Come one...Come all
The net is alive with talks about this church in Gainesville, Florida that wish to hold an, International Burn A Quran Day, to "commemorate" the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy that struck America specifically, and the world community as a whole.
Apparently the Dove World Outreach Center, headed by Pastor Terry Jones, believes it is the duty of Christians to educate the people about Islam...and show that it is a "religion of the devil"...it "leads people to hell" so the "fire is where it belongs"...hence the desire to publicly burn it on live T.V. etc.
Now let me get this straight...this is a Pastor...a religious figure (of sorts)...with a flock of sheep I'm assuming? Supporters hanging on his every word, if his Facebook page highlighting his "day" is anything to go by.
This is a man who claims he is upholding the word of God...by openly and willfully orchestrating an event that will surely cause, at the very least, discord and unrest, hurt feelings and continued "othering"...and at the very worst, injury and or possibly even death? I hate to admit that the Muslim world is not known for taking criticism lightly. Ahem!
Now, here is my personal opinion about book burning...whether the book is "holy" or just on a list of "oh no our kids can't read that" genre.
A book from God...or a book from Man, is a thing, an object....ink and paper with words on it. You want to burn that book...by all means, go ahead. Here, let me hold that gas can for you while you light up. Be careful you don't set yourself on fire...wouldn't want that to happen now would we. *dripping sarcasm inserted here*
I could care less if a group of hateful people want to burn a book that is held by another group of people to be valuable or worthy of some sort of sanctity and worshipful status. Just because YOU hold that book in high esteem does not mean I must as well. Freedom of " the choice is mine" far as I'm concerned.
All this little charade will do is highlight how intolerant one Pastor and all his followers are towards others...and how so very far they are from the teachings of their own Holy Book.
So...burn away Pastor...I prefer your hate be directed towards a benign object rather than a human being...after all...it is the MESSAGE in the book that should be more important to Muslims...than an actual ink and paper object. Right?
This misguided Pastor can burn a million Quran's...hell he can burn every single Quran on this planet...and what will that do to Islam...what will it do to the Message? Will it instantly cease to exist because now it is a "pile of ashes"?
Don't think so.
Now, here is what I propose. Two things.
1. Now I know it will be hard....really REALLY hard...for Muslims around the world to NOT turn this incident into a full scale riot SOMEWHERE on this planet. I'm fairly sure that the Muslim media will swarm the T.V. channels and net with this hateful display of intolerance...just as Fox News does when it concerns Muslims or Arabs (Fox seems unable to tell the difference)...and thus causing the "faithful" Muslims of the world to riot...burn...destroy..and possibly kill other human beings in their quest to show their extreme displeasure at having the Holy Word Of God desecrated in some fashion. I know it will happen. I do....but.....
Wouldn't it be so great if not a single Muslim anywhere so much as raised an eyebrow...not so much as sniff in protest (highly unlikely I know but bear with me). So when all was said and done and Quran ashes are blowing in the breeze and one hate filled Pastor is looking around with his smug smile and expecting hoards of Muslims to descend and give credence to his "Islam is from the devil" propaganda crap...and all he sees is...wait for it...Tolerance.
Then HE will be shown as the intolerant ass that he is...and the Muslims he wishes to shame and antagonize will be shown as the tolerant followers of their faith THEY strive to be seen as. (well most of them anyways).
2. A little more physical activity involved in this one (I know it's pretty damn hard to do NOTHING when emotions are involved as indicated in the first point)...I would like all the Muslims in that particular area to gather up all the Bibles they can find...and go join this Pastor Terry Jones on his "book burning day" and hold their own little bonfire. Hey, Freedom of Speech or what ever the hell Freedom is being expressed by one Pastor Terry Jones and his little debacle, goes both ways.
You burn MY book...I burn YOUR book...lets call it an Interfaith Book Burning Day. (insert koom-bye-yah music here)
Everyone bring what ever holy book concerning whatever religious affiliation it expounds upon, down to the book burning party. One great big bonfire will be arranged...along with marshmallows and hot chocolate... and we will set the world on fire...so to speak. ALL religions will be treated exactly the same...that is what Freedom is all about...right?
So...Pastor Terry Jones...are you prepared to see a bunch of "hell seekers"...oops I mean Muslims....pile up some Bibles and set them on fire...and not so much as raise an eyebrow in protest?
Or does Freedom to burn Holy Books only extend to those not associated with Christianity?
Waiting.....
p.s.
