The Dove World Outreach Center in Florida To Commemorate 9/11 By Burning Qurans
I haven’t blogged about the announcement made by the The Dove World Outreach Center in Florida of their plan to burn copies of the Qur’an on the anniversary of the September 11th World Trade Center attacks.
I didn’t blog about this as it is a despicable act by lunatic extremists whom in no way represent the vast majority of decent Christians in this world. This bunch are attention seeking and have already garnered global exposure.
Even though the Dove Center suffered a setback in their plans recently when city officials denied them a “burn permit”, they still plan to go ahead despite a potential fine and have even gone as far as to cite ten reasons why they should burn the Qu’ran.
So why have I blogged about this now?
It simply never occurred to me that this act may well endanger Christians living in Muslim nations. Whilst the Dove Outreach Center enjoy living in a society that will protect them from retribution and which is majority Christian, there are many other Christians who do not enjoy these privileges.
The Qur’an in Islamic thought is not comparable to the Bible as Muslims view the Qu’ran as the eternal word of God, perfect and pre-existing, rather like Christians view Jesus. This is why defacing the Qur’an is such a big deal in the Islamic psyche.
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.
Worried Catholics and Muslims in Madhya Pradesh are to appeal to the Pope and other world leaders to try and prevent a US church holding a “Burn a Qur’an Day” next month.
We signed a resolution demanding positive action from world leaders to block the burnings, said Mazood Ahammad Khan
The letter will be sent to the “leaders shortly,” the secretary of the co-ordination committee for Indian Muslims said yesterday.
“We want action against such hate campaigners so that no one will do it again,” Khan said.
The Dove World Outreach Center in Florida plans to host the controversial event on Sept. 11 to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks in New York.
Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, and a delegation of Muslim leaders met earlier on Aug. 24 to condemn the plan and discuss the impact the burnings could have in the state.
Some Muslim leaders would feel a “strong sense of anger” and Church people suspect it would be directed at them, said Quazi Muhammad Faisal, the top Muslim leader in Bhopal.
At the meeting the archbishop and Muslim leaders decided to write to Pope Benedict, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and US President Barack Obama asking them to help prevent the church from carrying out its plan.
The Catholic Church “fully shares the sentiments of Muslims that no one should be allowed to burn the holy Qur’an,” Archbishop Cornelio said.
“Such an act violates the established traditions for peaceful co-existence,” he told ucanews.com.
Christian and Muslim leaders have stressed the need to respect every religion, every religious book and each other’s right to follow a religion, he said.
Tags: Christian Persecution, Media, News, Religion Society
August 27th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Rather helpfully the church has been offered armed guards to stop the police interfering with the burning:
http://www.worldcorrespondents.com/armed-group-of-christian-conservatives-to-protect-church-during-burning-of-quran/889096
At least all of this is logical. It is the logical conclusion of that type of fundamentalist ideology. As I always say, if they were in charge there would be stoning for adultery and execution of homosexuals.
August 27th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Unbelievable and disgraceful.
August 27th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Apparently Right Wing Extreme have pulled out. They have issued a statement here:
http://www.rightwingextreme.us/index.php/News/Top-Stories/press-release-armed-christian-group-pulls-support-of-burning-of-koran.html
August 27th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Looks like the Dove Chucrh is too extremist for them, which is remarkable given their own website…
August 27th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Christopher Hitchens is beginning to sound more and more like the voice of reason.
August 27th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Oh you haven’t seen anything yet. I was gonna keep this to myself, but I just can’t resist it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Bmv9uetrw
Found it thru the FreeThinker, where do they get these nutters from?
Happy Friday folks
August 27th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
He has been around for a long time. He was banned from Youtube previously for saying that black skin was the curse of Ham. I don’t think he is a Christian as such, He is some sort of fundamentalist Chrstadelphian who got chucked out by them.
I know someone who believes that Adulterers should be stoned to death and that after the rapture Jesus will enforce old testament law on the world to bring us wicked non fundies to him.
August 27th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Ah, thanks for that info Gordon….
August 27th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
@ webmaster: OMG!!!! (I’ve gone all teenage in shock horror – mouth agape). What a zonko looney!!! Do you think he’s in the grounds of an institution? Has he got a camera because he can’t be trusted with a pen?
Coincidentally, I’ve just spent the afternoon with an old friend who says both she and her mum are furious about the Pope’s visit. Not about him coming – he’s entitled to visit the Catholic faithful – but that it’s a state visit and we’re paying for it.
Their objections to the Pope are rational, however, as well as being much more moderately phrased…
September 7th, 2010 at 12:03 am
This has nothing to do with Muslim or Islam. This bigot Right Wing Church is mad as hell because a Black Man is in their “White House”. They are trying to force Obama in making a comment so the Republicans can pounce on him and say he cares more about Islam and Quran than US Bill of Rights. That Jerry guy already admitted that G.W Bush is his idol. These Republicans don’t give hoot about our troops when it comes to winning at any price. It is something when you don’t care about the well being of this country but to cause harm to our soldiers for winning the election is shameful.
September 9th, 2010 at 8:23 am
Chapter 111 of tke Koran is about burning a non-Muslim.
The power of Abu Lahab will perish, and he will perish.
Abu Lahab will die and be plunged in flaming Fire. His wife will have on her neck a halter of palm fiber.
His wealth and gains will not exempt him.
He will be plunged in flaming Fire,
And his wife, the wood-carrier,
Will have upon her neck a halter of palm-fibre.
Is it as wrong to burn a person as it is to burn the Koran?
I think it is just as wrong to burn a person as it is to burn the Koran.
In fact, it might even be more wrong.
Although obviously I respect the right of Muslims to publish books saying certain people should be burned in Hell.
