yet the moral majority is silent if not scared.
“Uh.. then how do you explain your president..?”
Maybe he was a Palestinian Muslim in one of his previous incarnations.
Now I can begin to understand how this incredibly credulous poster swallows the whole Truth Movement crap:
One of the delegates, Nabil Shaath, who was Palestinian foreign minister at the time, said: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I am driven with a mission from God’. God would tell me, ‘George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan’. And I did. And then God would tell me ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq’. And I did.”
Mr Bush went on: “And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, ‘Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East’. And, by God, I’m gonna do it.”
Mr Bush, who became a born-again Christian at 40, is one of the most overtly religious leaders to occupy the White House, a fact which brings him much support in middle America.
Soon after, the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz carried a Palestinian transcript of the meeting, containing a version of Mr Bush’s remarks. But the Palestinian delegation was reluctant publicly to acknowledge its authenticity.
Even for a cheap tu quoque shot, can we get much fishier than cinemagauche quoting The Guardian quoting a Palestininan official (whose outfit later declined to confirm the remarks) claiming to quote Bush?
“Why does the Islamic community, as a whole, allow this injustice then? Why should I or anyone hold the Islamic community as acting in good faith when they do not actively exclude these sorts of people and their actions? I stand by my comment that by doing little or nothing about this injustice, Islam — as a whole — suffers to the point of having failed and is more so a surrogate for and sponsor of political intrigue.”
By your logic, the Christian community - a concept no less flawed than one single Islamic one if one thinks about it for more than a second or two - was guilty of this for centuries. Was Christianity - if one looks at the Crusades, the Inquisition(s), 30 Years War, etc - a failure at one point in time? Until when?
From #17:
“Bush quote: ‘God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq’
Why does the Christian community, as a whole, allow this injustice then? I am familiar enough with the history of Christianity to know that this sort of behaviour is not representative of the highest part of Christianity yet the moral majority is silent if not scared.”
Scared? You’re deviating from the standard line, cg; the Americans are supposed to be stupid and/or evil (a difficult combination to pull off successfully, but maybe that’s part of our evil genius).
Not “scared”. That category is reserved for Euros facing the prospect of confronting their angry Islamic native populations.
Anyway, the headline in the link below contains the answer to your Job-like question. I was remembering it as being from the Guardian, but that would have been too perfect. Still, it is another English newspaper, so maybe that’s “close enough for government work”.
Also — “God likes to veil his symbology a little, being among His other attributes the perfect literary artist”.
http://politicalhumor.about.co.....people.htm
#17,
To quote Elgin, “Any religion that promotes violence and prolongates social injustice against non-members is a failure and I do not think I am in a minority in that opinion.”
I guess that means some Fundamental Christians are working hard to destroy their own religion…and that’s not to mention the St. Bartholomew Massacre, the Inquisitions, the Crusades, the bombing of abortion clinics and the opposition to gay rights.
Read in the news a few minutes ago that she was sentenced to 15 days in jail.
“Someguyinkorea”, you and others are being disengenious here. Christianity has changed much from its bloody beginning, for example, Irenaeus (180 AD) and Athanasius (300 AD), from wikipedia
Last time I looked, no one is doing this sort of thing, now, in the name of Christ though one could argue that these concepts of “just war” and a political “inquisition” have been usurped by politicians who likewise sometimes mimic the aura of religion.
The people that bomb clinics are arrested and put into jail as well. Americans are free to disagree over “gay rights” and that is simply a part of the political process, like it or not. Your implication that today’s practiced Christianity is similar to the great problems in Islam is obviously false for many reasons that I should not need to exemplify unless you have no powers of impartial observation.
It also seems that the British teacher has been convicted and sentenced to 15 days in jail. I appreciate the comment from one citizen there:
Today’s practiced Christianity, at least for the most part, is not really similar to some of the great problems that exist in Islam. Agreed. However, Christianity - at least by the standards you have mentioned - could easily be seen as a miserable failure at least until the 17th century. Maybe it is a little early for a final verdict on Islam. I don’t believe that fundamentalism - at least the versions one tends to associate with the Taliban, Saudi judges, or Sudanese clerics - is ultimately what the average Malaysian, Indonesian, Moroccan, Iraqi or Iranian is interested in.
A lot has changed? What about Pope Pius XI signing the Lateran Treaty, which did a great deal to solidify Mussolini’s power in Italy? It’s not much more different than the deal the Vatican had signed with Constantine.
“In Alexandria, he (Athanasius) assembled an “ecclesiastical mafia” that could instigate a riot in the city if needed. ”
And now we have Opus Dei.
Eat religious/political shit.X billions of human flies can’t be wrong.
When I say “a different set of standards,” I was referring to cultural differences, such as being offended by naming an animal Mohammed. Again, this isn’t exclusively a religious thing. I know I’m not offended by certain curse words, but my mother certainly is. That doesn’t make either of us wrong, it’s just a different set of standards. I hope (R. Elgin in particular) that my comment regarding different standards was not taken in regards to her arrest and punishment.
Perhaps I am naive, being a white western woman living in a predominantly Muslim country commenting on the situation of a white western woman living in a Muslim country, although Emirates is a far cry from Sudan. You shouldn’t paint all people of the same nation or religion with the same brush, when you say that the Muslim community as a whole should suffer for the actions of a few. What, an Irish Catholic sitting at home should have to answer for an IRA bomb in London? All white Americans should be held accountable for Oklahoma City? All Korean Americans should be held accountable for Virginia Tech?
Nappunsaram,
You might check out Jeffery Hodges’ blog Gypsy Scholar, included in the blogroll. He has written quite a few posts on Islam and Muslim political and social movements. An ordinary Muslim has no need to condemn publicly acts of violence propagated in the name of Islam but Muslim leaders should and often do. Likewise, Irish politicians have long distanced themselves from the terrorism of the IRA. Timonthy McVeigh didn’t bomb the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in the name of the United States. To the contrary, it was a violent act against the US government. Likewise, Cho Seung-hui did not murder 33 people in the name of Korea and Koreans. Be careful about distinguishing individual acts of violence from those committed by groups with a political or social agenda. Muslim attitudes towards violent Islamist movements is a real issue within the Muslim community and between Muslims and non-Muslims.
I think Sonagi’s kids are lucky to have her for a teacher.
I agree “Linkd”. Both “Nappunsaram” and “Sonagi” make good distinctions between the individual and their societal group. Who stops the rogue clerics that call for blood and vengeance in the name of their desires?
I still feel that it is also the role of the responsible Muslim or Christian to protest within their community when they believe their leadership has gone astray.
Thank you, Linkd, but in my third year of teaching in a US public school, I am appreciating the wisdom of the saying, “The more you know, the more you realize how much you have to learn.”
Last Wednesday our school hosted its annual kindergarten night, when we demonstrate for parents practical activities they can do at home to help their children become school-ready. About ten families showed up, all Spanish-speaking. Not a single US-born parent showed up. Sad. Guess it’s easier to put all the responsibility for learning onto the schools and them blame them when the child falls behind, an approach that makes sense when you realize that about a third of a child’s annual waking hours are spent at school.
Sorry for preaching off-topic, Elgin.
“Guess it’s easier to put all the responsibility for learning onto the schools and them blame them when the child falls behind”
Yeah, the teacher is made to be the bad guy because it’s every kid’s right to graduate with his or her friends.