Yesterday when I heard the news that a teacher had been arrested after the children she was teaching had named a stuffed toy Mohamed, I was not even sure if this was something real or a joke. In a way my initial reaction was correct, as it was true and a sick joke.
The more I discovered the more I could see that Gillian Gibbons was and is completely innocent. Had it been that she had imposed the name without regard for the culture or sensibilities of the people of Sudan, then she could have been seen as foolish or arrogant, but that is not what happened. It was the children who made the choice of the name.
All this happened in September and it was only after a recent complaint from a parent that this poor teacher was arrested. As a spectator on life, I could see that naming a teddy bear after the prophet in an Islamic country was likely to cause a problem. However, I suspect that the teacher felt that as it was the children who made the choice it was an act of praise.
Whatever the reasons to then charge this teacher with blasphemy is childish, however the punishment she faces is far from childish. Gillian Gibbons faces six months in prison or forty lashes.
Personally I have a real problem with all religions, especially when they are so intolerant. If naming a bear is so insulting then so should it be insulting to name your children Mohamed. I really wish that people would grow up and realise that others may not share your faith in a mythological higher power. I don’t advocate anyone being deliberately insulting, but I wish they would grow up.
Far to often religious leaders are repressive of any other view or prospective. Further, religion is often utilised as a tool to repress women and strip people of there human rights. This story comes hot on the heals of another where a victim of rape was prosecuted and sentenced to two-hundred lashes for sexual misconduct, she allowed herself to be raped according to the Islamic law, in Saudi Arabia shows just how dangerous religion is.
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