John North Editor & Publisher

Religious intolerance should be an oxymoron because, after all, religion is supposed to be about honoring the divine through practicing love, respect and harmony among human beings.

In my estimation, it would not include threats ó and actions ó that involve ìreligiousî people inflicting their vision of the will of God on others, including punishment and even death.

Thatís why I am deeply troubled by the ridiculous scandal that recently erupted in Sudan, where 54-year-old Gillian Gibbons, a mother of two and British schoolteacher in Sudan, was subjected to a eight-hour trial and subsequent rioting by a knife-wielding lynch mob.

For the crime she was charged with ó inciting religious hatred, ironically enough ó she faced potential penalties of a whipping of up to 40 lashes, a maximum of a year in jail, a fine and deportation.

What did Gibbons do to merit such outrage and harsh punishment?

Surely, it must have been something really abominable, such as child abuse, vandalize a mosque or attack a religious leader.

No, indeed, Gibbons committed the unforgivable sin of allowing her six- and seven-year-old students to name a teddy bear ìMuhammadî as part of a class project. Islamís prophet is named Muhammad, and some followers believe bestowing his name on anyone or anything ó other a boy ó is an unpardonable blasphemy.

Ultimately, she served part of a 15-day jail sentence† ó not a pleasant experience in impoverished Sudan. Following an international uproar, and much effort by two British Muslim diplomats, she was granted a full pardon by Sudanese president Omar al Bashir early this week and is leaving the country.

No doubt a condition of the pardon was the written statement Gibbons issued in which she said she was sorry if she had caused distress and added that she had ìgreat respectî for Islam. She also reportedly said she is ìsad to be leaving Sudan.î

If I were her, Iíd be thrilled to be leaving that hotbed of lunacy ó the same nation that is committing the Darfur genocide.

This episode follows in the same vein as the Theo Van Gogh killing, in which a knife was left pinning a note to the Dutch filmmakerís chest, warning others not to criticize Islam, as he did in a recent film.

Other episodes of violence by Muslim extremists include widespread riots, resulting in a number of deaths, that followed a Danish newspaperís publication of entries in a cartoon contest depicting images of Muhammad; and the longstanding death threats against Salman Rushdie, author of the ìSatanic Verses.î

What, in the name of Allah, is going on here?

In the aftermath of Gibbonsí sentencing, Sudanís capital was a boiling cauldron of pious fury last Friday. ìThousands of knife-wielding protesters took to the streets of Khartoum today to demand the execution of the British primary school teacher who let children in her class name a teddy bear Muhammad,î The Associated Press reported.

About 10,000 people attended the protest outside the presidential palace in Khartoumís Martyrs Square, demanding the Liverpudlian be killed by firing squad. Ironically again, the rally was held after Friday prayers.

The AP also reported that pickup trucks carrying Sudanese demonstrators drove around the capital blaring out messages to Gibbons that included ìNo tolerance: executionî and ìKill her, kill her by firing squad.î

The jihad against Muhammad, the teddy bear, stemmed from a project initiated in September, when Gibbons, who had been in Sudan for a month, asked pupils to suggest names for a bear. The children were directed to take the bear home and write in a diary about their experiences.

The name chosen for the bear was Muhammad, one of the most common names in Sudan. The diary featured a picture of a bear on the front and the label: ìMy name is Muhammad.î

The barbaric response from many extremist Muslims directly clashes with Western traditions of free speech and of tolerance and respect for different religious practices.

In my view, these Muslims are the ones who have committed blasphemy by turning the name of a prophet into an idol to which no perceived insult can be taken lightly. I mean, Muhammad has been deified, but he never claimed to be God.

Whatís even more sacrilegious than the idolization of a prophetís name is the hatred that its use inspires in those who claim to be his followers. They are turning Islam into a rogue religion, or at least their warped, hyper-fundamentalist version of it.

Instead of threatening others and being so prone to interpret othersí actions as insults, these fundamentalist extremists should look within ó at themselves ó and try to become better human beings who make the world a better (and more peaceful) place.
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John North, publisher and editor of the Daily Planet, may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .