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Changing the World One Schoolbook at a Time

[Slate ] Anne Applebaum - According to a report by the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, a recent edition of a Saudi fourth-grade textbook, Monotheism and Jurisprudence, says that belief is true if "A man worships God alone, loves the believers, and hates the unbelievers." "Unbelievers," in this context, are Christians and Jews. In fact, in ninth grade they will be taught that Jews conspire to "gain sole control of 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. These passages are from new, "revised" Saudi textbooks. In Britain, a small political storm began last year when British mosques were found to be distributing Saudi books that called on Muslims to kill all apostates. Here is a novel idea: Make sure that children in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in Islamic schools all around the world have decent fourth-grade textbooks. It might save a lot of trouble later on.
2008-07-23 01:00:00
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