British Teacher Faces 40 Lashes for Naming Class Teddy Bear 'Muhammad'

British Teacher Faces 40 Lashes for Naming Class Teddy Bear 'Muhammad'

www.foxnews.com

A British primary school teacher arrested in Sudan faces up to 40 lashes for blasphemy after letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was arrested at at Khartoum's Unity High School yesterday, and accused of insulting the Prophet of Islam.

Her colleagues said that they feared for her safety after reports that groups of young men had gathered outside the Khartoum police station where she was taken and were shouting death threats.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well yet another example of how Islam is a religion of love and peace. This is insane, they act like they were going to worship this bear like some kind of idol or something. I'm sure she was trying to relate to her students and give the bear a name they could all relate too. A term of endearment type thing, Geesh.

IMO she will be lucky to get out of this country alive, and these zealots will probably follow her home, and just ...... She didn't even name the bear the kids did!!!

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 26-11-2007 by LDragonFire]

Next time she should name Mohamed a rat pet rather than a teddy bear.

Anyway how can she be arrested when she is not in an Arab country specially when she is not Arab but British.

I see she was working in Sudan, well she as a guess of the Nation of Sudan should had abide by their culture, believes and laws.

I think that I will put the blame on her now.

Still I think that she should have named a rat pet Mohamed rather than a teddy bear, poor teddy.

[edit on 26-11-2007 by marg6043]

What is with this religious hatred?!

I've seen it from all sides, all religions, and don't try to claim any of them are peaceful, all religions have been guilty, and will be guilty again in time.


The stupid part is, all current religions are almost identical when you take a step back and look at them. Why are they fighting? It's senseless.

If they want to fight something, we atheists can stand a few punches. We have NOTHING in common with any religion, hit us a few times... at least none of us will strike back with radicalism. I would gratefully see all religions single out Atheists such as myself instead of each other if it would bring some form of relative peace.

At least that would give you lot a chance to come to terms with your own differences.

I'm sorry but these savages in the Sudan look for any reason to oppress anyone that is not Muslim. I'm sure they will rape her before beating her.

reply to post by LDragonFire


the bear already has a name, "Teddy". naming bears goes back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt. I think he fought with mohammed for the for the naming rights of stuffed bears on the shores of Tripolli and won. But, fourty lashes is a bit excessive 35 should do.

reply to post by cloakndagger


I am not Muslim, and I don't like to associate myself with any religion...but that statement was a bit harsh. Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jewish people, they have all done wrongs in the past. One shouldn't demonize a religion due to extremists. I can name things every religion has done terribly. No one comes on top in this debate.

Why does this kind of thing always decends into the "savage muslims", it's the powers that be in Sudan among others who commit these atrocities in the name of Islam, you can't tar every muslim with the same brush.

Also, I can't imagine the British Government will allow this to go through.

Originally posted by V0NkA1N87
Why does this kind of thing always decends into the "savage muslims", it's the powers that be in Sudan among others who commit these atrocities in the name of Islam, you can't tar every muslim with the same brush.

Also, I can't imagine the British Government will allow this to go through.

But this is happening as well:


Unless they are lying about this story.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying many terrible things are done in the name of Islam, as are in most religions throughout history, but to say that all muslims are savage, evil etc. is just ignorant.

If naming a teddy bear mohammed is illegal than so should be naming your child mohammed. What's the difference?

I imagine one of the children took offence and decided to put a little spin on it for support - people don't just fall into madness for no reason, after all.

The same could be said about the large gatherings in town squares in Iraq and Afganistan of muslims - even there it will be only a select group of people whom are leading the masses.

It's easy to label an entire people as racist or prejudiced against the wets, but the simple fact is that often times they have had the words put into their mouths by the hate-preachers.

They are no more to blame than those who blame.

Originally posted by LDragonFire
Well yet another example of how Islam is a religion of love and peace. This is insane, they act like they were going to worship this bear like some kind of idol or something.

