Religious Sensitivity Gone Mad

[Steve]

This is absolutely ridiculous! 

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1687755,00.html?cnn=yes

A Teddy bear that is an "insult" to Islam... what next?  They actually want to lash this woman or imprison her for 6 months.  Men showed up to kill her, what the hell is going on here?  This has got to stop.

-S-

[Steven]

There are some things for which I have no respect whatsoever; the form of Islam practiced in most Islamic countries is one of them. I have yet to see any evidence for this so-called "moderate Islam"; extremist views seem to be the norm. Even in some western countries, like Britain for example, 30% of Muslims believe apostates (people who renounce Islam) should be put to death; I would say that's fairly mainstream.

Anyone heard of Ayaan Hirsi Ali? Her story is quite amazing. She is a former Muslim from Somalia who became educated, renounced Islam and became a politician in the Netherlands. She helped make a documentary criticizing the treatment of women in Islam with Theo van Gogh, for which he was later murdered and death threats against her pinned to his body with a knife. She now has to live in a secret location under heavy guard. But she continues to speak out against fundamentalist Islam (or simply 'Islam' as she calls it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuaMHiMsRuY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COn4Kb-GE9w

[Brennan]

The notion that religion is beyond the realm of criticism is not justifiable when living in a country with freedom of speech. Seriously though, a damn teddy bear?

[Katie]

And what's worse, the kids were the one who actually picked the name! The teacher was merely going along with the class consensus. I don't know, maybe it's because she's foreign that they are being harsh on her. They probably wouldn't have made such a hissy fit if it were a Sudanese Muslim who named the bear Muhammed.

I don't get it. People name their male children Muhammed all the time. Isn't it just as much of an insult to Muhammed to name a fallible, common boy after him than it would be to name a Teddy Bear after him? At least the Teddy Bear can't do anything "wrong". The boy named Muhammed could grow up to be a deviant, a criminal, or even an apostate. The Teddy Bear just sits there.

[Steven]

Behead those who say Islam is violent!

[Steve]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/11/28/sudan.bears/index.html

The Sudanese government has now officially charged this poor individual with insulting religion and inciting hatred.  This means that it will go to trial.  If she is found guilty she will be lashed 40 times and liable to incarceration.

Enough is enough.  I think we should seriously consider writing letters to Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Bernier, and encourage him to officially condemn the actions by the Sudanese government.  Stiff sanctions would also be delightful.

This individual is not a muslim!  Why should she be subjected to the ridiculous barbarism of Shariya law?  She is getting no respect whatsoever in all of this. 

"This woman is being dealt with in the proper ways in accordance with the laws of our country," says Khalid Mubarak Sudan's media representative in London.  He refers to her specifically as a "woman".  He does not use her name or the term person.  He is showing just how much respect he, his government, and his ass backwards religion have for women. 

How about our first official statement of condemnation.  We should officially condemn religious laws that are inseparable from actual law, and apply to people that are not members of that religion. 

I am going to start writing my letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs today.

-S-

[january]

At least she had the good fortune of being a white foreigner. Otherwise she might have gotten 200 lashes and two years in prison...but she'd have to gang-raped first.

[Steven]

At least she had the good fortune of being a white foreigner. Otherwise she might have gotten 200 lashes and two years in prison...but she'd have to gang-raped first.

Well they bring it on themselves, by being so immodest as to show their ankles or something equally obscene....

[wordwan]

Islam.

Ever notice that:

I slam

Islam.

Hm

Hate seems to be the first thing any 'group' is taught. How lovely for us all.

H

[X]

An interesting opinion was made appearant to me this weekend.

I told my older sister, who happens to be your average, one-every-few-weeks Christian, about the teddy bear incident.  She thought it was rediculous and utterly wrong.  She wondered how those people could not see the violence and hatred their religion spawns.

Then I mentioned "The Golden Compass", and it's athiestic overtones.  She immediately became offended at the very thought that anybody would dare try to criticise Christianity.

Why do people think it's okay to criticise any religion but their own?

(Yeah, I know it's not strictly related to the topic at hand, but it is sort of applicable to it.)

[Steven]

An interesting opinion was made appearant to me this weekend.

I told my older sister, who happens to be your average, one-every-few-weeks Christian, about the teddy bear incident.  She thought it was rediculous and utterly wrong.  She wondered how those people could not see the violence and hatred their religion spawns.

Then I mentioned "The Golden Compass", and it's athiestic overtones.  She immediately became offended at the very thought that anybody would dare try to criticise Christianity.

Why do people think it's okay to criticise any religion but their own?

(Yeah, I know it's not strictly related to the topic at hand, but it is sort of applicable to it.)

I'm not sure why people think it's okay to criticize religions other than their own. Part of it obviously has to do with education, not knowing about other belief systems and not realizing that it is completely accidental that they happened to have been born into christianity. When you're brought up to believe that only you have the truth and you're surrounded by people reinforcing that belief, it must be hard to break out of that way of thinking.

As far as criticism goes, one thing that really gets me is when someone like Ted Haggard does something "immoral" and other christians denounce them as not being "true christians". I saw a thing on Real Time with Bill Maher where they were discussing "Jesus Camp" and one woman said something to the effect that "they weren't real christians". How much more real does it get? These people interpret the bible literally so I would argue that they're being more true to their religion than most liberal christians.

So really, the problem is that these people actually take holy books literally. This especially applies to Islam. The koran actually does say those horrible things about cutting off people's hands, flogging, and crucifying apostates. State and church are one in the same as prescribed in their book. I just don't see how Islam can be reconciled with the kind of world that I wish to live in. I'm not advocating a war or anything like that, but I think everyone needs to stop pussyfooting around the actual problem here: it's not fundamentalists, it's Islam itself. I like Carl Sagan's quote that "it's good to be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains fall out".

Just my two cents....

[january]

So really, the problem is that these people actually take holy books literally. This especially applies to Islam. The koran actually does say those horrible things about cutting off people's hands, flogging, and crucifying apostates. State and church are one in the same as prescribed in their book. I just don't see how Islam can be reconciled with the kind of world that I wish to live in. I'm not advocating a war or anything like that, but I think everyone needs to stop pussyfooting around the actual problem here: it's not fundamentalists, it's Islam itself. I like Carl Sagan's quote that "it's good to be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains fall out".

Just my two cents....

Yeah, this is what drives me nuts about 'cultural relativism'. If a culture does something immoral based solely on the argument that this is their beliefs and tradition, we should damn well be able to say 'hmm, not a great reason'. This includes our own culture. It horrifies some people to imagine criticizing an entire way of life that is so different from our own...I mean, I understand the desire to remain respectful of differences. But there are some things that are just objectively wrong, in all situations. Like the subjugation of women, slavery, torture, etc. If people are doing reprehensible things, violating human rights and stuff...they shouldn't be allowed to hide behind a book.