Sudan Arrests Teacher for Insulting Islam

[That One Guy]

if you look at the history of human civilization, you'll notice that every major organized religion has gone through a phase of psychotic intolerance. It just so happens that it's Islams turn for the last century (ish). Next century will probably be the Jews (they've gotta have a pretty big bone to pick with the rest of the world by now).

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank organized religion for such wonderful moments in the last 5000 years as: The inquisition, the crusades, the dark ages in their entirety come to think of it, the witch burnings in Europe and new england, the molestation of untold numbers of hapless alter-boys, the 700 club(vomit) and oh yeah, lets not forget about the latest wave of Islamic jihad.


move along sheep-ple.

 

[Kacey]

Next century will probably be the Jews (they've gotta have a pretty big bone to pick with the rest of the world by now).

Uh... I'm Jewish, and I don't have a bone to pick with the rest of the world - nor do I appreciate being lumped in with some of the more fanatical practitioners of my religion, any more than Islamic moderates appreciate being lumped in with the more fanatical practitioners of their religion.

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, stereotypes are useful tools for categorising but dangerous ones for analysing. His core point is still valid tho' i.e. that cultures and religions go through cycles of ascendency, decline and belligerence.

We had ours and it's pleasant to think that the current 'aggressive' faith (ironic as that is for many muslims) would've learned from our mistakes - sadly, humankind doesn't work that way it seems .

 

[Kacey]

Aye, stereotypes are useful tools for categorising but dangerous ones for analysing. His core point is still valid tho' i.e. that cultures and religions go through cycles of ascendency, decline and belligerence.

I don't dispute the cyclical nature of culture; however, I do dislike being categorized by one facet of my cultural background as much as any other member of a particular cultural group. As you say, analysis based on such stereotyping is dangerous - I think that using such stereotypes for categorization is also dangerous, as it causes people to overlook anything that does not fit the stereotype, for both good and bad.

We had ours and it's pleasant to think that the current 'aggressive' faith (ironic as that is for many muslims) would've learned from our mistakes - sadly, humankind doesn't work that way it seems .

Sadly, no... which brings us back to a group of young children who, apparently in all innocence, named a teddy bear for one of their number, leading to the arrest and punishment of the teacher who, based on just such categorization, must (in the opinion of the Sudanese government) have been deliberately, with malicious forethought, intending to be disrespectful to the Islamic religion - whether that was her intent or not appears to have been totally ignored in the aftermath.

 

[Sukerkin]

As you say, analysis based on such stereotyping is dangerous - I think that using such stereotypes for categorization is also dangerous, as it causes people to overlook anything that does not fit the stereotype, for both good and bad.

No argument from me - I concur that such a simple aphorism cannot encapsulate the whole when it comes to sociological study. I was just being hastily brief in attempting to defuse any inadvertent offense the previous poster may have caused.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Islam in Africa is a truly unpleasant thing. Take a religion with very specific views on such things as intolerance and the position of women and combine it with the tribal cultural beliefs of Africa. The result? A staggering ability to be insulted by the smallest remark, a double, reinforced mistrust and contempt for women, and an intolerance which boarders on being a psychosis.

With this situation it is becoming more and more obvious that it is not about religion, that is merely the mechanism that is being employed.

When you get things like this (thanks Ceicei for posting them):

In leaflets distributed earlier this week by Muslim groups, the protesters promised a "popular release of anger" at Friday's protests.
The leaflets condemned Gibbons as an "infidel" and accused her of "the pollution of children's mentality" by her actions.

"This an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad," he said.

But an office assistant at the school, Sara Khawad, complained to the Ministry of Education that Gibbons had insulted the prophet. Khawad testified at Thursday's trial, chief defense lawyer Kamal Djizouri said.

Khawad "was doing this out of revenge against the administration," Djizouri said. He did not elaborate. But the director of the school's Parent-Teacher Association, Isam Abu Hasabu, claimed Khawad had argued with the principal before the incident.

