Sudan Shows Islam is Most Arrogant Religion

The case against a British teacher in Sudan, charged with insulting Islam by allowing her 7-year-old students to choose "Mohammed" as a name for the class teddy bear, demonstrates clearly that Islam is in a class by itself in terms of arrogance. In civilized countries, criminal laws are generally clear and not philosophical. In Sudan, a foreigner, teaching at a school attended largely by foreigners, is expected to understand the nuances of Muslim religious sensitivity or face the prospect of 40 lashes.

This is not to say that some religions aren't theoretically more arrogant. It would be hard to top Judaism, which asserts that God specifically picked their tribe out of all the people in the world, but Jews don't seem inclined to emphasize the racist streak. And Hinduism, where higher castes figure they are superior to many of their co-religionists and not necessarily to foreigners of similar position, which seems odd.

However, the general trend in most religions today seems to be a growing tolerance. If that trend is taking place in Islam, it's keeping a low profile. And much as Juan Cole would like us to believe that Islamic voices oppose situations like Gillian Gibbons', I haven't heard any expressions of outrage from them.

Islam is a religion from the Dark Ages, largely unaffected by the last thirteen centuries. We're told that we must respect all of the world's "great" religions. I'm hard pressed to understand why.