REVrant 31.6 - British Teacher Charged In Teddy Bear Incident
News - Current News On Beliefnet.
You’ve probably heard about this. A British teacher in Sudan is being charged with inciting “religious hatred” for allowing her students (7 year olds) to name the “class teddy bear” – Muhammad. Read the story – it was an innocent class project! If this wasn’t serious, we could laugh it away. But the 54 year old teacher – Gillian Gibbons – has been arrested after some of her pupils(?) complained, and could be subjected to “40 lashes, six months in prison, and a fine.” This region of Sudan is governed by “Sharia law” which strictly denounces such alleged blasphemy against Muhammad. Whenever incidents like this happen, my mind usually goes in three directions: 1) Muslim extremists seem to get a free pass from the PC cops – apparently, “We can’t offend the Muslims,” 2) “Jesus Christ” is fair game as a term of blasphemy or cursing on a daily basis throughout the world with no ripples (“Don’t worry about offending the Christians?”), and 3) Why are there no global “moderate” Muslim voices speaking out against such barbarism?

Did you hear her final sentence today? She got 15 days in prison (she's already served 5) and deportation after that. Her attorneys and Britain are disappointed and called it "harsh", but the Sudan authorities said she got off easy simply because of how major her sentence could have been. Wow.
Posted by: Anna Thorne | Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 06:16 PM