Dear God...please forgive the idiots You have created for they know not what they do while "defending" your Word...a word that has apparently been written several times in several Books...end result...not ONE God but Your God and My God and let's all hate each other in the name of Some God...
Please feel free to send your Wrath to straighten these haters up.
Sincerely
Coolred
25 comments:
you said it well when you said it will be hard for Muslims for Muslims not to turn the incident into a riot.
Turning it into something that it should not be is what people like"him" wants. to proof more that this is an evil religion !!!
The irony is that when people like these claim that Islam is a hateful religion and that it drives its followers into violent people who kill and do all bad things, they forget that they are doing the same.
Once a nice lady comment in my blog about this topic: let him burn the Quran, it's between him and God, and i couldn't agree more.
I wonder when we will all be forgiven and tolerance of each other !!
Thanks for your wise words coolred :)
While I generally agree with what you wrote, esp. Muslims reaction to the event, I think there is a greater symbolic issue going on here. Book burning has been going on throughout history and it's indicative extreme intolerance of a certain group of people or set of ideas. So while I hope this is an isolated incident (i doubt it will be), the fact remains that America is becoming more and more intolerant of Muslims in general. I think it's our duty as human being, and as Muslims, to speak out against such a thing before we find our rights taken from us.
Wafa...thanks for your comment..and I agree with your lovely lady commentor...let him burn it...its between him an God.
Cicily...yes indeed. LOL
Stephanie...when I meant do not react...it was more in line..do not give him what he wants...an excuse to point at Muslims and say...see!!! I told you they were godless people.
Speaking out is on thing...lashing out is another.
I would prefer to see everyone of all religions spending 11 September really honoring the memory of those who lost their lives - not pretending to do so but then proceeding to hijack the day for their own little ideological whatever. I think the only place any Book has on such a day is to offer words of comfort from it to the loved ones who survived those killed in the attacks. Let's get our priorities straight.
carboska...that is the ideal outcome...alas...given mans incredible desire to find something to hate even when it isnt there..I doubt peace will be the order of the day.
Man it would be so awesome if Muslims didn't react! Seriously, that would be the biggest slap in the face.
cairo..Im assuming you mean slap in the face for the Pastor and his flock of like minded haters???
If so...I agree.
As a pastor and a believer in Jesus,he should not be rallying for such a cause.Yes muslims will react to this whether in condemning this act in words or in arms but I mostly don't think they'll go a step further and burn the bible except maybe for a minority extremist group.
It's really sad that it has come down to this.If only all people worship just One God and not get mixed up with so many man-made interpretations,things would've been soooo much easier.But of course this will not happen as man loves complication and difficulty, to confuse the rest and bring them under him to control.
I really hope this Quran burning day will not happen.
Lat...in no way do I assume Muslims would burn the Bible...I dare say they would find it just as offensive as I assume Christians would...it was more tongue in cheek. Maybe I didnt express that sentiment well enough.
IM NOT ADVOCATING THE BURNING OF ANY BOOK, RELIGIOUS OR NOT.
Though I dont personally have a problem with it. People are determined to make asses of themselves despite common sense and...well...Gods guidance?
"lets call it an Interfaith Book Burning Day!" OMG! Funny! I can almost picture it now.
I think the ultimate revenge would be for the biggest sound coming from Muslims to be...silence. No reaction (as I am sure they predict) and as another poster said...tolerance. My mom used to tell me the best way to take the wind out of someone sails who is trying to get a rise out of you is to do nothing and don't react. Steals their thunder everytime!
oby...I agree with your mom...found that out several years into my marriage. Ex was just trying to antagonize me...and I fell for it and it always ended badly...for me. Once I caught on...I stopped reacting...and boy did that cause a reaction in him.
Almost made me want to laugh at him when he was sputtering and stomping around...and I was just sitting there calmly reading a book. I smile just remembering it.
i can't justify to myself why i shouldn't respond to a man who offends me in the most hurtful manner. while i dont think reacting with insane amounts of violence is justified, a verbal condemnation should be in order and maybe a peaceful protest at the site.
the whole i burn my book you burn yours ... not really working for me either, since i believe that Isa As also brought the word of Allah and Musa As also brought the word of Allah, and burning any word of Allah be it written by man seems disrespectful to the nth degree.
while freedom of speech is all well and good there should be limits. That freedom of speech that is geared towards inciting hate, like say the use of the word Negro or the hitler swastika's etc, should be banned. There is no use for such speech or freedom.
required...once again, as I stated in a previous post...I was not advocating the actual burning of religious texts...I was asking whether or not...if YOU, as a Christian (you being the pastor) would feel unoffended and agreeable to Muslims burning the Bible..obviously he wouldnt...so why burn the Quran?
