Is Calling A Teddy Bear Mohammed Blasphemous?

[DjDan]

Many people are named "Jesus". This is not an unusual name... and none would taken offence at naming a teddybear "Jesus".

 

Mohammed is also a popular name. It's crazy that it could be blasphemy to use the name for a teddybear.

[mollag]

Many people are named "Jesus". This is not an unusual name... and none would taken offence at naming a teddybear "Jesus".

 

Mohammed is also a popular name. It's crazy that it could be blasphemy to use the name for a teddybear.

I know of spaniards named jesus but no northern euros, i do seem to remember being told that the name jesus was "disallowed" in the UK

Ask Ian Paisley if he would be offended by naming a teddy bear jesus,

[Mr Woo]

I could understand the fuss if she had named an obvious image of Mohammed "Hug Me" or "Yogi" or some such. Also, we tend not to use Jesus as a name, I don't know anyone of that name whereas Mohammed is a very common name amongst Muslems, apparently it's now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in the UK (if all 14 spellings are used) owing to Muslem parents preferance for names that show a link to the Prophet. That would possibly explain why the children voted for the name in the first place.

[Mutley]

Her get out of jail card for this is to explain that as she's a Scouser she named the bear "Me hammered" as a cautionary tale for the youngsters but with her accent it was misheard by the local zealots.

[Lonan3]

It's unfortunate the UK media have focused on this case when a far worse one is virtually ignored.

 

In Saudi Arabia, a 19-year-old, who has not been named, was travelling in a car with a male friend last October when the car was attacked by a gang of seven men who raped both of them. She has become known as the "Qatif girl", a reference to the largely Shia town where she lives.

Four of the attackers were convicted of kidnapping but the court also sentenced the rape victim and her friend to receive 90 lashes each for the crime of "illegal mingling".

Last week, the court increased the woman's sentence to 200 lashes and six months in jail. It also banned her lawyer from the courtroom and took away his licence. The Saudi justice ministry said the sentence was justified because the woman was in a car with an unrelated man.

So far, it appears that only Hilary Clinton has dared to lift her head above the barricades, calling it an "outrage" and rebuking President George Bush for failing to confront Saudi officials over the case.

Dubya, of course, has kept his head down while the UK was too busy showing King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud around Buck House and offering whatever he wanted to be bothered about such trivialities. What does the fate of one person matter compared to the great issues of state after oil all?

[feelslikeitshould]

I feel the worst is yet to come for this girl. It turns out, she was having an affair with the guy she was in the car with, adultery is a pretty major crime in Saudi Arabia. I think the fact she was jailed and had her 90 lashes increased to 200 because she dared to appeal is the most shocking thing about the case. Considering she and the man she was with were kidnapped and gang raped by 7 men, what kind of message does this send out to other women in Saudi Arabia? They are already treated as second class citizens.

 

Further to this case, a 15 year old Swiss boy was kidnapped and raped while his friend was forced to watch, he fled the country with his family because they feared he would be prosecuted for being homosexual....the boy eventually returned for the trial after the state said no charges would be brought against him.

 

The fact that any victim of rape could ever possibly be punished for events leading to it is beyond comprehension.

[bluemonday]

Shhhhhh fancy criticising an oil rich country with lots of lovely money to buy our shiny new fighter planes and other delightful weapons.

 

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news.asp gives a good indication of what's going on in the world.

 

Also the BBC has regularly featured the "Qatif girl' for some weeks now.

 

A typical treatment of women in a 'kingdom' that thinks it's in the middle ages - overlooked in the cause of the greater good - trade and oil.

 

Wow can't you tell I'm not trying to sell the primitive bastards anything?

[Stavros]

I think this woman must be mad.

 

What on earth made her think that having a teddy bear in a climate like that would be a healthy thing to do. Don't you realise that bears have fur and are not native to that country. It must have been an intolerable situation for the bear to be in and she must be punished.

