An Italian school’s move to exempt Muslim kids from being taught Dante’s The Divine Comedy – because he stuck Mohammed in hell – has whipped up a storm over cancel culture. The Telegraph has more.
Politicians from both the Left and Right said that Dante was a pillar of Italian literature and that it was unacceptable for children to be exempted from studying his writing because of their faith.
The row broke out after a secondary school in Treviso in the north of the country reportedly allowed two Muslim children, aged around 14, to not attend classes in which The Divine Comedy was being studied.
Written at the start of the 14th Century, it is an allegorical poem that revolves around a man’s journey to Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, aided by two guides, Virgil and Beatrice.
In the epic work, Dante places the Prophet Mohammed and his cousin Ali in Hell, where they are tortured by sword-wielding demons.
“How is Mohammed mangled! Before me walks Ali weeping, from the chin his face cleft to the forelock,” Dante wrote.
The exemption was criticised by MPs from across the political spectrum. …
Carlo Pasquetto, a member of the centre-Left Azione party, said it was “madness” to view Dante as being offensive to Muslims.
“Dante is the father of humanism, of Italy, of Europe. To decide not to teach him in the name of a false conception of tolerance will create enormous problems of integration in society. This is not tolerance, nor integration, it is the suicide of the West which instead of celebrating plurality is cancelling its own identity.” Dante should be taught to all children in Italy, he said, “regardless of the colour of their skin or the religion of their parents”.
Worth reading in full.
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I’m not a religious person but surely if you truly believe whoever was divine why would it bother you what some bloke wrote hundreds of years ago?
Such is the insecurity of Islam
Yes, but it is also a form of aggression and intimidation!
There’s nothing new here. In the early 1980’s, a couple of Jehova’s Witnesses in my class were exempted from religious topics and activities because of their faith.
Dante is literature rather than religion
It’s the religious content that seems to be contentious but either way, it’s considered inappropriate to some of the believers. When I read the title I thought it was a country-wide exemption but based on this article it’s a non-event.
Well it’s very likely that a lot of literature from the past will have religious content.
As for it being a non-event, you may be right for now, but I doubt it will be last such instance and eventually Islam will be the dominant religion in Europe. We will all be long gone, but it will happen unless something is done to stop that happening – and I can’t see much prospect of that.
Well put. It’s already happened in the UK. The poor teacher in hiding just by showing something relevant to his class, but was hounded by ignorant and bigoted parents….there is no one off with Islam.
What comes first, Italy or islam?
Muslim children are being brought up in Italy – unfortunately – and surely it is right that they are taught about the great literature produced by their ancestors. But no, it might cause offence. What sort of state can exist with such polarisation of thought? Italy is a Christian country and it is absolutely appropriate that its curriculum should be strongly weighted towards the teachings of Christ. Islam should only be discussed in order to hi-light its monumental failings and its diametrical opposition to the Christian faith. Those muslims that cannot cope with this need to dust off their passports and firk off to a country that respects their medieval views.
Christianity has become too keen on turning the other cheek, what has become necessary is a Crusader mentality.
Us or them.
It’s bad enough that more and more of them keep on arriving, then there’s the family reunification then the fact they out-breed natives, but then they’re supported by the Leftards who align and unite with the Muslims. Maybe some have already seen this clip in France where women are protesting at the increasing number of sex crimes committed by migrants. They’re holding signs that say, ”Foreign rapists out!”, because they obviously are aware of the threat, don’t get their info from MSM and want these sleazy crims deported. But see what happens. What does this tell you? I know I’d want to know what sort of person has a problem with these women holding up their signs ( much like the recent story of the German AfD lady who referred to sex crime figures in Germany and got convicted and fined for stating facts ), not to mention I’d want to check their hard drives. People are just really warped and morally bankrupt everywhere it seems, but now we have people blatantly defending rapists. I hope they don’t have daughters;
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2024/05/france-socialists-assault-women-protesting-sexual-abuse-by-asylum-seekers
A disturbing video Mogs.
Assaulting peaceful women protesters is the height of bullying and sadly I have noticed attempts at bullying female subscribers here on DS. Rather crude and inconsequential people.
Yep, indeed. Toxic spillover from the manosphere, duly noted. Reminds me once again of the famous Tyson quote: “Social media made you all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”
Inconsequential, as well as inadequate, certainly sums up these ‘people’ with their evident inferiority complex accompanied by a hostile and unhealthy attitude towards women.
But hey ho. Not hard to rise above people who sink so low.
“You cannot control the behaviour of others, but you can always choose how you respond to it”. And mine is to just blank them, as I would in real life.
Marvellous.
Given that Mohammed was a paedophile, Aisha was 6 or 7 years old when he married her and 9 when he consummated the marriage, and the religion he invented is violent and profoundly misogynistic Hell, if it exists is exactly where he should be.
Problem with that is people had shorter lives in those days and marriage at puberty was not uncommon in all cultures.
In today’s society those who shout the loudest and kick up the most stink get their own way. Politics has become a case of who has the noisiest tantrums, whether that be Climate Fundamentalists, Muslims, Gender Ideologists, Diversity Dreamers, Race Card Players etc etc. While the polite people are ignored because their politeness is perceived as weakness. eg You don’t see Christians marching about with placards demanding no one criticise Jesus. You don’t see Climate Change Sceptics glueing themselves to the road claiming “Climate Change isn’t real and isn’t happening now”. ———To get anything done now you must throw tomato soup at things.
Salute to you! Well said.
Perhaps climate sceptics need to start doing crazy stuff….As JSO says….”If it gets a conversation going”.
Such a meaningful measure to take
If Islam dominated countries are so great why are so many people from those countries immigrating to here?