Coming on top of the sentence imposed on the unfortunate Saudi gang-rape victim, Miss Templeton protests this latest excess of absolutist Islamic jurisprudence, and writes…
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Sudan charged a British teacher Wednesday with inciting religious hatred after she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad, an offense that could subject her to 40 lashes, the Justice Ministry said. The charge against Gillian Gibbons was sure to heighten tensions between Sudan and Britain. In London, Foreign Secretary David Miliband urgently summoned the Sudanese ambassador to discuss the case, the British government said. Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after some of her pupils' parents complained, accusing her of naming the bear after Islam's prophet. Muhammad is a common name among Muslim men, but giving the prophet's name to an animal would be seen as insulting by many Muslims. Yes, it's just another 'click-me' Yahoo headline, but am I right in thinking "This global religious fundamentalism thing they've all got going on...maybe a bridge too far?" Paddington Bear asks you to spread the word...
I can only shake my head and agree as we attempt rapport with these horrible 12th century maniacs.
And yet, not a single Islamic parent has ever been arrested for naming their child after the prophet.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty intense name fetish they got goin' there . . .
ReplyDeleteIf I got upset every time somebody used words like faggot or gay I'd never relax.
By the way, I just heard Roger Waters' "Yellow Rose" song for the first time. Wow, that's weird . . . perhaps evidence of the collective unconscious? Mother-fetish racism? Where's Abbie now? "He's always off somewhere when I need him most . . ."
Who is this "we" you speak of?
ReplyDeleteWe profligate oil-wasting inhabitants of so-called developed nations.
ReplyDeleteOK, I was a little worried that you imagined that there was some identity between your readers and the government. You know, that whole hippie "we are all responsible" for Viet Nam thing? That always seems to get watered down to consumerism- as if "we" were given very many meaningful choices. Coke or Pepsi? Which country should "we" invade first? CNN or Fox? Heart disease or cancer? The freedom and responsibilities of the global marketplace....
ReplyDelete