 

Think of the bears!

 

Stav.

[mollag]

Lest we forget that christianity has its strangeness, Jim Jones for example, their are so many more

 

DES MOINES, Iowa - An instructor at an Iowa community college claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve is a fairy tale and should not be interpreted literally.

He said he called the story of Adam and Eve a fairy tale in a conversation with a student after the class and was told the students had threatened to see an attorney.

“I just thought there was such a thing as academic freedom here," he said. "From my point of view, what they're doing is essentially teaching their students very well to function in the eighth century

 

 

A decision in 1999 by the Kansas Board of Education to delete the teaching of evolution from the state's science curriculum has angered the mainstream science community in the United States….BUT then in August 1, 2006, the creationism majority on the Board of Education was voted out of office and pro-evolution candidates were given the majority once again and on February 13, 2007, the Board voted 6 to 4 to reject the amended science standards enacted in 2005. The definition of science was once again limited to "the search for natural explanations for what is observed in the universe.”

[Chinahand]

I can't believe they've actually charged her with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs.

 

Ridiculous.

 

Talk about oppressive, dogmatic, and blind to the reality of what the teacher did - unless something else has occured we know nothing about!!

 

I feel sorry for the Muslim Council of Britain - it must be uphill work trying to show that Islam isn't a repressive, vengeful religion based on Medieval methods and justice when things like this keep occurring.

 

Looks like the Sudanese Ambassador got it wrong!

 

British teacher has been charged in Sudan with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that charges have been laid against Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said he will summon the Sudanese ambassador "as a matter of urgency".

 

In a statement, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "surprised and disappointed" at the charges.

 

A spokesman said the first step was to "understand the rationale behind the charge", something which would be discussed by Mr Miliband and the ambassador as soon as possible.

 

The Muslim Council of Britain reacted angrily to the news, saying it was "appalled" and demanded Mrs Gibbons' immediate release.

 

"This is a disgraceful decision and defies common sense. There was clearly no intention on the part of the teacher to deliberately insult the Islamic faith," said Secretary-General Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, in a strongly-worded statement.

 

"We call upon the Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir, to intervene in this case without delay to ensure that Ms Gibbons is freed from this quite shameful ordeal," said Dr Bari.

 

Earlier, the Sudanese Embassy in London said the situation was a "storm in a teacup" and indicated that the teacher could be released soon, saying the incident was based on a cultural misunderstanding.

[the mo beats experience]

Letting the class pick the name for a teddy bear is inciting racial hatred?

[cheesemonster2005]

Yes it'd ridiculous because the teacher wasn't aware of the offence (OK not being aware is not justifiable in court though) and she didn't mean offence and she probably thought it was an appropriate choice given that so many boys around the world are named Mohammed (it's the second most popular name in the UK).

 

Hopefully common sense will soon prevail.

 

 

* fixed a typo

[oldmanxfella]

Hopefully common sense will soon prevail.

 

Yeah. Like it always does with Islamic Scholars.

[Cret]

Interesting to see the comparison of what is deemed to be "inciting racial hatred" in the two countries:

UK - Being an unhinged hook waving madman fundamentalist encouraging people clearly in public to rise up against the infidels and get all jihad on their ass etc etc

Sudan - Allow children to name a cuddly toy a very popular name.

 

It's just twisted and I hope that somehow this poor woman (and the other ones mentioned) manage to somehow get out of the bullshit they've had thrown at them.

[mollag]

Interesting to see the comparison of what is deemed to be "inciting racial hatred" in the two countries:

UK - Being an unhinged hook waving madman fundamentalist encouraging people clearly in public to rise up against the infidels and get all jihad on their ass etc etc

Sudan - Allow children to name a cuddly toy a very popular name.

 

It's just twisted and I hope that somehow this poor woman (and the other ones mentioned) manage to somehow get out of the bullshit they've had thrown at them.

good comparison