This is Dr Terry Jones, senior pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center of Florida, a “New Testament Church – based on the Bible, the Word of God”, interviewed on CNN on his plans to commemorate 9/11 by organising ‘Burn a Quran Day’.
The echoes of 1933 when the Nazis burnt some 20,000 books in Germany is clear. But this is not the first time Christian fundamentalists in the USA have shown their intolerance towards books by burning them, as this video show.
It goes without saying that this is an outrageous act of provocation. The fear is – how will Muslims react to this? My only hope is that they will not respond to this act of irrational cynicism and stupidity by reacting in kind, or worse. But perhaps that is asking for too much.
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The Dove World Outreach Center are going to perpetrate a wicked, un-Christian and deliberately provocative act for which the only retribution will be meted out against the weak and vulnerable Christians living as minority groups in Islamic lands.
The Dove World Outreach Center in Florida To Commemorate 9/11 By Burning Qurans
Religious fundamentalists from Group 1 upset religious fundamentalists from Group 2, simply by behaving like religious fundamentalists.
Whilst I totally disagree with the pastor’s actions, let’s not forget that the Qur’an and its hateful language have been used contemporarily to justify violence and the oppression of minorities. It’s also falacious to equate this pastor’s motives with those of the Nazis as the pastor’s desire is not to curb free speech, but to destroy a book that incites hatred. No-one would look twice were a pastor to burn copies of Mein Kampf or one of the hundreds of classical and modern jihadi screeds…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1735623.stm
Dumbledore was cool with that.
But seriously, how difficult is it to grasp that burning stuff is not a legitimate debating tactic?
Ishaq,
Can’t agree that the pastor’s desire is not to curb free speech, but to destroy a book that incites hatred.
He is destroying copies of a book which will continue to exist. His desire is to get attention and provoke a violent reaction against vulnerable people, but probably not himself.
The Constitution protects the rights of people to burn books. The Taliban has burned books as well.However, the right of people to buy a Koran or even have one mailed to them is unrestricted.
What was that people were stating about the Constitutional Right to build a Mosque in an unpopular location? The fact that something is legal does not infer it is prudent. The pastor has unintentionally made a point crystal clear.
It is better to read books than to burn them. It is a bad idea, but the pastor has a Constitutional right.
“It is better to read books than to burn them. It is a bad idea, but the pastor has a Constitutional right.”
So did the Nazis and the Taliban, of course.
http://www.jesusandmo.net/
Redbridge
If you can not differentiate between the theological fascism of the Taliban, Nazism and a Constitutional Democracy you should ask yourself if Paxil is right for you.
Of course the same hypocrites who cry about Koran burnings are silent when Muslims desecrate the American Flag or comically vandalize Ronald McDonald statues. Symbolic speech is controversial topic and if lefties insist that setting fire to the American flag is legal than so is burning Korans, Manifestos, Earth in the Balance and Vanilla Ice records.
As for all the over the top rhetoric spare us. Muslims frequently blow up mosques of rival sects. There are plenty of Korans in the Shia sites Sunnis blow up in Iraq and elsewhere.
The pastor has the same right to be wrong that the sanctimonious defenders of the mosque cite. Only Michael Bloomberg grasps this and can be disrespected.