[DarkBasilisk]

I'm not even kidding:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/11/30/sudan.bears/index.html

Hundreds of angry protesters, some waving ceremonial swords from trucks equipped with loud speakers, gathered Friday outside the presidential palace to denounce a teacher whose class named a teddy bear "Mohammed" -- some calling for her execution.

...

He said Gibbons asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats.

I welcome anyone to even try to explain how this is the kind of thing God/Allah/whatever would want, I'd love a good laugh. I'm actually religious but I'm more and more shying away from organized religion because of stuff like this. Religious leaders all over the world (especially in the Middle East) just seem to be going completely insane nowadays.

[Flipside]

I'm pretty certain of two things....

1: That crowd didn't spontaneously materialise out of nowhere, they were organised and sent, and due to the almost complete lack of media coverage of this in the Sudan, they are probably misinformed as to what she actually did.

2: This has far more to do with looking 'hardcore' than anything to do with Islamic faith in general, it's about the religious sect trying to flex its muscles, and the Government caving in to pressure.

[BloodEagle]

The actual punishment is 40 lashes.

[Flipside]

The punishment can be anything from imprisonment to 40 lashes, I would have expected the 40 lashes are intended for those who make deliberately insulting comments towards Islam, not for someone who named a teddy bear in innocence. There's a reason theres a grading to the punishment, and that is so it fits the crime.

If she somehow insulted the religion, then that is for diplomacy to resolve, I'm not sure theres a precendent for naming a teddy bear, but calling for the worst punishment for what even the Sudanese are calling a minor infraction is more centred around her nationality than her crime.

[BloodEagle]

The funny thing is that she didn't name the bear. The kids in the class voted on it.

[Flipside]

I know, that's the craziest part of it... my own feelings on it are this:

Woman arrested for allegedly insulting Islam, fine, that's fair enough, if there is a complaint it needs to be investigated.

Woman put in jail for minor insult, ok, the details here are sketchy, a bit suspicious, but it's only 15 days, when she gets back to the UK she's pretty much assured a well-paid job and would not suffer repercussions from the Muslims in the UK because they pretty much are as shocked as anyone else at the outcome.

But..... This wasn't enough for the Hardliners, not the sentence, but the lack of attention they were getting, so they deliberately arranged for a crowd of people to turn up and turn a rather delicate situation into an International incident.

I have no doubt whatsoever, that was the precise intention of whoever arranged that crowd.

[Polpolion]

I'm sad now, because I couldn't care less if someone named a teddy bear Jesus. Makes me think I should be more involved with my religion.

[Flipside]

Believe me, it's good that you couldn't care less, I'd be extremely concerned if you found it offensive to be honest.

In fact, I rather like to think Jesus would be pleased that someone named a Teddy Bear after him

[Polpolion]

Yeah. If God is supposed to be all understanding and omnipotent, I'd think he'd be more of the cool guy to think "haha lol I'm a teddy bear" as opposed to "OMGosh!! SACRELIGE YOU NAMED A FREAKING TEDDY BEAR AFTER ME YOU IDIOTS!!! START GROVELING NOW AND YOU MIGHT NOT BE TORTURED THAT MUCH IN HELL!!"

[Sarafan]

I welcome anyone to even try to explain how this is the kind of thing God/Allah/whatever would want, I'd love a good laugh.

OK, I'll try.


You see, when Allah created the world, bears were opposed to the humans having five fingers, they wanted four 'cause it would be equal to theirs and represent the secret sacred number of Allah, but Allah said no due to undisclosed reasons and he banished the bears to the land of no honey and only fish but the Great Bear blah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blahblah, blah and that's why in Islam, a bear named Allah is a capital and serious offense.

[BloodEagle]

They didn't name the bear Allah. 

[Sarafan]

They didn't name the bear Allah. 

I know, that was only the first part of the trilogy, have some patience while I write the rest.

[Nuke]

I'm not even kidding:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/11/30/sudan.bears/index.html

Hundreds of angry protesters, some waving ceremonial swords from trucks equipped with loud speakers, gathered Friday outside the presidential palace to denounce a teacher whose class named a teddy bear "Mohammed" -- some calling for her execution.

...

He said Gibbons asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats.

I welcome anyone to even try to explain how this is the kind of thing God/Allah/whatever would want, I'd love a good laugh. I'm actually religious but I'm more and more shying away from organized religion because of stuff like this. Religious leaders all over the world (especially in the Middle East) just seem to be going completely insane nowadays.

all religion is organized religion. unorganized religion is called paganism.

[DarkBasilisk]

I misspoke then, I mean more that I'm leaning more towards keeping a Christian faith, but less about considering myself under the authority of any church and such. In other words my interpretation and beliefs would be what matters. Not dictates by other humans.

[Rictor]

In fact, I rather like to think Jesus would be pleased that someone named a Teddy Bear after him

Or a bowling pederast.

But seriously, this is some retarded crap. Mohammed is one of the most common names in the world and, as I've recently learned, the 2nd most popular for boys in Britain. These people are idiots and none of their points have credibility aside from the points of the homemade machetes they appear to be wielding.

[Unknown Target]

Islam: The religion of peace!


Yes yes I know it's only radicals and blah blah blah. I don't care. This is stupid.

[Dark RevenantX]

I know a person who calls himself Jesus (Gee Zus, not Yay Sous).  Try calling yourself Allah and see how long you live in Muslim countries...

[MP-Ryan]

There's a little misunderstanding in this thread.

Islam has the same prohibition as early Christianity did against idolatry.  Muhammed was a Prophet in Islam, not the equvialent of a God or Jesus figure, and direct worship or depiction of Muhammed is frowned upon.  That said, from the articles you can see that Islam itself has no consensus about what actually constitutes idolatry.

[TrashMan]

Well I'm saying - comparing Islam and Christianiy, Jesus is much higher in "rank" to christians than Muhhamed is to muslims, since well.. Jseus is God, while Muhammed, as great a prophet as he was, was still human.

Yet naming a teddy bear Jesus would even be considered sweet.. or naming your son like that.

Some really f*** up people living there

[DeepSpace9er]

Come on people.. everybody knows muslims are all peace-loving people. They never want to kill anyone over frivoulous things like cartoons, the pope's praise of some emperor who lived 1000 years ago, and the naming of a teddy bear mohammed.

It is funny how every other muslim is named mohammed and they get all bent out of shape when a teddy bear is named mohammed.