These sort of crap only happens in certain Muslim majority countries. It's got a lot to do with the socio-economic situation and the level of education.

Further information here:

List of Muslim majority nations, with the crappy ones in BOLD
Factors that square into the equation (of why they're crappy)

Those are my posts from almost two years back. I'm tired of rehashing/retyping it... if you really want to deny ignorance, you'll click on them. Feel free to respond to the socio-economic angle there if you want. The thread could use a bump.

reply to post by Throbber


The answer you seek are in the above links.

I'm normally quite "right on" when it comes to religion & the sensibilities of others. But these backward Islamicists are doing my head in, 40 lashes for a teddy bear's name - for goodness sake how ridiculous is that ? Every bit as daft as Saudi courts sentencing a rape victim - victim not perpetrator - to 90 lashes.

I'm listening to her boss right now on BBC trying to make the distinction between her naming the teddy bear maliciously or innocently ... for goodness sake who cares ? 40 lashes for that is totally unacceptable.

They want to be treated equally then they should be made to adhere to Humans Rights Conventions like the rest of the civilised world. Until then we should treat them like pariahs. And don't wait for the British government to do anything, apart from "expressing deep concern" ... that's about their limit.

Originally posted by MGauntz
reply to post by cloakndagger

 

I am not Muslim, and I don't like to associate myself with any religion...but that statement was a bit harsh. Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jewish people, they have all done wrongs in the past. One shouldn't demonize a religion due to extremists. I can name things every religion has done terribly. No one comes on top in this debate.

The problem with being an apologist for these muslims and then trying to compare what they currently do with other religions is that the other religions did all that in the past, sometimes centuries ago. Well, muslims also did their barbaric actions back then, but they're still doing them now - in the 21st century - and that's the difference.

Time to stop apologizing for these muslim's actions and start condemning them for what they are - barbaric.

Originally posted by V0NkA1N87
Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying many terrible things are done in the name of Islam, as are in most religions throughout history, but to say that all muslims are savage, evil etc. is just ignorant.

For what seems like the 10,000th time on one of these threads, who said "all" muslims? Give it a rest. Stop trying to deflect this crticism of their barbaric actions by claiming that there really are peaceful muslims. Everyone knows this thread is only referring to the extremist muslims. You know, the ones that believe in sharia law ...

[edit on 11/26/2007 by centurion1211]

Get off your high horses everyone and maybe check some other sources before jumping on the bloody bandwagon...

If you check here...

news.bbc.co.uk...

it says she might just get a fine...

and also SHE didn't name the teddy, a seven year old child named the teddy.... so stop your muslim bashing and realise that you might just have misheard things....

I agree with one of the above posters who said, why don't you start bashing us atheists, cos at least we won't be reduced to your religious radicalism, whether that be christian, muslim or whatever...

Sheesh...

If angry men have gathered outside, then don't blame their religion, they are angry, they are obviously mistranslating the situation and probably don't have access to any decent media there, so no doubt they are getting chinese whispers...

Im with Centurion on this one. Of course nobody is talking about all Muslims. It is not all Muslims....However...It is also time that the rest of the Muslims stand up and denounce this type of treatment. It is time the UN step into these matters.....and step away from the "internet" matters The UN is busy condeming the use of tasers....but not the senseless whipping of innocent people? WTF?

reply to post by mr-lizard



Yes we need to keep the facts straight:



If some one acts barbaric, why would anyone label them as civilized. They have a very conform to our beliefs or die mentality, at least their leaders do, and groups of young men outside the jail.

reply to post by mr-lizard


She's a BRITISH CITIZEN , presumably like you - and locked up in some manky Sudanese jail for doing next to nothing whatsoever. Put yourself in her shoes, eh ? There she is, out in Sudan and trying to help out by teaching their kids & in the most miserable circumstances and she gets locked up in jail for nothing more than an innocent faux pas.

So quit the hand wringing please .... don't you have any feelings at all for fellow Brits ?