Pete_C

I was just watching the news and the story regarding Gillian Gibbons. This is it.

Now, it occurred to me that IF God did exist (which of course he doesn't), he might find it quite nice to have a bear named after him. I also wonder if the Muslims themselves have missed a trick. As the general tide of Western opinion turns against them, might a bear called Mohammad at least win them some new friends?

As for the teacher, she needs a beating for that haircut. Doesn't she know she's dealing with impressionable children?

Lote-Tree

You don't know much about religions do you?

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I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell:
And by and by my Soul return'd to me,
And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell :"

Lote's Tales and Poetry

VigorousMastication

God's name is Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet

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My way of joking is to tell the truth. That's the funniest joke in the world.
-Muhammad Ali

Amara-J

I can't claim to speak for all Muslims, but anything seen as an attempt to insult the Prophet's name is taken really, really seriously in some quarters. It does depend on the territory though. Over here, in the self-described "moderate" (at least for now) Muslim-majority developing nation where I live, which is Malaysia, you get the odd occasion and restriction or two. But if something like your news article came up here, and someone complained, the responses would probably be something like this:

1) verbal fire from a few hardline imams (community religious leaders),
2) a scholarly, and mostly balanced independent newspaper article or two on the proper use and reference of the Prophet's name (for information's sake),
3) letters and debates in the newspapers,
4) a comment from a government official to, shall we say, tell the protesting parties to keep things in perspective (which they've done before).

And the situation would gradually die down after a while. No arrests, no blasphemy charges, no fatwas issued. I guess Sudan is terribly different.

(Offtopic, should anyone want to read about contemporary Islam, monotheism and religious fundamentalism, Karen Armstrong is a good and prolific writer. Some of her books are banned here, though.)

~Amara-J

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Any moron can
write haiku. Just stop at the
seventeenth syllab

~ Reader's Digest, Nov. 2002 Joke

Baron

This quote from the article really got my attention:

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smilinghelps

Wasn't it the children who named the bear? And didn't they name him Muhammad after a Prophet they love?

I would think if it were considered that way, from the innocence of children's love, it would be honorable.

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"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
E. B. White

Shavixmir

A teddy bear is a fierce and dangerous animal??
What the hell is a real bear then?

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In Vino Veritas

Malone

Number one threat? BEARS!

I guess Colbert was right. Stupid shit like this is why I hate any religion. It just proves you have to be an idiot to dissillusion yourself enough to care about stuff like this.

abbeyd21

The way people interpret religion is and always will be flawed. Most of the world view religion as a justification for mistreatment of others. At times the mistreatment is as minor as prejudice (which is not minor but I'm talking just about the idea of prejudice, not the actions it leads to) and can be as major as the extinction of everyone outside one belief system. As silly as it is the movie Dogma has it right. People went wrong when the made religion a set of beliefs. Beliefs are very difficult to change. Religion should be based upon sets of ides that everyone can agree on. Ideas of respecting the people and things around themselves.

Pete_C

The interesting thing is that if it ever comes down to a war with the forces of Islam, I'll be the first one outside the mosque in my Teddy bear costume. They'll all be locked inside, shitting themselves. It'll be just like the acid days all over again.

HarryG

If the woman gets forty lashes, let it be for the hair, and why didn’t Cassius Clay get a fatwah, or at least a few lashes - now he really was taking the piss.

hobbish

I think the point Baron is trying to make is that there is no such thing as a "teddy" bear in the Sudan. I don't believe they have the concept of cuddly toys of animals there. All they see is an animal with the name of their prophet attatched to it. I don't think she should be punished though. It's clear that the children named the bear (not that I think the children should be punished either).

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St. Thomas Aquinas said "he who sings prays twice". St. Thomas Aquinas never heard William Shatner sing "Rocket Man"

Shavixmir

I remember, when I was working at a refugee camp in Hellevoetsluis (if ever there's a light at the centre of the universe, Hellevoetsluis is furthest from it... The Tatooine of Holland) I was called on the CB to come to the volunteer office (the volunteers help the refugees with their court cases, I was a social worker there) because a rabid dog was terrifying our clients.

A rabid dog in Hellevoetsluis? Fat fucking chance anything that exciting was going to take place there! But I wasn't gonna miss out, just in case.
So I got my arse over there as fast as possible.
I kid you not, refugees (mostly from various African countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan at that moment in time) were cowering in doorways, sticking to corridors (as if the rabid dog won't see them if they act like a painting) or running around shrieking.
Again, I kid you not, I did feel a moment of panic.

I carefully made my way to the office and peered my head around. Two of the volunteers were stood on a desk, a refugee was standing in the windowsill and there, in front of the desk, stood what looked like a 15 year old Labrador with its tongue hanging out its mouth; barely able to stand on its own four feet.
It wasn't even drooling!

I took it back to the farm where it had obviously, demented, wandered from and was hailed as hero!

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In Vino Veritas

Hodge

God. Say what you want about Christianity, but at least they don't lock you up in prison if you make fun of Jesus.

He was totally a pothead, you know.


Those people over there need to lighten. The. Fuck. Up.

It may take a war to get rid of this bullshit fundamentalism, unfortunately. It took World War II to get rid of fascism and to show us the follies of radical nationalism. Let's hope it doesn't take World War III to show us the follies of radical fundamentalism.

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Science

Hodge

I think we should have an "insult the prophets" day where we insult ALL prophets from ALL religions. Sure, Christians will spew a lot of hot air, but who'll be the ones sending terrorist threats everywhere? Not the Hindus, not the Jews, and certainly not the Buddhists. It'll be the muslims. And not even American muslims, because they're all level headed and moderate and not wacko, but muslims over in the Middle East who distract themselves from their rampant domestic problems by yelling, "jihad!" at us for not "respecting" their religion the way they think we should.


It's the same bullshit that they pulled when that Danish guy drew Muhammed in a political cartoon. I hope he does it again. And again, and again, and again. Then I hope he gets together with Salman Rushdie and Richard Dawkins to invent a laser that they can use to draw a picture of Muhammed on the moon so those violent, fundamentalist assholes over there have to just suck it up and stop whining like a bunch of little fucking children whose dad won't let them sit on the big boy potty.

If I could draw, I would draw Muhammed and post him up all over the internet. Maybe they'd get mad if I drew a stick figure with the word "Muhammed" on top of it?

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Science