Teddy Bear “Crisis”: Quotes From “Free Ms Gibbons” Facebook Groups

by Drima on November 30, 2007

NOTE: Scroll down for the post on the Teddy Bear Crisis.

NOTE II: Expect a follow-up article about this issue very soon. 

Ah, how I love the internet and the freedom of expression it provides. I discovered three Facebook groups dedicated to opposing the imprisonment of Ms Gibbons. Two are started by Sudanese. The following is a representative quote from one of them:

To the Sudanese government: SHAME ON YOU! YOU HAVE INSULTED MY RELIGION , ISLAM BY DETAINING GILLIAN, YOU HAVE LOWERED MY PROPHET’S STATUS BY BEING SO PATHETIC AND YOU CONTINUE TO CAUSE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN DARFUR TO SUFFER. YOU CALL YOURSELVES MUSLIMS?, FOR SHAME! YOU TERRORISE YOUR OWN PEOPLE, AND DO THEM WRONG WHERE WILL YOU HIDE FROM ALLAH ON JUDGEMENT DAY?

{ 3 trackbacks }

Sudanese FaceBookers Defend Teacher « my treasure
11.30.07 at 5:30 pm
Post-Teddy Bear Crisis: Angry Atheists Vs Religionists : The Sudanese Thinker
12.02.07 at 2:41 pm
Hyscience
12.03.07 at 2:44 am

{ 62 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Stephen Solar 11.30.07 at 8:53 am

Gillian Gibbons jailed for insulting Islam? The Sudanes judiciary should be jailed for insulting intelligence. The prophet Mohammed preached peace and harmony, He must be in despair for the viciousness perpetrated in his name.

2 Steve Garside 11.30.07 at 2:30 pm

The Sudanese Government are just monsters, what a complete injustice to freedom.

With decisions like this, I can only be thankful of my own non-religious government.

Thank God/Allah/Buddha for countries where religion is a choice not a neccessity!

3 Neil Rankin 11.30.07 at 2:37 pm

It is my understanding that the current situation in Darfur leaves somewhere in the region of 3.5million people in desperate need of humanitarian aid. The UN have allocated a minimum of $13.5million to provide cross agency relief coordinated by OCHA and further to this are appealing to the international community for more funds. Women like Gillian Gibbons do not choose to work in countries like Sudan for a holiday. They leave their comfortable lifes to live in remote and troubled parts of the world because their compassion for human life regardless of religion or creed compels them to help their fellow man, sacrificing their own comfort to try and make a difference.

Your very welcome Sudan, thanks for understanding our occasional faux pas’ when it comes to your highly complicated and some might argue destructive religion. Sorry about the mix up, if you need any more help sorting our your humanitarian crises in the future then feel free to give us a shout, we’re always happy to lend a hand.

4 shayna 11.30.07 at 2:56 pm

Such insanity. No country should give any sort of aid to these idiots that call for the death of another human being over a lame butt idea of naming a teddy bear after anyone including one that claimed to be a prophet. How totally insane these goons are . Who do they think they are? Was their prophet such a insensitive person that he would call for the death of a human because a child or children decided to name a stuffed animal after him? GET OVER IT PEOPLE and move on to more important issues . like learning to love and respect one another , or doesn’t what ever faith you practice teach you that? Take your self-righteous attitude and stuff it, people that love to hate and kill really have no right to live on this planet.

5 Aaron Stewart 11.30.07 at 4:11 pm

“Kill her, kill her by firing squad! they chanted. No tolerance, execution!”

Nice.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2007/11/30/2007-11-30_sudanese_call_for_teddy_bear_teachers_de.html

6 Dalu 11.30.07 at 4:17 pm

This was on my local news. The news man kept saying she will be imprisoned for two years. I thought it was only for two weeks?

But yea, this is some crazy stuff.

7 tommy 11.30.07 at 4:53 pm

Michelle Malkin has a round-up:

Malkin quoting Boris Johnson at the Telegraph:

If you want grounds for despair, read the entries on the BBC website, in which some British Muslims say that she should be punished; or read the entries from people in Sudan saying that the children should be punished.