Comparing the Prophet Muhammad - Islam's most revered figure - to an animal or a toy could be insulting to Muslims. But Boulos said that, contrary to earlier reports, no parents had complained.

It becomes apparent that something other than the defence of religion is occurring.

 

[Big Don]

Mohammad is the most popular boy's name in the world, should all the parents of boys named Mohammad be imprisoned, whipped or killed?

 

[Big Don]

Financial Times and Reuters are reporting that Sudan has pardoned Ms Gibbons. While this is a good result. I don't see it calming those who were chanting for her death...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7bb0f360-a178-11dc-a13b-0000779fd2ac.html

 

[CoryKS]

http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/12/sudan-pardons-teddy-bear-teacher.html

I think this guy got it right. This is another case where they gin up some ridiculous accusation with a harsh penalty so they can look beneficent when they drop the charges.

 

[Steel Tiger]

I am very glad to hear Ms Gibbons was freed but the circumstances are still appalling. The Council of Muslim Scholars is still claiming this will harm Khartoum's image in the Islamic world. It's not a nice thing to see someone so poorly treated, apologising for offending the Sudanese people.

Well this will now disappear from the news and be forgotten about, but the essential problem remains. There are many in the Islamic world who are taking advantage of this current atmosphere of trying not to offend anyone by being offended by anything and everything and then screaming for blood.

It is interesting that no one has apologised to Ms Gibbons for her treatment, but then again she is a prophet-hating infidel who deserves no respect or consideration.

 

[Ceicei]

I read today's article from CNN and there was one small paragraph that caught my attention.

Meanwhile it was revealed on Monday that a disgruntled former employee alerted Sudanese officials about the case in an effort to shut down Unity High School.

Interesting. It looks like the one who made the initial report (Sara Khawad) is no longer an employee at the school. It is possible the school may have fired her. I wonder if she had thought her action would lead to such an international event? Is just firing her enough of a lesson?

- Ceicei

 

[Steel Tiger]

I read today's article from CNN and there was one small paragraph that caught my attention.



Interesting. It looks like the one who made the initial report (Sara Khawad) is no longer an employee at the school. It is possible the school may have fired her. I wonder if she had thought her action would lead to such an international event? Is just firing her enough of a lesson?

- Ceicei

I fear that people who are that small-minded and petty will never get it, no matter how harsh a penalty is applied.

 

[Tez3]

Ten minutes ago at ten o'clock (night) London time the BBC news said Ms Gibbons had arrived safely in Dubai and would be arriving at Heathrow in the morning. she was reported as being in good spirits and amazed at the amount of attention she had received.

 

[Sukerkin]

Glad to know that she got out of this morass unscathed. A brisk lesson in the effects of nuclear energy is clearly no longer required, altho' education in what constitutes a 21st rather than a 14th century mindset may well be.

I may not be so lucky, however.

Whilst I shall certainly not be faced with loonies on the streets (paved wth our money by the way) braying for my execution, certain comments I have unknowingly made in the hearing of those of the Muslim persuasion at work, with regard to the idiocy of such behaviour, have been made note of.

There is no god higher than HR, lest anyone forget.

 

[grydth]

The ultimate losers in all this? Kids like the ones in this woman's class. Celebrities are on a campaign to draw attention to the genuinely awful situation faced by regular folks in the region. They say it is being ignored..... and it will be. Totally.

So now who's going to volunteer to go help? Who's going to send $20, figuring it will go to the drooling cleric judges or the cannibal mobs in the street?

There's no shortage of other charities or disaster areas in this world to send volunteers, supplies and foreign aid to.

The sentence you read about was one on a harmless and good woman. The sentence you won't read about is the sentence on 10,000 kids - death by starvation.

 

[newGuy12]

There's no shortage of other charities or disaster areas in this world to send volunteers, supplies and foreign aid to.

True. And some will not act so violently at the drop of a hat. Time to move on, I'd say.