Thursday, November 29, 2007

Sensitive Issues!

We sure do have different ways to perceive things and when it comes to religion, we tend to get even more sensitive and particular. A British schoolteacher got the taste of this when she was put behind bars in an overcrowded Sudanese prison last night after being convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear 'Mohammed' which happens to be a very common name in the Muslim world. I can actually count nine of my good friends named Mohammed!

Could it be that she had no intentions to insult the prophet but just went with the student’s request? After all it was the student’s idea not hers. Yes, she could have said no but who would have thought it was such a big deal? Gillian Gibbons, apologized and escaped the sentence of 40 lashes but she still served a 15-day sentence in a women’s prison considered extremely harsh by Western standards. We sure have to be cautious while addressing sensitive issues!

5 comments:

Amanda said...

Crazy by our standards, but I guess it just made sense to the people around her? I dunno how I would feel if someone named their stuffed animal Jesus (me being a Christian), I guess it would depend on their intentions. Maybe they thought she was poking fun. Or maybe we've all just gotten a little too sensitive, yikes.

Cocaine Princess said...

I went to school with a boy, he was Irish-Catholic, red hair and pale with freckles and his name, Mohamed. His father was a sports fanatic of M. Ali. Wonder if he would have been sent to jail?
XOXOXOXO,
Cocaine Princess

Elise said...

Its completely ridiculous! If the teached had cut off the bear's head and dipped it in red paint then that would be offensive. Calling a teddy bear Mohammad is not being offensive. There are criminals with the same name in prison, I don't see whoever named them getting lashed!

sagun said...

Hello friend. Nice to see your blog.It's even nicer that we are from same country. We all love Nepal. Do keep in touch.

Shane said...

Elise said it best, a name is a name and it was most likely innocent in nature. People need to relax in general things like this are getting out of hand.