The Pageless Book

If there is one thing I cannot wrap my brain around, is how naming a teddy bear after the prophet Muhammad could ever be considered insulting. In case you haven’t heard, a visiting British teacher was imprisoned by Sudan on November 25th for letting the children in her class name a teddy bear “Muhammad.” She could have gotten up to 40 lashes with a cane and 50 days in jail. The good news is that the President of Sudan stepped in and pardoned the lady after a few days in jail. The bad news? There were actually protests against her release in Sudan.

As a Westerner, I can’t hope to understand why this would be an offense that warrants even an hour of jail time or one dollar fine. If I were to name my Cthulhu Plush after Jesus Christ (which I have not done - by the way), it would be tasteless and insulting. Yet, most Christians would just shake their heads, tell me that I am an idiot, and go about their day. And rightly so. To do anything else is adding more power and meaning to the actions of one fool.

And yet, this action was not the action of a fool, but instead the decision of her class. Children as young as 9 felt that a cuddly stuffed animal, the symbol of childhood innocence, should be named after the Prophet Muhammad. This is so saccharine sweet that I’m getting a tooth-ache just thinking about it.

Can anybody help me understand this mess? I’d like to believe that I’m a tolerant and open minded individual, but I just can’t be tolerant of this. Is there anyone else who feels as I do?