Wednesday, July 23, 2008

State Sponsored Intolerance

I know there is nothing shocking about an Islamic state funding religious beliefs, but there is this little piece of news that is worth reacting to. The Saudi government funds and distributes school textbooks to all of Saudi Arabia, as well as much of the rest of the Islamic world. In these schoolbooks are lessons on how to love god (the Islamic one that is), and how to hate everyone else who doesn't love god (any other god, particularly Christians and Jews). I think it is safe to say they do not care much for non-believers either.

Well, the good news is that they cleaned up the newest version from a few years ago. The old one was a little more specific with who you should hate, and furthermore who you should kill (again, the pesky Christians and Jews, who have that eerily similar set of superstitions and crazy beliefs). Good stuff. I would like to think that even here in "God's America" there would be major outrage at our children's textbooks explaining how we are allowed to kill those who work on the sabbath, or others who worship competing gods.

Read the article here.

1 comment:

p.love said...

There needs to be a word for something that's a blend of sad and slapstick. I mean, it's kind of (that word) that deeply religious people will die and kill for an invisible superhero. They will wear silly clothes and cut off their foreskins and pretend bread is a dead guy. Yet, they refuse to accept the factual reality that surrounds them...