From: National Secular Society
Students from the University of Reading Atheist, Humanist, and Secularist Society (RAHS) were forced to leave the Freshers’ Fayre this week after they labelled a pineapple “Mohammed” and put it on their stall.
Staff from the Reading University Student Union (RUSU), as well as a number of Muslim students objected and asked the society to remove it, with a statement from the society stating that they were told “Either the pineapple goes, or you do”.
In a statement given to the “Student Rights” organisation, (whose strapline is “tackling extremism on campus”) RUSU said that “The Atheist, Humanist & Secularist Society were asked to leave the Freshers’ Fayre after receiving complaints from individual students about a display they had on their stall. They were initially asked to remove the display and after refusal were asked to leave.
“Our Freshers’ Fayre is an inclusive event for all students. As the societies actions were causing upset and distress to a number of individual students and other societies attending we took the decision to ask them to leave”.
Does calling a pineapple Mohammed really count as extremism? Has anyone told all those people who named their children Mohammed, the most popular name in the world, that they have offended Muslims?
