I would have put this story down as a rant if it did not come from a newspaper like the Washington Post. Assuming that they maintain certain journalistic standards, i.e. the passages are not cooked up, it paints a very scary picture of the Saudi nation where intolerance of other religions is bred into kids from the first grade itself. Apparently the Saudis did a high-profile cleanup of their textbooks to purge content that taught hatred of “unbelievers”, but according to textbooks smuggled out of the country, the books remain just as intolerant as before. Sample the progression of hatred from the from the first grade to the twelfth.
FIRST GRADE
” Every religion other than Islam is false.”“Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words (Islam, hellfire): Every religion other than ______________ is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters ____________.”
TWELFTH GRADE
“Jihad in the path of God — which consists of battling against unbelief, oppression, injustice, and those who perpetrate it — is the summit of Islam. This religion arose through jihad and through jihad was its banner raised high. It is one of the noblest acts, which brings one closer to God, and one of the most magnificent acts of obedience to God.”
If this is what the five million students enrolled in the Saudi public schools learn, it is they who need a shot at democracy and free thinking, not their neighbor to the north.