Religeous intolerance

Yes and yes again tickingbird. Talk about a rush to judgement - we have no idea of the context of the ‘cartoon’. Do you remember the teacher in France who was murdered for something similar a? Turns out the pupil made it all up as she was in trouble at home for something. I also remember similar scenes outside some West Midlands schools when schools were introducing the idea that same sex families were a valid part of our society.

I find it disturbing that posters seem to be defending the behaviour of the protesters outside this school. This is the UK. This teacher has had to go into hiding because his life will be in danger and I’ve just read on Sky News the statement by the local labour mp, being apologetic to the usual mob baying for blood. It’s disgraceful.

Whilst I agree that the teacher’s actions were ill judged, it beggars belief that in this country in the 21st century someone has to go into hiding for showing a cartoon picture of a man in a turban! It’s not the prophet because nobody knows what he looks like. It’s just a cartoon.

As for the comment upthread regarding cartoons of the death camps during The Holocaust, there’s no comparison. There’s nothing cartoonish about The Holocaust. There are plenty of real photographs and film of the death camps. The cartoon of Mohammed is just a drawing of a man in a turban and someone says it’s the prophet. If it was a cartoon of him being tortured or doing something forbidden then I could understand the outrage. As it is I am concerned that we are allowing this country to go down a dangerous path if certain sections of our society can dictate what is and isn’t taught in out schools.

If a person is religious it is an important part of their life. It is very personal to them and isn't something that should be ridiculed in any way. The fallout from this could be far-reaching.

All that being said, he was very, very foolish to show the cartoons to the students. With the recent history he/ she should have been far more sensitive to the community. Respect comes in many forms.

Just heard on the news , the teacher is being given protection

I was a bit disturbed when I saw he had been named but then I realised that his name would have been known in the local community and all the pupils will have known who he was. What on earth was he thinking after all the problems there have been in various countries about cartoons, etc, etc and doing it in an area that I suspect has a high ratio of Asian people? It was short sighted to say the least. Religion is very important to some people, whatever their religion is, and to demonstrate behaviour in his classroom and lesson that ridicules religion was very short sighted and has caused a great deal of harm and trouble. The Asian community were working well with this school apparently and this incident has put that into jeopardy.
What would people think if the teacher had shown a cartoon of people in the Holocaust and the death camps - would that have been all right?In my opinion no it wouldn't, it would have deeply offended a lot of people and there would have been protests. Just because the school has apologised does not end the matter as people are very disturbed by what has happened. The teacher may well have committed a criminal offence. The ramifications of this could be very far reaching; in this day and age he should have known better.

I am ignorant as to why it is so offensive so I look forward to someone explaining.