From CNN:

Hundreds of protesters brandishing swords and sticks gathered outside Khartoum’s presidential palace Friday to vent their anger against a British teacher jailed for allowing children to name a teddy bear “Mohammed.”

An undated amateur photo of Gillian Gibbons, who has been found guilty of insulting religion.

About 600 Islamic demonstrators piled out of mosques, chanting: “By soul, by blood, I will fight for the Prophet Mohammed.” Some of the protesters demanded the teacher’s execution, according to The Associated Press.

The agency reports that some chanted: “No tolerance: Execution,” and “Kill her, kill her by firing squad.”

8 Rara Avis 11.30.07 at 6:12 pm

of all the comments, the most that surprised is the one that actually reads the Daily News
hahahha no wonder there is a lot of confusion

what’s next? The NY Post? :-)

9 Twosret 11.30.07 at 6:35 pm

Very sad indeed and as I said in another blog the British Gov. should get this lady out of Sudan NOW.

10 Mizzcheef 11.30.07 at 6:47 pm

Where’s Richard Dawkins when You need him? I was a practising Christian but have seen the error of my ways. More and more we need to spread the gospel of atheism which is the only true way. Mind you, the nutters will find another reason to cause agro.
Poor Gillian, she is obviously just a teacher not a cultural expert (bit dumb if you ask me. Maybe her employers should have alerted her and all staff on potential insults (see hsbc adverts!)
As for Sudan, remove all British workers and stop aid. See how they like that.
Britain is a soft touch and they know it.
As for the average British muslims, this rubbish just causes more potential racism from non muslims looking for trouble.
Glad I calledmy puppy dog Teddy Bear and not Mo now phew.

11 Aaron Stewart 11.30.07 at 9:09 pm

“More and more we need to spread the gospel of atheism which is the only true way. Mind you, the nutters will find another reason to cause agro.”

You can’t be serious. Calling Atheism good news is like calling Global Warming a pleasant change in the weather.

12 Mizzcheef 11.30.07 at 9:18 pm

Well at least it’s one less thing to hide behind. Anyway, using the Sherlock holmes principle after checking off all the clues the end result must be the truth. There is NO proof for any higher being like it or not. I don’t have to like it but best to be adult about it. Get real about god(s) and bang goes one big reason for division. The truth can hurt

13 Yasser 11.30.07 at 9:19 pm

really , such those actions reveals the enviousness and the hatred of those who hate Islam . They also , by no means force the attitude of Islam.
Then, the rightest way is to kill such a Gillian and those who hate Islam inorder to wash the world from the evil.

14 Mizzcheef 11.30.07 at 9:28 pm

Not everyone gives a second thought about any faith including Islam or muslims. Folk who are so worked up about their chosen omnipotent being really need to get out more. Or better still, stop hiding behind itjust because they fancy a punch up

15 Mizzcheef 11.30.07 at 9:36 pm

Osama Bin Laden is mad about English football. Big fan. What does Mohammed think about that. OBL has taken his eye off the ball so to speak!

16 Aaron Stewart 11.30.07 at 9:42 pm

@Mizzcheef

“There is NO proof for any higher being like it or not. ”

I know this is derailing but you are using a tired argument that isn’t leap of science or reason but of faith. It is one thing to say that science can test for natural causes of things, it is quite another to insist that science proves that God cannot exist.

The existence of God can neither be proven nor dis proven, thus either side of the argument takes faith not reason. People behaving poorly does not disprove the existence of a higher being.

17 Mizzcheef 11.30.07 at 9:55 pm

Read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, he puts it more eloquantly and objectively than I could ever manage.
My atheism is not a pleasant realisation but at least I have to find a REAL reason to hate someone enough to imprison, fine or physically punish another person.
My mind cannot accept that blind hopeful faith is enough to prove the existance of God(s)

18 Andrew Brehm 11.30.07 at 10:32 pm

“My atheism is not a pleasant realisation but at least I have to find a REAL reason to hate someone enough to imprison, fine or physically punish another person.”

