Originally Posted by shakh your bootie (Post 5620800)

I'm very retro.... please realise that it's totally tongue in cheek. I'm half gora myself...

Originally Posted by lionheart (Post 5620918)

Wouldn't it be awful if Tesco or whoever started selling a colourful range of Mohammed stuffed Xmas toys in the UK simply to poke their tongues at those silly buggers you know where...after all, it's still a free country.

Originally Posted by shakh your bootie (Post 5620800)

I'm very retro.... please realise that it's totally tongue in cheek. I'm half gora myself...

Originally Posted by Sam FTQ (Post 5621435)

Yeah, I thought so. As I word, I like it. As you say, very retro. Hey, wasn't it Jeffrey Weeks who said we should "reclaim the language that oppresses us"?. Although he was talking about homosexuality, I believe.

Sam the Honky x

Originally Posted by shakh your bootie (Post 5623580)

Why Sam the Honky-Tonk woman - you are full of surprises. Nice post - consider yourself karma'd....

So how is it that you are familiar with quotations of the leader of the Gay Liberation Front (and yes, I had to wikipedia it to find out who the F**k Jeffrey Weeks is....)???

Originally Posted by Sam FTQ (Post 5623583)

I read a book of his a few years ago. It was called something like "Making Sexual History". I still have it, so can lend it to you when my boxes arrive. It's a good read.

Originally Posted by B.Geezer (Post 5619209)

What I am suprised about is the lack of mainstream public condemnation by sensible Muslims globally bearing in mind this is the fastest growing religion in the world.. ( for a lot of reasons.) This makes a complete farce of the whole concept of Islam in the 21st Century.

We need to see a sensible approach to this problem - especially by Muslims if we are to see an end to the sensless attrocities being commited in the name of whatever God you happen to believe in.

Originally Posted by GarethR (Post 5613059)

There's a distinction drawn between naming people and naming things after the Prophet.

I guess the whole "graven image" thing in Christianity would be similar.

Originally Posted by Barrie (Post 5617637)

The world gone mad. It is a teddy for crying out loud!!!!!!

Latest on BBC news website....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7121025.stm

Shoot UK teacher, say protesters

Thousands of people have marched in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to call for UK teacher Gillian Gibbons to be shot.
Mrs Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was jailed by a court on Thursday after children in her class named a teddy bear Muhammad.

She was sentenced to 15 days for insulting religion; she will then be deported.

The marchers took to the streets after Friday prayers to denounce the leniency of the sentence.

Originally Posted by Cham128 (Post 5620072)

well not to be outdone a catholic group in the UK is condeming "The golden compass" film as it is promoting aetheism...

Originally Posted by Norm_uk (Post 5624071)

But it's been a while since Catholics en masse have called for the death of atheists hasn't it? Like a few hundred years...we still have plenty of Muslims calling for the death of Rushdie, Danish Cartoonists, pretty much any non-believer who has an opinion other than submitting to them!

As I said before....really bad PR and I think some people are getting tired of stories like this. It's not helping anyone.

N.

Originally Posted by Cham128 (Post 5617076)

there's actually a different pronounciation of mohammed and muhammad...

Originally Posted by shakh your bootie (Post 5624142)

It is also impossible to have democracy when freedom of speech & freedom of the press is not there.

If an idea or value has merit, it will withstand ridicule and debate - what is there to fear?

Originally Posted by Norm_uk (Post 5624467)

Although democracy doesn't actually require total freedom - it does demand at least whoever can vote be able to voice their thoughts freely.

It's quite obvious ideas that will not stand up to repeated logical attack have no alternative but to reign in free speech lest they collapse. Total and free discourse has contributed to a near collapse of church and state in many countries...imagine what would happen to the middle east if that happened?

N.