The Big News Network website reports today (March 15, 2012) that a research group has said that Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" -- an epic poem about travels through hell and heaven -- was racist and against Islam, and should be banned from schools in Italy.
"The 'Divine Comedy' is the pillar of Italian literature and a cornerstone of Italian literature, and the educational formation of the country's students," said Valentina Sereni, president of Gherush92, an anti-racism group that works for the United Nations.
"Students are taught the work's offensive and discriminatory language without any filter," she added.
Dante wrote the "Divine Comedy" between 1308 and his death in 1321 while in exile from Florence. In the epic poem, Dante's alter ego Pilgrim travels through hell, purgatory, and heaven -- and even meets God along the way.