As if atheists have, as a rule, that problem.

Racism is not a real reason. “He is a reactionary” is not a real reason. But both are reasons atheists used to slaughter millions of people.

And Richard Dawkins would be offended if you called him “objective” on the theism-atheism issue.

“hose actions reveals the enviousness and the hatred of those who hate Islam”

Really. A 54-year old woman allowing children to name a teddy bear. You guys are wimps!

19 Ali 11.30.07 at 10:36 pm

the trouble with acts as stupid as the Sudanese government’s is that they are extremely mediagenic, even though they are isolated.

The mass murder of tens of thousands Arabs in Iraq at the hands of American Christians or mass murder of Arabs in Lebanon at the hands of israeli Jews never translate into a condemnation of Christianity or Judaism, but the incredibly stupid act of jailing a poor English woman in Sudan or condemning another poor Muslim woman in Saudi Arabia, who was was gang-raped, become useful incidents to condemn 1.3 billion Muslims.

20 Aaron Stewart 11.30.07 at 11:08 pm

“My mind cannot accept that blind hopeful faith is enough to prove the existance of God(s)”

You assume too much.

I resent the fact that you use blanket statements like “blind faith” as if that somehow explains every person that has a faith background, it is a weak non argument used by atheists to belittle people of faith when in actuality they don’t have anything more constructive to say.

Dawkins, though not objective by any stretch of the imagination, is on my list, should be a fun read.

21 Mizzcheef 11.30.07 at 11:13 pm

alright mr pedantic, you know what I mean, he keeps personality and emotion out of discussion. Anyway, site example of war in the NAME of atheism. Forget Hitler and Stalin, they were sociopaths.
What I mean, and you know it, is that history show many examples of faith related wars by various religious bents. All are wrong.
War and overt reaction is unacceptable. Bad behaviour normally stems from ignorance and intolorance. Lets start talking, chilling and giving the kiss off to any extremism.
Got to say, it would be funny if it wern’t real: Teacher doesn’t know local customs, some teacher.
Mind you, how much of the reporting is bang on the money in the first place?

22 Mizzcheef 11.30.07 at 11:27 pm

Ok, I take that back, many intelligent people are believers. But at the end of the day, Faith comes down to having to trust in something unproven. I’m too objective and had too many personal experiences in the world of God (Religion is a word I dislike) to be able to believe. I’ve read a lot of top books nearly proving the existance of God but I cannot buy it.
My non belief however is no reaon to persecute anyone else’s choice.
Some of the rules and regs in holy books seem like common sense to me anyway so, you know….

23 ratedrsuperstar 12.01.07 at 12:44 am

Yasser said:
really , such those actions reveals the enviousness and the hatred of those who hate Islam . They also , by no means force the attitude of Islam.

ok ummm exactly what is there to be envious of regarding the current state of Islam…the massive illiteracy, the ignorance, the superstition, the grinding poverty, the decadence and immorality, the lack of values, the honor killings, the childishness???

As for ridding the world of evil yasser, you want to see evil–just look in the mirror…

Drima…how do you deal with such people?

24 Simon D 12.01.07 at 2:18 am

Many want us to believe that Islam is a religion of ‘PEACE’ but I tell you it is NOT!

There are more than 100 verses in the Qur’an advocating the use of violence to spread Islam. In the Qur’an, “Allah” commands Muslims, ‘Take not the Jews and Christians as friends….Slay the idolaters [non-Muslims] wherever ye find them…. Fight against such…as believe not in Allah…’ (Surah 5:51; 9:5,29,41, etc..). Though most Muslims would shrink from obeying such commands, this is official Islam and it cannot change without admitting that Muhammad was a false prophet and murderer.”

I am glad I live in a country where I can have freedom of speech and freedom to offend Yes even Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and so on without fear of imprisonment.

The CULT called ISLAM should be banned to the middle ages where it belongs!

