Teddy Bears and religion

It has been all over the news this past week about a teacher in Sudan who is now serving a jail sentence for naming a teddy bear inappropriately.

What is difficult for a British Christian to understand is the sense of outrage that has been seen in some quarters of Sudan. It looks to my eyes as being a wholly disproportionate response to what would be at worst a misunderstanding of a different culture.

The name of the prophet can and should be respected. It was a child’s name who had been chosen by children that was the root of this incident.

I did hear one pundit on radio suggest that if Islam is looking for bad publicity, then this is the way to court it. I had understood Islam to be a religion of tolerance and of love, like Christianity. Or have I completely misunderstood ?