Thursday, July 24, 2008

Textbooks for Children in Saudi Arabia

The revised-to-be-less-strident textbooks using in schools in Saudia Arabia and around the world remain plainly hateful. Anne Applebaum writes in the Washington Post about multiple choice questions like this one:

Q. "Is belief true in the following instances:
(a) A man prays but hates those who are virtuous.
(b) A man professes that there is no deity other than God but loves the unbelievers.
(c) A man worships God alone, loves the believers, and hates the unbelievers."


The correct answer, of course, is (c): According to the Wahhabi imams who wrote this textbook, it isn't enough to simply worship God or just to love other believers; it is important to hate unbelievers, too. By the same token, (b) is wrong as well: Even a man who worships God cannot be said to have "true belief" if he also loves unbelievers.

"Unbelievers," in this context, are Christians and Jews. In fact, any child who attends Saudi schools until ninth grade will eventually be taught outright that "Jews and Christians are enemies of believers." They will also be taught that Jews conspire to "gain sole control over the world," that the Christian crusades never ended, and that on Judgment Day "the rocks or the trees" will call out to Muslims to kill Jews.


Stay focused on Jesus, and teach your children the contrasting messages from Scripture: Love your neighbor as yourself. Pray for those who persecute you. Do not return evil for evil.

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