25 Isa 12.01.07 at 2:24 am

The Seven Deadly Questions of Islam

http://www.debate.org.uk/topics/apolog/question.htm

26 europia 12.01.07 at 3:46 am

There’s no religion of peace. Religion is some institution created by smart people of old days to control the crowd. Therefore, a religion is just as peaceful as it’S believers are.

Belief is, to me, an insult to the human mind as it is too obvious that any God has been created by mankind to take off man’S fears and worries. One more point strengthening my conviction is the cultural evolution of religion (polytheism=>monotheism aso.). The more educated people are, the more they change their faith, shifting away from the good old guy sitting in the clouds having fun on watching mankind genociding & exploiting each other to a more abstract one.

How can one be so arrogant to believe that within the whole universe, the truth has been delivered to a lowly developed tribal society a few thousan dyears ago?
How comes any almighty or all-knowing entity planted the seed for so much hate and terror? IS this entity not that perfect? Sounds too human to me to believe in…

The thing concerning me most is that any belief is a limit for thinking. For all I do not know, the easiest answer would be some undefined mystical entity which has never left any traces anywhere, exept some important pieces of very early literature…

27 Sheema 12.01.07 at 4:39 am

Hey Drima, I just checked Facebook and the number of groups supporting Gillian Gibbons has positively mushroomed!

I read that some Muslims orgs in London will be protesting at the Sudanese embassy there today…

28 Sheema 12.01.07 at 4:41 am

Erm, protesting in support of Gillian, that is. In case anyone misunderstands.

29 Yasser 12.01.07 at 10:33 am

ratedrsuperstar said:As for ridding the world of evil yasser, you want to see evil–just look in the mirror…

Drima…how do you deal with such people?
————————————————–
I think the evil end enviousness are you words. and if you want to see evil just look @ your naked bodies @ the mirror

30 Westerner 12.01.07 at 1:54 pm

See this smiley face? –> :-)

I am going to call that smiley face Muhammad.

:-) (-:

Am I inciting religious hatred?

sudanesethinker.com is probably not the place this needs to be said, but if Sudan wants international tourism and investment it can’t be seen to send someone to jail for what they name a teddy bear.

Reading opinions posted to the BBC I’ve noticed one person saying that “The teacher shouldn’t be punished, the children should!”, and another who said “How would Westerners feel if we named a teddy Jesus?”
We actually wouldn’t care, believe it or not.

31 Roman Kalik 12.01.07 at 4:44 pm

Mizzchief, many have died for scores of reasons over the millenia. Hundreds of reasons, thousands of reasons. In the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and any other Communist country, adhering to a religious faith marked you as a backward enemy of the people.

That marking often led to death. So yes, atheism can be used as an excuse to murder. Just like any other ideal can. You can kill for any Greater Good that Man can believe in, or twist to serve his purposes. It can be racial pride, religious certainty, class warfare…

You think that atheism is better than religious belief, because Atheism doesn’t divide. And yet you have already used it to divide yourself away from the ‘inferior’ believers. Perhaps you wish to claim that if all became Atheists, all will be equal and better off. The popes of the Crusades and the Inquisition would agree, as would the Almuhadeen and Osama Bin Laden, albiet regarding their own views regarding globalist religion. Atheism has started no wars? Tell that to the French having to escape the madmen of the Cult of Reason during the early post-Revolution years.

Modern-day Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have largely reached a mutual acceptance today, an understanding that there is more than one path for a man (or woman) to tread. Atheism attacks all such paths, and you say that *believers* divide? Hah!

32 tsedek 12.01.07 at 5:45 pm

OK - second try:

can anybody tell why the Prophet’s got a patent on that name?

it isn’t as if there were no Mohammeds around before him….

33 The Raccoon 12.01.07 at 6:51 pm

I find it remarkable that there are people who fail to realize that this is sheer madness. How stupid can people be? It’s a fucking plush toy. It’s not even a godsdamn cartoon - it’s a fucking teddy bear with a perfectly ordinary name!

Is there some strange cross-cultural tradition of lobotomy being practiced all over the world?

