Teacher Held For Naming Teddy Bear "Mohammed"

[KingVoyeur]

I know it's a different culture and all, but this does seem like taking it a bit too far.

Teddy Trouble For Teacher (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7114439.stm)

The thing I'm having trouble wrapping my head around is the fact that (1) she didn't name it, the class did, (2) the class chose the name after the most popular kid in class, whose name is also Mohammed, and (3) it's apparently ok to name your kid Mohammed but not a teddy bear.

[Bokchoi Cowboy]

Seems pretty blown out of proportion.

One of the factors of the case, the cultural/religious "rule" that making an image of The Prophet Mohammed is forbidden, is something I don't fully understand. This topic also popped up during the big fiasco about those cartoons (Dutch?) of The Prophet that were published a while back that resulted in the riots and death threats to the cartoonists.

Certainly there are images of Mohammed in paintings and historical texts. He was a historical figure, whose existence I suppose has been proven, so why the ban? I can understand an aversion to putting Mohammed into a bad light or diminishing his importance to those who hold him sacred, but from what I gather, there is pretty much a total ban of all types of images of him. That is what I don't understand.

[omicron]

Boki, you're asking religion to be logical. That's not possible otherwise it would be science. :)

[spammityspam]

There's kind of a taboo in Islam against trying to understand God or Mohammed. Making an image of either is an attempt to make sense of them, which is an insult to their divinity. (I think.) There's also a less-strong taboo against making images of animals or people, because doing that invites worship.

But yeah, religion makes little sense. That would be why it's religion.

[KingVoyeur]

So then why is it ok to name your kid Mohammed? Couldn't that be viewed as trying to personify His image?

[Al-Dog]

I’m all for being culturally sensitive, and respecting people’s cultural and religious beliefs, but it has to be a two way street.

It seems pretty obvious that the teacher wasn’t trying to offend Muslims by calling the teddy bear Mohammad, a simple “Excuse me, we don’t name stuffed animals after our prophet, only every other male child” would have sufficed.

There’s no need to send her to jail for an obvious mistake. People are crazy.

[Bokchoi Cowboy]

KV has a point: why is it okay to name your kid Mohammed if everyone is so friggin sensitive about imagery in that religion? Wouldn't that put people who know the kid's name is Mohammed at risk of violating religious sensitivities? Every time they acknowledge in their mind the kid's name is Mohammed, wouldn't there be a chance they might subconsciously equate his face with the idea of Mohammed the Prophet? Isn't that putting an image to the idea?

I know, logic vs religion again. Can't win.


This is almost as bad as the kneejerk reaction the Brits themselves had a while back in the "Pig on the cup" fiasco.

[UNCLEagent]

Thank god the bear's middle name wasn't Jesus.

[neglet]

Or Jehovah. :eek:


<sounds of stoning>

[fastcar]

But in latin, Jehovah begins with an I.

Yeah, sounds like people are living in glass houses and dressing in plain sight on this one.

[Bokchoi Cowboy]

Thank god the bear's middle name wasn't Jesus.


Hey, that is another one that confuses me. How come I have heard the line: "Don't take the Lord's name in vain" from people whom I know are Catholic of Mexican or other Hispanic descent whose name is 'Jesus"? Isn't naming your kid after the Son of God a bit presumptive and blashpemous under that idea of "name in vain"?

[KingVoyeur]

Annnnnd it's official.

Teacher Charged With Insulting Religion With Teddy Bear (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22007049/)

"...charged with inciting hatred, insulting religion and showing contempt of religious beliefs after her class named a teddy bear Muhammad..."

They make it sound like she wears a big black cape and went BWA HA HA HAA after the class chose the name.

And to answer my own question, it's ok to name Muslim men after the prophet but insulting to name an animal after him.

[spammityspam]

Naming male children Mohammad is a way of honoring the prophet -- they name for honor and for the dead all the time in that part of the world and were doing it way before Mohammad himself was around, so I think people are exempt from the rule.

Taking the Lord's name in vain is (in Christianity) blaspheming, not just using the name. Using God or Jesus in less-than-respectful tones or not as a name would be taboo, but because naming your child after someone is a way of honoring them, naming Emmanuel or Jesus would be allowed. Jesus was also a pretty common name in Judea, and we have no such compunctions about other names from then -- Mary, Elizabeth, David, etc.

In Judaism, where the commandment initially applied, you were never allowed to speak the name of God, and obviously no one could be name after the Messiah because they didn't have one.

[UNCLEagent]

I know are Catholic of Mexican or other Hispanic descent whose name is 'Jesus"? Isn't naming your kid after the Son of God a bit presumptive and blashpemous under that idea of "name in vain"?

