Textbook tolerance: Gulf of Hate.

• Author: Cavanaugh, Tim
• Position: Citings - Brief Article

THIS WINTER, THE six nations that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council--Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates--agreed to begin revising public school textbooks to remove inflammatory passages. Among the lessons Gulf kids win no longer be studying are sweeping condemnations of Jews and Christians, disquisitions on the iniquity of infidels, and a Q & A that begins "God hates...." (Answer: "Infidels.")

So far, the modernization effort appears to be having mixed success. Kuwaiti Education Minister Rasheed al-Hamad promised the new textbooks will "not encourage pupils to hate other people and religion," while officials in Qatar...