Sheesh. Good thing I gave up on homo “sapiens” a long time ago. Thinking man my hairy fanny.

34 Andrew Brehm 12.01.07 at 7:08 pm

“The mass murder of tens of thousands Arabs in Iraq at the hands of American Christians or mass murder of Arabs in Lebanon at the hands of israeli Jews never translate into a condemnation of Christianity or Judaism”

Oddly enough the STORIES about these things ALWAYS translate into condemnation of Judaism and Christianity (and the murder of Jews and Christians), even though the stories are never true.

The Americans are NOT killing tens of thousands Arabs in Iraq (although Saddam did), I mean _why_ would they?

And when Lebanon attacks Israel I would hardly call it mass murder when Israel shoots back (after dropping announcement leaflets telling people to leave, no less).

The difference is that “Muslims” actually commit mass murder and once you condemn THEM for it (not Islam, THEM), it’s somehow the Jews’ fault again.

And of course anything bad said about any one Arab these days is regarded as a statement about Islam, but not by right-wing neo-conservatives, but by the self-proclaimed Muslims.

Call the Iranian president a nutter and you are talking about the “Iranian nation” (as if THEY had a chance to vote against him and be represented by somebody less nutty).

But “Muslims” lie. That’s the problem. Islam does not condone lying, but self-proclaimed Muslims lie. That’s how Americans commit “mass murder” of “thousands” in Iraq. It’s a stupid lie.

And now feel free to say that I “insulted Islam” or whatever you like. If you are not man enough to represent yourself, pretend you represent a religion.

I am sure Allah won’t mind if you lie.

That’s the funny thing about Judaism. When you are in northern Israel and the Lebanese try to kill you because of who you are, it’s YOUR fault and YOU committed mass murder, not THEM.

But Judaism won’t be condemned for it, of course. The “Muslims” will simply try to kill all the Jews until “justice” rules the world.

35 Nobody 12.01.07 at 8:03 pm

# tsedek on December 1st, 2007 5:45 pm

OK - second try:

can anybody tell why the Prophet’s got a patent on that name?

it isn’t as if there were no Mohammeds around before him….

The irony of all this is that the teacher had probably no intention to insult islam or undermine the muslim faith … there is a disproportionate number of muslims bearing the name of the prophet which in some people can create the impression that muslims are fond of calling everything that moves muhammad …. of course to call a teddy bear muhammad after the danish cartoons is not a very smart act but then who said that all people are that smart ??

the agitation created by the danish cartoons was funny but this teddy bear is really hilarious … is there any pics of the teddy bear published on the net ??? i want to see what we are talking about

36 Aaron 12.01.07 at 8:06 pm

Is it an insult to the prophet when someone names their child Mohammad and grows up to be a complete asshole?

37 Nobody 12.01.07 at 8:16 pm

Roman Kalik on December 1st, 2007 4:44 pm

You think that atheism is better than religious belief, because Atheism doesn’t divide. And yet you have already used it to divide yourself away from the ‘inferior’ believers. Perhaps you wish to claim that if all became Atheists, all will be equal and better off. The popes of the Crusades and the Inquisition would agree, as would the Almuhadeen and Osama Bin Laden, albiet regarding their own views regarding globalist religion. Atheism has started no wars? Tell that to the French having to escape the madmen of the Cult of Reason during the early post-Revolution years.

good point RK

i also think that after the french revolution and pol pot’s killing fields the atheists should better mind their own business … far more people were killed by the atheist communists in the last century than by the nazis and others together while the pseudo enlightened and pseudo rational liberal elites in the west persisted in their apologetics of stalinism, maoism and other shit until it was no longer possible to deny the facts …

even these days you have noam chomsky who is taking american campuses by storm and the man just keeps messing with hezbollah, ahmadinejad and chavez … one can really start wondering if these people ever learn …

38 halalhippie 12.01.07 at 9:02 pm

O, ye who believe (ie. Muslims): You demand respect for Islam/the Prophet, does it occur to you that it gets harder to take you seriously every time ?

