I TOTALLY agree with everything you said. I can't understand how people find this offensive enough to justify being punishable by death. If the kids agreed to call the bear Jesus, I wouldn't be offended at all. Maybe it wasn't the best thing to let the kids call the bear Mohammed, being in an Islamic country, but it doesn't seem to me like the naming was malicious. My understanding is that the kids named the bear, not the teacher, right?
They were talking about it on Fox News and there was a clip of a man saying (translated) if he saw the teacher he would behead her himself.
Really, where are the moderate Muslims condemning the extremists? Or does the Islamic religion actually support this kind of punishment for naming a bear after Mohammed? (I don't know, I've never read the Koran).
Every time I hear about this story I just shake my head. I really hope she gets pardoned.
Oh, they won't pardon her. But hopefully she'll escape back to Britain with her life, anyway. And the kids named the bear, and it's a private, WESTERN, school.
Maybe I'm just culturally ignorant, but I really don't get what's so insulting to Islam to call the bear something that people name their kids all the time. It's not like they named the class rat Mohammed.
Where are the reasonable Islamic people, shouting from the rooftops that this isn't their religion, that it's been hijacked by these batshit insane wackos? Mainly on the BBC I think - both British muslims and Sudanese ones. They have had the headmaster of the school, Sudanese MPs and Sudanese lawyers all saying she was bound to be found not guilty because it was so obviously not done with malice - which apparently it has to be to actually be, like, a crime. Then being shocked to find that she was found guilty, albeit of the 'mildest' variant of the crime
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*facepalm* Wow, I was unaware of the fact that this happened clear back in September and that it was named after one of the kids, although I knew it was a member of the staff that complained. That makes it even worse. But at least the Muslims in the UK are standing up and saying "whoa." Good on them.
I want to go to Africa in the worst way, on a photo safari. Catch me dead going to a place where the government encourages actions like this, and spending my money there.
Although it seems that the Sudanese government are not encouraging the demonstrations, nor were they pushing for her to be tried. I think they might be a bit embarrassed by it but, as one of the Sudanese lawyers pointed out, their legal system is based on the British one where the judiciary cannot be instructed by the politicians but are independant, only deciding on whether a case does or does not break the word of the law, and then passing sentence. So once someone decided there was a case to answer the government could not intervene.
I don't know whether to be disgusted that she was found guilty, or impressed that the judge found her guilty of only the minor charge, and passed the minimum sentence. Mainly the former I think, with a touch of the latter.
For a reasonable current news report see this BBC oneI think her lawyer is probably right too - the appeal process could take more time, and the longer it lingers the more chance that the calls for her to be retried by a 'tougher' court will
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Speaking as one who’s dealt with Muslims in both their own countries and in mine: yes, there’s a major difference between those who take their religion seriously (most of them) and those who are just looking for any excuse to take offense … and, more, to use their being-offended as a means of acquiring power. I respect the former, even when I disagree with them. The latter are best treated as they would treat their enemies: immediately, harshly, and without apology.
As I speak, ads for the Da Vinci Code are running on the television next to me. Now, THAT is offensive, along with being deliberately blasphemous; yet I, who am both offended and disgusted by it, feel no particular urge to proclaim fatwa on anybody over the matter. I just decline to watch the movie, and make my dislike known whenever the subject arises.
Sudan is unquestionably one of the lesser spots on the globe right now. Much happier to be where I am.
I, who am both offended and disgusted by it, feel no particular urge to proclaim fatwa on anybody over the matter. I just decline to watch the movie, and make my dislike known whenever the subject arises.
Exactly! And I do the same. But then, you and I are reasonable people...and we haven't been kept in ignorance by a government that has a vested interest in making us stupid, and we're not being stirred up by so-called leaders telling half-truths and outright lies.
Yeah. I completely agree. The whole thing is ridiculous, especially since Muhammad is such a common name in Muslim countries--the kids named the bear after a kid in their class, for crying out loud. I don't get offended by Hispanic kids being named Jesus (pronounced differently, of course, but spelled the same), and while I'd think it strange and a little offensive if a Caucasian family named their kid Jesus, you won't see the vast majority of Christians demanding a government response, let alone threatening the parents' lives. And if it were a teddy bear? Really, who cares? But the people that are hunting for ways to be offended are calling it a deliberate offense and grab for power by evil Westerners
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I don't get offended by Hispanic kids being named Jesus (pronounced differently, of course, but spelled the same), and while I'd think it strange and a little offensive if a Caucasian family named their kid Jesus,
you can ignore this if you want but i'm really curious to know why if a Mexican names his or her kid Jesus it's okay but if a white person does it it's offensive.
Because Jesus in Spanish would be more like Joshua to us. Which means the exact same thing as Jesus, but the one is a common name for us and the other isn't. Go figure.
Basically it's just because Jesus is a common name in that culture, and that's not a problem for me; in Western culture, it's not, so if someone inside this culture were to give their kid the name of an extremely important religious figure, they'd be doing it knowing the name's significance for that culture. So they might well be doing it because they know it'll get a reaction.
You're right to a certain extent, but I would note that when the Batshit Insane Contingent of Christianity blows up Planned Parenthood or shoots an abortionist, the rest of us rise up in a body and go "NOT US. We don't support this, nuh-uh."
Apparently the BBC is being more evenhanded in reporting these events, as curiouswombat has pointed out above. Nice to see that someone is.
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They were talking about it on Fox News and there was a clip of a man saying (translated) if he saw the teacher he would behead her himself.
Really, where are the moderate Muslims condemning the extremists? Or does the Islamic religion actually support this kind of punishment for naming a bear after Mohammed? (I don't know, I've never read the Koran).
Every time I hear about this story I just shake my head. I really hope she gets pardoned.
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Maybe I'm just culturally ignorant, but I really don't get what's so insulting to Islam to call the bear something that people name their kids all the time. It's not like they named the class rat Mohammed.
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I want to go to Africa in the worst way, on a photo safari. Catch me dead going to a place where the government encourages actions like this, and spending my money there.
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Although it seems that the Sudanese government are not encouraging the demonstrations, nor were they pushing for her to be tried. I think they might be a bit embarrassed by it but, as one of the Sudanese lawyers pointed out, their legal system is based on the British one where the judiciary cannot be instructed by the politicians but are independant, only deciding on whether a case does or does not break the word of the law, and then passing sentence. So once someone decided there was a case to answer the government could not intervene.
I don't know whether to be disgusted that she was found guilty, or impressed that the judge found her guilty of only the minor charge, and passed the minimum sentence. Mainly the former I think, with a touch of the latter.
For a reasonable current news report see this BBC oneI think her lawyer is probably right too - the appeal process could take more time, and the longer it lingers the more chance that the calls for her to be retried by a 'tougher' court will ( ... )
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But then, I'm probably the most un-religious Christian fundamentalist you'll ever meet...
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As I speak, ads for the Da Vinci Code are running on the television next to me. Now, THAT is offensive, along with being deliberately blasphemous; yet I, who am both offended and disgusted by it, feel no particular urge to proclaim fatwa on anybody over the matter. I just decline to watch the movie, and make my dislike known whenever the subject arises.
Sudan is unquestionably one of the lesser spots on the globe right now. Much happier to be where I am.
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Exactly! And I do the same. But then, you and I are reasonable people...and we haven't been kept in ignorance by a government that has a vested interest in making us stupid, and we're not being stirred up by so-called leaders telling half-truths and outright lies.
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you can ignore this if you want but i'm really curious to know why if a Mexican names his or her kid Jesus it's okay but if a white person does it it's offensive.
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Basically it's just because Jesus is a common name in that culture, and that's not a problem for me; in Western culture, it's not, so if someone inside this culture were to give their kid the name of an extremely important religious figure, they'd be doing it knowing the name's significance for that culture. So they might well be doing it because they know it'll get a reaction.
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You're right to a certain extent, but I would note that when the Batshit Insane Contingent of Christianity blows up Planned Parenthood or shoots an abortionist, the rest of us rise up in a body and go "NOT US. We don't support this, nuh-uh."
Apparently the BBC is being more evenhanded in reporting these events, as curiouswombat has pointed out above. Nice to see that someone is.
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