Not if you're naming him after your gardener.

[KingVoyeur]

Well, at least she's not getting whipped, but I think it's still an overreaction.

Teacher gets 15 days and deportation. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,313690,00.html)

[UNCLEagent]

Jesus!

Their zealot nutjobs are actually making our zealot nutjobs look reasonable and sane. I would have sworn this would have been thrown out.

:confused:

[Bokchoi Cowboy]

Talk about zealous nutjobs, now there is a report the populace is demanding the teacher be EXECUTED!?!?!?!


WTF is up with these assholes?!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071130/ap_on_re_af/sudan_british_teacher





Man, I am gonna have to start shipping that coffee-cup that I found (from the "pig on cup" political correctness debacle in Britain this past year ) to random addresses in Sudan. THAT should cheer up the population!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v432/webdev/PIGLETMUG2.jpg



*

[Al-Dog]

The people calling for that teachers’ execution are fucking insane.

How can you live in this world if you are so thin skinned?

[mckracken]

its the heat over there that makes them all riled up

[rappites]

And the sand in the crack of their ass wearing a raw spot above their anus.

[mckracken]

when I read that they were demanding her to be executed by firing squad I realized theres no reasoning with these people ...at all.. they are just fucking nuts and thats that. No reason, no logic, no sanity....but, they only protested outside the school for an hour so that is good... perhaps the heat and the sand up their buttcracks convinced them to return indoors?

It also makes me wonder WHY people from the UK (and the US) are still willing to teach these kids over there at all.:headscratch: It just blows me away, people, teachers are still willing to go into hostile territory to educate these assholes kids. You would think with everything thats on the line, they would just simply say "no way, Jose... send them to a school in the UK instead."

By the way, it was a parent of one of the kids in her class that complained! (I was wondering if that parent was at the protest demanding her executed by firing squad?)

they really are stupid people. This whole thing is **almost** playing out more like the religious zelot plotline in The Mist.... truth is scarier than fiction apparantly.

[UNCLEagent]

People calling for tolerance and understanding of these cultures have always (as difficult as it was) forced me at some point to try and step out of my bubble and see it from their eyes.

This one crosses the line.

No degree of sensitivity; no degree of Bush-bashing and loathing; no measure of introspection can excuse this. I recall people making the case for these loons when it was the Dutch cartoonists. Now its a fucking teddy bear.

Sorry. Sometimes the world is black and white, and it sort of proves the case that has been maintained (and ignored by many) for so long: there are dangerous assholes out there. Dangerous for their beliefs and their ass-backward ways. Primitive as hell, and given an ounce of encouragement, would be willing to toast this world into a cinder-block.

Now.... lets all hug. :D

[rappites]

~~hug~~


And a quick pinch on the bottom for luck.

[mckracken]

an ounce of encouragement and an AK-47 assult rifle and rocket launcher apparantly.

...which brings me to my next question: who thought it a smart idea to pass out rocket launchers and AK-47's to these civilians in the first place? It seems like everybody has at least 3 or 4 of each, and they find ways of replacing them, and a never ending supply of ammo for their AK-47's

[DarkJedi]

True sign that Intelligent Design (Os) is too busy plotting to take over the world at the moment to post here..Our Photoshop God, the man who has incriminating photos on a lot of us, has posted a picture of that damn Piglet mug and Os hasn't responded. It's effing awesome to have Boki back though. I've missed him.

That Mug debate was nutty anyway.

And Uncle said pretty much what I'm thinking. In some cases, I'm all for tolerance but these zellies are nuts for acting like this.

[KingVoyeur]

Recent news stories report that Sudan's president gave her a full pardon. It's nice to know that at least the country's leader is sane.

[spammityspam]

Either that or he's aware of the public relations shitstorm that would go down if he gave her so much as a slap on the hand. Clearly the debate was ridiculous, but regardless of how he felt about her "crime," Sudan's getting enough bad press without killing someone over a teddy bear.

[Bill_the_Pony]

The Teddy Bear is to blame for this grave insult to Allah and the Great Prophet Mohammed! :mad:

Death to the infidel satan teddy bear! :mad: :mad: :mad:

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2006/08/muslim220806_600x400.jpg

[Al-Dog]

Isn’t it interesting that every sign looks like they were printed by the same person? I guess they could only find one person who could write in English.

Also, I didn’t realize the Fantastic 4 were Muslim.

[Bill_the_Pony]

Also, I didn’t realize the Fantastic 4 were Muslim.

Well, I've not heard of any good movies from Islam EVER....and Fantastic Four sucked bigtime. :rolleyes:

Therefore.... :headscratch: :mad: !!!!!!!!!