39 Mizzcheef 12.01.07 at 9:08 pm

OK, fair comment. There’s good and bad in all walks of life. But I’m not saying it’s my place to condemn any individual’s right to choose. I simply can’t believe. I find it odd that others can. Yes, there are many reasons used to declaare war (desire for a woman being a case in point) but believers in any faith that promotes love, understanding and welcoming choosing to persecute A. Another is obscene.
europia was bang on the money.
By the way god(s) or no, religion and all the rules and rituals are man made (no sexism intended for all the saddos)
I re-iterate, some of the guidelines make sense are morally sound and are practical. Just look back in history, learn the lessons and don’t let the meglomaniacs gain power

40 Roman Kalik 12.01.07 at 9:31 pm

Oh? What’s sensible about charity? Since when is being nice logical? Helping the elderly and the infirm is not sensible, they give nothing back. Best to just kill them off and save the money for more productive members of society.

Pure logic is for machines, Mizzchief. A lot of things “make sense”, but few of them are actually suitable for the smartass murderous monkeys that human beings are. Our very existence, with all the complexities of it, does not make any sense whatsoever. Part of belief in a superior “being” (a misleading word at best) is due to comprehending that we’re not that clever to invent it all as we went along, especially the ability to invent anything in the first place, and yearning to become closer to that source of your very being…

You don’t believe, which is your personal affair. You claim that a religious institution being used for hatred and conflict is hypocritical. It is, for the person who acts in such a manner. But why condemn all those who believe, is what I wonder? It’s akin to saying that we must abolish all ideals to make sure that no one follows a dangerous one, dismantle all states to insure that there will be no wars…

Or better yet, erase all that makes us human so that we can no longer harm other people. In short, utter foolishness.

41 Nobody 12.01.07 at 9:42 pm

as a matter of fact, mizzcheef, i am not a religious person … though i am not an atheist… more like agnostic … but in real life i prefer having a company of moderately religious people … from my experience hardcore atheism is not healthy, neither for people nor for society … despite the atheists claims to the contrary, my experience suggests that faith does make a difference between people in terms of integrity and readiness to give … i am familiar with several theories trying to base a satisfactory system of ethics along atheistic lines, from rational egoism to evolutionary psychology … all of them have left me unimpressed …. i am of an opinion that if more people were practicing some form of religion, the world would have needed many many times less psychologists and social workers

42 Mizzcheef 12.01.07 at 9:48 pm

I think you need to read my comments again. I said it’s not my place to judge, believe what you like, I don’t care.
You really need to lighten up like the other wound up springs.
Every human has basic needs most of us just want to get on and mind our own business. Live and let live. It’s tough enough without weaving man made smokescreens in to stir up trouble. Let the ignorant, well mening sap out and let’s get another front page story

43 ratedrsuperstar 12.01.07 at 9:58 pm

lol Yasser:
typical islamist minded comment–always thinking of naked male bodies are ya yasser lol lol lol

44 Nobody 12.01.07 at 10:11 pm

actually i dont know why people think that the middle east wars were all religious … the arabs have started getting religious fairly recently .. maybe since 20 years ago … but until then all parties involved were secular … on the arab side they had baathists, communists and other leftists … zionism originally was also a semi communist movement ..

45 Mizzcheef 12.01.07 at 10:23 pm

I can see it all now:
Where you off to?
Got to get me mat out and face mecca.
But the fire will go out if we don’t have more wood.
It will have to wait.

Where you off to?
Got to nip off to mass no.3.
But the kids need to be picked up from school.
They will have to wait.

Where you off to?
Got to sit cross legged in the dark and say mmmmm for 20 minites.
But we have to get off this island before the tide comes in.
It will have to wait.

Nutters the lot of you.
I don’t need manipulative mind control to know right from wrong. Then again, I do have the luxury of knowledge and freedom to think for myself.
Why would folk want to live under the cosh or force their view on others or cop the hump over a non violent act?
Nutters

46 Andrew Brehm 12.01.07 at 10:26 pm

Roman,

Well said.

