Hate speech in Saudi textbooks challenged

The United States government and religious leaders should press the Saudi Arabian government to remove hate speech from its textbooks, a key congressman said in affirming an appeal from U.S. major publishers.

"It's an issue that people ought to be very, very concerned about," Rep. Frank Wolf, a leading congressional advocate for human rights, told Baptist Press. "[We are] finding anti-Semitic and anti-Christian literature in these books. ... For years people have been telling the Saudis to change and remove it. They say they are, and then they do not."

Seven current or former heads of major U.S. publishers -- including those for Amazon, Simon and Schuster, and Pantheon Books -- jointly appealed Oct. 17 for the Saudi government to remove hate speech from its textbooks. Read more

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