| superchunk said: As a Muslim I am completely disgusted that this event even went this far. As any Muslim I fully respect the Prophet as I do any prophet. I would not name my pets Jesus, Moses, or Muhammad. However: 1. It is a toy. Not a real bear. 2. Its clear from the circumstances, she had no malicious motives. The MUSLIM kids chose the name. They really liked/loved the toy and probably named it Muhammad out of that same love. 3. This is more of a universal Islam issue where extreme view points have corrupted Islamic thought. Christianity went through its dark ages and with help from Islamic Spain it had a Renaissance. Islam is now in its dark ages where extreme thoughts prevail logic. Hopefully, like Islamic Spain used education and teachings to assist the beginnings of the Renaissance, the Western world will do the same for Islam. Wars and support of the many dictators in the region will only keep this type of extreme ignorance burning. |
A good example of a non-radical Islamic view.
In any case, I think it is somewhat ironic that this country very likely would have collapsed by now if not for the work of people like this woman. I wouldn't go so far as to say it makes them ingrates as they feel they are protecting something sacred, and you have to respect that at some level. But you would be hard pressed to convince me that they genuinely feel she was attempting to demean their faith.
At some point common sense enters the picture, or more specifically a sense of survival enters the picture. And what I mean is that I think you will find less people willing to go to Sudan and volunteer because of this. And had they given this woman 40 lashes I think you might have seen economic support start to wane a bit.
And in that regard, I will say this. The US may not have the right to interfere with the laws of other countries but it definitely has a right to determine where we send our humanitarian aid. And making those choices based on the safety and wellbeing of our volunteers is about the best criteria you can use.
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| To Each Man, Responsibility |