47 Mizzcheef 12.01.07 at 10:32 pm

Good point nobody. in a nutshell, all forms of faith promoting understanding, tolerance and communication with neighbours has to be good.
But hiding behind god is a cop out.
I refer to ALL religious faiths, muslims are by no means my target. Crystal power, voodoo, witches: they are all one and the same to me. Daft

48 Mizzcheef 12.01.07 at 10:43 pm

I bet the same ranting, sword wielding bloody hungry mob will wringing thir hands, tearing their hair and begging for help from the UK as soon as they have another natural disaster.
Sod off, ask Allah to help.
Then again, with education you could help yourselves.
Whoops, no teachers, never mind.
Ask Allah.
Once bitten twice shy springs to mind.

49 Nobody 12.01.07 at 10:53 pm

i dont think that our future is so much about religious wars … the future of this region are ethnic conflicts …. darfur is a foretaste of the things to come … they are all sunni muslims there but in three years they killed several times more people than died over the entire 60 years of the israeli arab conflict

50 Roman Kalik 12.02.07 at 4:01 am

Mizzcheef, if you cannot speak about religion without uttering some kind of mindless mantra (atheist anti-prayer? :-P) then you’re better off not discussing it too much in the first place. You seem… driven to justify your atheism by ridiculing belief in nearly every reply, regardless of how you view it as a free choice.

Atheism has often enough been used as a tool to control people, under the pretences of “liberating” people of their “opiate”.

So how are atheists different from us nutters, mate? Do you honestly think that we’d let our families die as we stand idly by in prayer? What would be the point of our prayer if we use it to avoid handling issues at the most critical of moments? But there is always time, Mizzcheef, for more than just physical needs.

51 Roman Kalik 12.02.07 at 4:17 am

By the way, you said it best when you said that you cannot understand believing. Do you know what people do with something that they don’t understand, and think they never will? They ridicule it as part of a process of self-reassurance, of saying that it’s not worth understanding anyway. The next step is trying to “save people from themselves” as it were, as a person who once told me that deporting or incarcerating religious people would make the country a better place so aptly put it.

Oh, and I’m all for freeing Ms. Gibbons, as is Drima, the religious Muslim who runs this blog. It’s insanity, but if you believe that denying people their civic rights or even their lives for going to church/synagogue/buddhist-temple is somehow better, then you are sadly living in denial. Us religious types aren’t as ignorant as you’d like to believe, mate, and you atheist types aren’t all that clever either.

52 Twosret 12.02.07 at 5:16 am

This teddy Bear must be in the hall of fame. 52 comments in 24 hrs. Not to mention the headlines all over the world.

53 John 12.02.07 at 6:13 am

LOL. There is an American company that has created the “world’s first” “Teddy Bear Muhammad”. I just got one, it will be a collectors item for sure, a place marked in history. The site is http://www.teddybearmuhammad.com This ship all over the world. They are actually running ads.

54 Nobody 12.02.07 at 8:59 am

Twosret on December 2nd, 2007 5:16 am

This teddy Bear must be in the hall of fame. 52 comments in 24 hrs. Not to mention the headlines all over the world.

stay calm twosret .. we are not there yet.. when they start burning embassies because of teddy bears, then i will say that we have reached the peak …

55 Leslie 12.02.07 at 10:12 am

I just found this. Thought it was interesting and pretty cool. I am going to get one for Christmas. I think it is a great idea. I guess a lot of people are jumping on with this.

————–

The “Muhammad” that’s making Headlines worldwide.

Thanks to the radical Muslims and their hatred and bigotry, a businessman in the United States was the first to seize the opportunity and is using it for good, he developed “Teddy Bear Muhammad”, which is selling both in the United States and worldwide, thanks to the internet, support from people of all ages and backgrounds, and the publicity.

“We are taking this event and turning it around for good against those who promote hate and intolerance”, says Mark Bold, the man behind Teddy Muhammad. Mark adds, “The fact is, Teddy Bears mean something to people of all ages, and children not able name their Teddy Bear without fear beyond me. So we are spreading the message around.”

