Teddy Bear 'Mohammad'

And the saddest irony . . . I suspect Mohammed would have laughed and been flattered.

I don't know if anyone has ever been to vatican city, but you can't wear shorts there, you can't have a silly haircut, there are all KINDS of things you have to respect while you are there.....

I don't think this is any different.

I don't believe she was insulting Islam - but she was a little naive.

So not being able to wear shorts is the same thing as being KILLED for naming a teddy bear? or the idea that if a young woman is raped, she is punished for it?

Dizzy.... Please....

But I'm not sure that its evidence that Islam is a threat to civilization.

She won't be killed for it...

I can guarentee you that.

And yes, I believe it is the same thing. Different punishments maybe

Other faiths have evolved into the 21st century. It is now Islams turn...

As for what I quoted, I agree. That is, I agree until a idea of universal tolerance of everything 'forces' us to turn a blind eye to outrages such as this... To brush it off as, "to each their own". If a civilization is not willing to take a stand for its most basic principles, it neither can nor deserves to survive.

You stand for something, or you stand for nothing....

Yeah... Because she is in hiding. give that mob 10 seconds with her and see what happens.




MAYBE different punishments? I cannot believe you are using THAT as your defence.

Where do you draw the line then? Like I just said... You stand for something or you stand for nothing.

No, its not. But two notes:

1) This is Sudan, which regardless of religion, is a umm . . . not very civilied place might be the polite way to put it.
2) Two, it was not so very long ago that people were burned at the stake for:
a) Saying that the wine and bread at communion were not the literal flesh and blood of Christ but rather symbolic
b) Asking if Adam and Eve had a navel (note, that's not answering, its ASKING)
c) Being Jewish
d) Being an old woman who likes cats
e) Being unpopular with hysterical teenage girls (actually, that was hanging, not burning)

And as for women accused of fornifaction (which in many cases included rape unless she could prove she fought tooth and nail and was willing to die for her virtue . . . and then it was still her word against a man's): well, burning, hanging, flogging, the stocks, and ostracism were all popular.

This doesn't make it right, and simply comparing the outrages of one religion to another doesn't justify either. However, acts of stupid religious fanaticism are not confined to one religion, and in the past, ALL religions have been guilty of them. Particularly when we are talking about the hinterlands of a faith, where people make up for a lack of education and understanding of their own religion with militant enthusiam. (The Taliban in Afganistan? Most of them couldn't even read their own language, let alone classical Arabic). I'm not defending this . . . its stupid and cruel and more than that I believe that Mohammed (not to mention God) would be appalled. But I'm not sure that its evidence that Islam is a threat to civilization.

Obviously certain humanitarian changes need to be made, but I see no reason that they should be forced into the Western way of doing everything. Isn't that just a touch ethnocentric? Why is our way the best way? No, I'm not talking about killing people over teddy bear names, but addressing some comments.

That is a great post.

It is ridiculous to us, but not ridiculoous to them. It is a huge deal in Islam that nothing is accidentally worshiped, which is why there are these huge outcrys over things such as teddy bears named Muhammed and cartoons of Muhammed. It's offensive to them. However, that does not say that imprisoning her is right. It also does not say that what happens in Sudan is typical of all Muslims' beliefs or even typical of Muslim countries.

One horrible example of taking the Qu'ran to extremes comes to mind. I can't remember where this was, but anyways... There was a house fire and two women came out of it, without their heads covered. The officers there to rescue them sent them back into the house to cover their heads and they both died. I'm sure that's where the story would end if it were reported here- "Two women die in fire because their heads weren't covered', however there was a huge outcry there, the officers were punished. just because something horrible like that happens in a Muslim country does not mean that the actions taken are the actions of the majority of the people or even of the way the government is supposed to run.

That and there are so many schools of thought within Islam to try and say an incident iwth a teddy bear is proof that Islam itself needs to westernize is a bit naive. If you study Islam for even just a little time, one of the first things you should notice is that you cannot define most beliefs as Islamic. They're too different! There are basics, yes, such as the fact that there is only one God and Muhammed is his prophet, but the other teachings and practises vary so much. Also, the next thing I noticed was how similar Islam is to Chrisianity.

Obviously certain humanitarian changes need to be made, but I see no reason that they should be forced into the Western way of doing everything. Isn't that just a touch ethnocentric? Why is our way the best way? No, I'm not talking about killing people over teddy bear names, but addressing some comments.