This would be funny if only it was a joke

Having been to Sudan almost 2 years ago, there are many things about that country that have gripped my heart. Originally established as a Muslim paradise, Sudan is far from such a place but there are still many who are held tightly in the throes of Islam. During my stay there, I was stopped on several occasions by the secret police who were suspicious of my every move. Despite the oppression that is rampant there, Sudan remains a country that is dear to my heart.

In the past few weeks news has emerged out of Khartoum, Sudan, that has saddened but not surprised me. A teacher from England has been arrested and imprisoned because the students in her class decided to name their class teddy bear "Muhammad" (read the article here). Muhammad is the most common given name in all the world and Muslims (supposedly) do not worship the prophet, yet anything that is said or done as a slight against Muhammad the prophet will usually cause an irrational upheaval among devout Muslims.

In this case, the students named the bear but I guess the teacher was at fault for allowing it to happen. She is now being held in a jail in Omdurman where the conditions are awful and word is that she will be deported once her brief prison sentence is through. Angry mobs numbering in the thousands have taken to the streets and demanded that she be put to death for her apostasy against the prophet Muhammad. All of this because of a teddy bear!

I know that many in the world, and for the Muslim community for that matter, aren't throwing their support into the ring with the Sudanese government on this one. Yet haven't most major world governments and leaders been extremely sensitive and over-polite to all things Islam in the past few years? Muslims wage jihad over the depiction of the prophet Muhammad as a cartoon character and they are viewed as justified, yet an artist can take a picture of the cross of Christ in a urine-filled toilet and the arts community can't believe that Christians are offended. What's up with all of this hypocrisy?

This is not meant as a doomsday kind of prediction but the world must wake up and be alert to the danger of the advance of Islam. It is more than a religion; it is a political agenda. And it is not okay for our leaders to sit idly by and not speak out against the atrocities taking place in Sudan and other Muslim nations. The Muslim form of law - Sharia - is unfair and brutal and, even though it is based upon the Muslim holy book the Quran, speaking out against it does not infringe on anyone's religious freedoms.

If you are a Christian please pray for the many Muslim nations, many of them located in North Africa and the Middle East. The light of Jesus is there, but these oppressive governments make it very difficult for that light to penetrate at a fast rate. And if you don't know much about Islam, do yourself a favor and read up on this rapidly growing world religion so that you can understand exactly what is at stake (let me recommend Ergun Caner's Unveiling Islam as an excellent source from a man who used to be a devout Muslim).

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