Capture a part of worldwide history and/or simply take a stand. Teddy ships with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Thank you for your support and continue to help spread the word.

http://www.TeddyBearMuhammad.com/

56 Sheema 12.02.07 at 12:23 pm

Ooh, I was all ready to click “Buy Now”….then I noticed that it says proceeds will be used “to support the United States troops and their service to the world”…..hmmmmmmm

Bit of a funny way to support a “fight to help end intolerance” methinks

57 Mizzcheef 12.02.07 at 12:32 pm

I’m bored with this now, and Roman, I’m not I anyones ‘mate’
Check my name, might give you a clue!
Wake up and smell the roses, this whole incident is a smokescreen.
If anyone buys that bear they will be adding fuel to the fire and making someone rich on the back of misery, disgusting.
And money goes to support troops who should not be in most of the countries they have been deployed to.
Not everyone sees the joke, very bad taste.
Let it go, forget gods and concentrate on getting to know each other as people, you may find we actually have more in common than you think.

58 Mizzcheef 12.02.07 at 12:37 pm

yes, yes Sheema

59 Roman Kalik 12.02.07 at 1:48 pm

Make it ‘matete’ then, or something along those lines. :-P

As for getting to know each other… Religion is one of those things that people happen to have in common, in case you haven’t noticed. I certainly have a much wider range of topics to discuss with a religious Christian or Muslim than I have with an Atheist. With atheists, it seems to be mostly pointless arguments about how inferior this whole obsession with nonexistent entities is, and how inferior it makes me by definition.

Gee, thanks for making me feel special.

You know, starting your “getting to know people” gig with a series of insults isn’t all that constructive.

60 Mizzcheef 12.02.07 at 2:45 pm

LOL hoisted with my own petard (hwever it’s spelled)
Just wrote a great retort and lost it, hhmmph.
It’s not my fault we have been brainwashed or socially or culturally groomed to believe hype. I was a committed practising christian for years, read many repected books and lived the life.
To see desparate folk hanging on to life after a disaster, praying for help and getting none. Seeing overt wealth spent on places of worship while the faithful starve. Where is any sign of god there?
I know JC was real as were others, but divine? Messiah? I think not.
Didn’t JC and Mo proclaim love, tolerance and understanding?
Wouldn’t they raise the roof if they were here to see our behaviour?
No, education is the key. For Gillian and the protestors. Kiss and make up
(how do you inssert a smiley?)

61 Roman Kalik 12.02.07 at 3:24 pm

It’s hype for you - not for many other people. As for your assumption that belief is something you’re born and brainwashed into, I grew up in the Soviet Union, with a fully secular/atheist upbringing.

Also, you yet again fail in realizing that the actions here - the arrest, the protests, the punishment, the hyperbole over a teddy bear - is abhorrent to many religious people, be they Muslim or Christian or Jewish or any other faith.

I think we’d best end the matter here. We’ve hijacked this topic enough into a matters largely unrelated to the events discussed here.

62 Mizzcheef 12.02.07 at 3:52 pm

Yes yes Roman, it is. That’s what I’m trying to say. These sort of things should never beblown out of proportion. I guess I have been fortunate to be able to express my opinion right or wrong, without awaitng a knock on the door.
Free Gillian and all the other folk irrespective of their faith, as long as the don’t start grief.
FOR GOODNESS SAKE, DON’T JOIN THE WAVE, DON’T BUY THAT TEDDY BEAR.
Oh, by the way, sometimes I add a little sharp humour, take my praying thing less seriously. See what I mean?
I bet kids have named their toys jesus, mary,and other religious names all over the world without a second thought.
Gillian is a pawn in a nasty game that isn’t funny. So are all the other well meaning folk that are caught in the preverbial cross fire.
Maybe we should be discussing how we, the people on the street can help diffuse the problem and then stop it happening again.
Give us a clue ‘cos I think they should all kiss and make up as I said

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