[ This title uses literary license, the title has been used for effect, it is simply a reflection of a likely title that would have been used if the Religous text burnt had been a Koran. ]
Students from the East Preston Islamic College In Australia
A Group of Five students watched as
3 Desecrated the Christian Bible.
TWO Muslim students have been expelled from an Islamic school in Melbourne for urinating and spitting on a Bible and setting it on fire. 
The explosive incident has forced the East Preston Islamic College to call in a senior imam to tell its 650 Muslim students that the Bible and Christianity must be respected.
Anxious teachers at the school have also petitioned principal Shaheem Doutie, expressing "grave concern" about an "inculcation of hatred and radical attitudes towards non-Muslims" at the school, including towards non-Muslim teachers.
Upper Right: The Christian Bible was Ripped up, spat on and Urinated upon.
The Bible desecration took place last week at a school camp held near Bacchus Marsh, about 50km west of Melbourne, Australia attended by 33 teenage Muslim boys ranging in age from Year7 to Year 10.
A school report of the incident, obtained by The Australian, says it happened late at night and involved three students and another two watching.
"The main perpetrator (a Year 7 student) urinated on the Holy Bible, tore some pages from the Holy Book and burnt them then finally spat on the Holy Book," the report says.
The second boy, from Year 9, "tore pages from the Holy Book and burnt them", while a third student, from Year 7, "tore pages from the Holy Bible and then he rolled it up like a cigarette and pretended to smoke it".
The boys come from a variety of ethnic Muslim backgrounds -- one is believed to be an Albanian/Malaysian, another Lebanese and another Indonesian.
Mr Doutie, whose school receives about $3.9 million in state and federal government funding each year, told The Australian yesterday that both he and the school community were appalled by the Bible desecration and that he had expelled the first two boys and suspended the third.
In a letter to all staff on Monday, Mr Doutie wrote: "The school unconditionally apologises for this horrible act as conducted by some illiterate and ignorant students while under the care of EPIC teachers.
"We regard the desecration of the Bible in a very serious light and therefore we have taken serious action against the offenders.
"The Bible is an important book both for non-Muslims and Muslims and should be treated as a holy book by all religions."
Mr Doutie said he did not believe that the boys realised the significance of their act.
But to ensure it did not happen again he had called in the assistant imam of the Newport Mosque, Oman Haouli, to tell the students that the Bible was a sacred book. "My lesson to them was to respect their neighbours and respect all religions," Mr Haouli said yesterday.
But the desecration incident has shaken the nerves of the school's teachers, about half of whom are non-Muslim.
A petition signed by 22 teachers expressed "anguish and dismay at the grave incident of the desecration of the Holy Bible".
"This whole incident implies a deep hatred inculcated in the students towards the Christians/non-Muslim teachers," it says.
The petition said there had been "previous incidents of students misbehaving towards non-Muslim teachers".
It called on the school to "take steps to rectify this explosive situation" to ensure the safety of teachers.
Mr Doutie said the school had tried to contact the parents of the expelled boys to find out why they had desecrated the Bible. But he said the school had not received a response.
EPIC is an eight-year-old primary and secondary school in Melbourne's north that caters mostly to the children of working-class immigrant Somali and Lebanese families.
The Bible desecration comes at a time of heightened tension among Australia's 300,000-member Islamic community, many of whom believe their religion is being unfairly discriminated against because of terrorism fears.
Many Muslims remain angry about the public humiliation suffered by their spiritual leader, the mufti Taj Din al-Hilali, after the Sheik likened female rape victims to pieces of meat who brought the attacks on themselves.
BB: I was no angel at school but not for the life of me would I have ever torn up a book or urinated on it especially a sacred text like the Bible or Koran? The question here isn't the disgusting course of behavior of these students, but the very values and attitudes these students have been instilled with to do this in the first place.
I wonder if they had been living in an Islamic country and had urinated on a different sacred text there what the official response would have been?
The gulf that obviously exists with the education of these boys and respect for other peoples and religions needs to desperately be addressed.
If I may express my opinion could it be that an Imam might not be the best course of action? What about some sensitivity education with the local priest being invited to lecture?
Or does even proposing that avenue expose the real reasons behind this despicable act?
Seems to me I remember some rather upset Muslims running around burning and murdering people of a claim of desecration of the Koran.
I'll be awaiting those profound apologies flow in from Muslimn Clerics and Muftis about this latest Christian Bible Desecration.
A few years ago the Preston Mosque counsellor Bilal Assaad [1] had this to say:
Australian society has much to offer, he says. It allows open mindedness, respects different religions and offers welfare to those in need. The only problem is there is insufficient self discipline and there are "no boundaries" to limit excessive and harmful behaviour, and this is where Islam has something to teach Australia.
Seems that Australia society might have a little more to teach Islam. Especially in regards to tolerance and not urinating on other Religions sacred texts!
Refresher on How upset you should get when your holy book is defiled.
Here's a refresher of a few of those friendly photos when a Quran was desecrated.
Item #1 The sign reads: Whilst Holding the Koran opening this protestor screams retribution
Item #2 A some what more controlled display of displeasure The sign reads:
"We strongly condemn insulting Koran by American army"
Item #3 The sign reads: "Oh Allah. Flush out America from history as it flushed your holy book (Koran)"
And the banner concludes with an advertisement for the Raza Academy in India.
Item #4 The sign reads:
"Muslims ready to sacrifice their lives for dignity of Koran"
Item #5 The sign reads:
"Bush - we foresee disastrous death by the almighty for you"
Item #6 The sign reads:
President Bush - Seek apology from muslims for desecration of Holy Koran"
Item #7 The sign reads:
"We strong protest the dishonor of the holy Koran"
Item #8 The sign reads:
"...Devil Markins...Enemy of Holy Koran"
Item #9 The sign reads: "
Stop the Insult"
Item #10 The sign reads:
"Bush should apologize for desecration of Koran"
Item #11 The sign reads: "We strongly condemn American Soldiers INSULT to Holy Koran"
..and the final sign reads: "To the Religion of Peace How about showing some Peace" [ Irony Intentional ] References and Further Reading:
The Age: Students expelled for desecrating Bible
Herald Sun: Bible desecration a 'prank'
Daniel Pipes.com: Amazon's Desecration Problem
[1] The Age: Torn between two Cultures
Thanks to MetroSpy
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