Anti-God book is danger to kids: German ministry

[ZombieHorde]

The German Family Ministry is pushing to have a book it says slurs Judaism, Christianity and Islam labeled dangerous for children, according to recent press reports.

The book -- "How Do I Get to God, Asked the Small Piglet" -- tells the story of a piglet and a hedgehog, who go in search of God only to conclude that he does not exist.

The publisher of the book said it is intended for nonreligious parents looking to provide their children with a critical view of religion, but the German government disapproves.

"The three large religions of the world, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, are slurred in the book," the German Family Ministry wrote in a December memo, according to Germany's public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

"The distinctive characteristics of each religion are made ridiculous," it added.

The Ministry is pushing for the book, written by Michael Schmidt-Salomon and illustrated by Helge Nyncke, to be included on a list of literature considered dangerous for young people.

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More about the book at link:
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/02/03/45107.html

[ixion]

1. religion is dangerous for young people

because they don't realize that it's a fairy tale yet.

[Mojambo]

2. So much for Europe being more enlightened.

But I don't blame the religious for being threatened by this. They depend on indoctrinating people as early as possible. Can't have other viewpoints muddling things up.

[ingac70]

3. Look out folks! It's coming back!

“Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith… We need believing people.”
~ Adolf Hitler

[DeSwiss]

4. Anti-God book is danger to kids???

How bout this: Anti-God book is danger to "The German Family Ministry."

- Now. That's more like it....

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. The three large religions of the world slur one another

Christians consider Jews and Muslims to be damned to Hell because they do not accept the deity of Jesus or the need for salvation.

Muslims consider Jews and Christians to be damned to Hell because they do not accept the teachings of Muhammad, the last and greatest prophet of God.

Jews consider Christians and Muslims to be darned to Heck because Jews do not accept the concept of everlasting damnation but wish to G-d that the Christians and Muslims would just shut up about how Jews are going to Hell if they do not convert.

A children's book featuring to anthropomorphic animals who seek God but do not find him seems small potatoes by comparison. So when will the German government ban Christianity, Judaism and Islam?

[Silent3]

6. "The distinctive characteristics of each religion are made ridiculous," it added.

It's not this book that made those "distinctive characteristics" ridiculous. The religions did that themselves, and the book just points out the fact.

Isn't the small piglet inherently "unclean" anyway? The hedgehog I'm not sure about.

[knitter4democracy]

7. This is ridiculous. The book has a specific audience.

So what if a kid finds it and reads it? I want my kids coming to me with questions and reading what they find and thinking for themselves. It's not faith if it's not tested, and if they can't walk their own faith path, it's not a real faith, now is it? Sheesh! Leave the book and its publishers alone.

[Evoman]

8. Atheism is okay until you write a book.

Or so it seems.

[Boojatta]

9. Chomsky criticized Behaviorism, but he didn't write his criticisms

specifically for children. Also, the number of Behaviorists is not yet large enough to make a written work that criticizes, questions, or challenges the ideas of Behaviorism verboten.

So the German Family Ministry doesn't need to put a warning label on Chomsky's essays about Behaviorism.

[sakabatou]

10. O NOES!

:eyes:

Kids could learn religion alongside critical thinking. Then, perhaps they can make their own choices.

[struggle4progress]

11. "... The ministry says the book’s depiction of the rabbi is anti-Semitic.

The depiction of the rabbi reportedly recalls anti-Jewish propaganda from the 1930s ..."

http://www.antisemitism.org.il/eng/events/27750/Germany_-_Anti-religious_children%E2%80%99s_book_dangerous_for_children

[Bad Thoughts]

12. This article misses important facts

It's not that the theme of atheism or the narrativeis itself what makes the book dangerous (although you may debate that, if you wish). Rather the illustrations play on racist stereotypes, according to several literary critics. Sueddeutsche Zeitung, for instance, claims that the book employs images nearly identical to images of "degenerate" Jews from the 1930s. Rather than relying on faux indignation, decide for yourself:



Edit: this picture is no loading. It can be found at .

[cosmik debris]

13. I'd like to know more

do you have any English Language sources?

Please and thank you.

[Bad Thoughts]

14. Sorry, no

I haven't found any English-language sources that deal with controversy beyond the anti-atheism angle.

[cosmik debris]

15. I'll keep looking

and if I find any, I will post them.

There is this, but I still want to know more.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3100309,00.html

[cosmik debris]

16. I should not have been so lazy

I went to google news and searched for German Family Ministry. There are many stories there in English that corroborate your post. Thank you for adding a vital bit of information to this discussion.

[Bad Thoughts]

17. It's for you to decide

I think there is a case to be made about the images (though not a decisive one), but the ministry seems to be going overboard to get the book banned.

[cosmik debris]

20. It is easy enough to discredit religion without hateful stereotypes

The rabbi is drawn in the same way as the caricatures from the propaganda of 1930's Germany; corkscrew curls, fanatical lights in his eyes, a set of predator's flashing teeth and hands like claws. He reacts to the animals by flying into a rage, yelling at them that God had set out to destroy all life on Earth at the time of Noah and chases them away.

The mufti fares little better. While he greets both animals at first as a quiet man and invites them into his mosque, he soon changes into a ranting fanatic. He assembles a baying Islamic mob and holds the animals up in a clenched fist while condemning them to everlasting damnation through bared teeth and an unruly-looking beard.

The insinuation here is that all visitors to mosques are extremists and every imam who appears reasonable is, in truth, nevertheless, a preacher of hate.

The three religious leaders are shown as being violent, insane and intolerant
The bishop, a pale fat man with a clearly insinuated predilection for child abuse, makes up the unholy trinity which eventually convinces piglet and hedgehog, after they have survived the long search in the maze of religions, that nothing of any importance has been missing from their lives.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3100309,00.html

I believe it is better to teach the children the truth than to teach them stereotypes.

[Bad Thoughts]

21. Moreover, German authorities are sensitive about stereotypes

German literature is rich with racial and ethnic stereotypes that, arguably, have been used to take away rights, property and life. One or two critiques claim that the representation of the priest in the book comes right out of the anti-Catholic literature of the Kulturkampf. I'm not convinced this is the case. However, such literature and images existed to take away rights from German Catholics, largely by Protestants who claimed to be more "rational" and "scientific." This reserve of images, literary and artistic, is a grab bag for anyone, and I am not surprised if good intentioned people use these nefarious tools without thinking.

[and-justice-for-all]

18. Really? Then put a warning lable on the bible. nt

[skepticscott]

19. True enough

If the Bible were a movie, it'd be NC-17. If it were a video game (still waiting for that to come out for Wii- I wanna be Samson whacking the Philistines), it would me M for Mature.