And I also stated, its highly unlikely that Muslims would burn the Bible anyways...for reasons you stated as well as I.
Thanks for stopping by.
btw verbally condemning someone for being an ass is quite all right in my book...unfortunately, condemnation hardly ever stops at just verbal sparring.
If he wants attention (which he does), he'll get it from all of his supporters. The pats on his back and the cheering for him, the praising for him-that will be enough to fulfill the arrogant needs of his ego. He really doesn't need a Muslim reaction to fullfill what he seeks to accomplish. And I actually think it would serve him if we stayed quiet. Muslims should defend themselves; react appropriately-this is what Muslims have yet to master, however.
Oh, and I know this is not the point, but God does not create idiots. He creates human beings with free will, which many use to make themselves idiots. Just had to say that.
Umm Omar...I agree..pure ego stroking going on from his side.
btw the "idiots" comment was more in line of...Im rather damn tired of "religious folk" exercising their God given right to be idiots...frequently and with much fanfare. Worded wrongly...my bad. Thank you for pointing that out.
I am also against burning any holy books….. but,
9/11 and all other Middle Eastern terrorist acts were occurred against ILLEGAL OCCUPATION, oppression, torture, killing of innocents, blockades , hunger and expanding settlements in PALESTINE.
All of the UNO resolutions refused (veto) by USA and its allies believing to the VERSE in the BIBLE ……the forcefully Robbed Land is “PROMISED by their LORD” to Jews and Christians.. And their other religious belief..
Christians and Jews strongly believe the "VERSE IN THE BIBLE", not in "QURAN" that the Palestinian land is PROMISED by their GOD to them...
Some Christians and Jews even believe destroying Muslims and Islam is a holy war according to their belief. (Yesterday, a Jewish spiritual leader said Palestinian should perish by plague)
So which VERSEs is in the book prompted to attack WTC or 9/11?....BIBLE OR QURAN?...
Now think…which VERSE of which holy book prompted to act 9/11?..
Which holy book to burn?..
QURAN OR BIBLE?..
"Some Christians and Jews even believe destroying Muslims and Islam is a holy war according to their belief."
I had to respond to that. I have never heard that it is a holy war according to their belief based on any part of the Christian or Jewish holy books. Why? these two religions came before Islam...there is nothing in our books about Islam that I know of as it didn't exist at the time the books were written.
There is perhaps a lot of bigotry as shown by this Qur'an burning...but nothing in either holy book that talks about a war on Muslims.
Though I think it is poor judgement, the Qur'an as well as the Bible are paper and words. Burn some and more can be printed. It is not God.
That rabbi is a fool and even Israel is distancing themselves from him.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100829/ts_nm/us_palestinians_israel_rabbi
Hate mongering is hate mongering in any religion... hate + hate does not = peace.
why on earth did u choose to blog about the moran wanting to burn a book, now you brought more attention to his cause.
pls stick to your life story.
Awesome post :)
I agree with every word of this post.
The whole burning thing makes no sense to me whatsoever - not just the Quran, but also the flag and effigy burning we see on the other side of the divide. Why? Is it meant to hurt, because I just find it pretty weird.
I'd rather have them burn a couple of hundred books than attempt to burn down a Mosque
Depth psychologist Ira Progoff, creator of Progoff's Intensive Journal, used to lay awake at night wondering what would happen if all the sacred scriptures of the world were destroyed.
The answer came to him: We would simply write them again, from the same source out of which the original texts had been written.
So, the burning of any book has more to do with the burner than the burned. Such hatred of Islam, inspiring the desire to burn its holy book, should frighten not only Muslims, but all citizens who believe in religious freedom and tolerance.
marahm..."the burning of any book has more to do with the burner than the burned".
Exactly the point I meant to make...apparently didn't quite do it well enough. Thanks for the hand up.
I would like to see muslim riot over the aid workers who were murdered by...wait for it......muslims. How about the journalist/candidate who was murdered by muslims? And this one, why not riot over the up-coming stoning of an inanian woman by muslims.
Yes, tolerance goes both ways.
Hi Coolred,
Whats the reaction of Muslims to the Quran burning on 9/11 anniversary in US and Bahrain?
I just wanted this opinion for some of my research.
Thank you,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0w5vl5O53U
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