September 9th, 2010 at 10:26 am
” …it is a despicable act by lunatic extremists…”
Um.
I look at this and I see a different issue. In fact the reporting seems to me to miss the point.
Isn’t this actually a protest against an increasing cultural norm in which nothing that might offend Moslems can be said or thought? That is, it is deliberately highlighting a trend about which we should all be worried. It is an attempt to resist the dhimmisation of our society? If so, the reactions by those who are supposed to represent us, to defend us, are terrifying, in that they defer to our enemies in order to stifle our friends. Societies that do this cease to exist.
By comparison I keep seeing instances where moslem attacks on Christians are very underreported. For instance the harassment of Tony Blair in Ireland involved people throwing shoes. Now do you suppose — for it was not reported — that the people doing that were, um, Moslems? You bet they were. Yet the BBC played that down.
Likewise whenever Moslems attack churches in Nigeria, the BBC report this as “clashes between Christians and Moslems”.
I have been told that aid donated to Pakistan in the recent flooding, mostly from the west, has been denied to Pakistani Christians. It hasn’t been reported.
Instances could be multiplied; except that if I did compile such a list, I’d probably be arrested!
Now what I’m querying here is what the real issue is. If we were not under threat from Islam, the actions of this fringe bunch would be of no importance, and the only issue would be courtesy. But that is not the case. So to define it thus is to misdefine the issue. Can you imagine people being told in 1940 not to burn copies of Mein Kampf in case it “made the situation worse” and was “extreme”? Such attitudes are suicide for those that hold them.
So … let’s think a moment. Who are the bad guys here? Why shouldn’t we burn a koran, if we are that way inclined? After all, the Moslems are not according us the same courtesy. Ask the Christians in Iraq.
Should we not rather say something like this: I would not burn a Koran — or a bible — but I would defend to the death the right of every freeborn man to do either, so long as they were his own property.
September 9th, 2010 at 10:33 am
“Why shouldn’t we burn a koran, if we are that way inclined?”
because it will lead to the persecution and murder of Christians living in Islamic countries.
That’s why not.
September 9th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Roger
A lot of the aid going to Pakistan from the UK is chanelled through the DEC which includes Christian organisations like Christian Aid, Tear Fund, CAFOD etc. Are you seriously suggesting that they are denying aid to non-Muslims. Sounds like one of those urban myths so beloved of certain types of evangelicals.
The Christians in Iraq were generarally tolerated and respected under Saddam as long as they did not dabble too much in politics. It is the illegal invasion of the Coalition that has put their lives and very existence at threat. Most have fled to other countries. ……….not that the US will mind as long as it gets its oil.
A lot of people throwing shoes at Tony Blair were not Muslims at all. Simply anti-war protesters imitating the incident in Iraq when a shoe was thrown at George W Bush.
The Florida Church pastor obviously knows nothing about Christianity or the teachings of the NT and is putting the lives of millions of Americans, aid workers and Christians at risk. I am not condoning the activities of militant Islamists but surely he should be stopped from “exercising his rights”; citizanship of a democracy brings responsabilities too. If one wishes to burn a Koran one can do it in private.
Where are the people like Sarah Palin, John Hagee, Franklin Graham, Glen Beck , Jerry Falwell jnr or even some Republican senators ? They are all quick to condemn Islam but cannot bring themselves to speak against this evil pastor and his publicity stunts. Sadly, I suspect Holly is right, they are enjoying the difficulty that this puts President Obama in. Not a very patriotic and Christian stand to take by people who claim to want to restore honour to their Country’s very tarnished image.
September 9th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Book burning is a sign that you cannot argue against the ideas contained within that book and that is further confirmed by the quote “something is wrong” So what is it that is wrong Pastor Terry Jones or are you simply seeking attention by burning a book?. Book burning is an admission of defeat and should always been seen that way.
I hate to say this as well but this does tie in with the idea that Christanity in the US is more about showmanship and money making. It needs more people like you to show people like me that this isn’t the case
http://west-of-westminster.blogspot.com/
September 9th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
all religions have there nutters tell the pastor to read the passages on jesus mary and moses to start with ,even the bible does not have a passage to defend mary against the jewish claims.Ihope muslims will not hold to account innocent people for the actions of a few .let god deal with him.none muslims read the english translation of the koran online its not what people make out as devils work.
September 9th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
I find myself hoping that Holly’s analysis is not correct but it does seem to make sense. I am reminded of something that a great American, Steven Weinberg, said:
“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. ”
Whilst one may not agree with his view, what he says strikes a chord in this instance.
September 10th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
The ‘pastor’ of the Dove World Outreach Church is an idiot- worse than this, he is probably a PAID idiot. He claims to want to burn Korans because of the attacks of 911. He obviously believes the US government lies that ‘Muslim Extremists’ were to blame… despite the overwhelming evidence that 911 was an INSIDE JOB.
As for the Catholic cult stating that “no one should be allowed to burn the holy Qur’an,” this is outright hypocracy. Throughout the centuries, the Roman Whore-Church has had no qualms about burning Bibles AND the non-conformist translators (Christians, that is).
In short, the ‘pastor’ is re-enforcing the LIE about 911, and the Roman Whore-Church is intensifying its ecumenical efforts. Islamic states are up-in-arms and that’s another excuse for the US to perform their ‘pre-emptive strikes’. Again.
Look behind this blind Pastor, and see government agencies. Look behind the government agencies and see the New World Order. Look beyond the New World Order and see satan.
Smoke and Mirrors.
September 12th, 2010 at 9:05 am
It appears tat he does not really believe that Islam is satanic. Having now cancelled the burning he has gone to have a meeting with an immam in New York. If he really believed what he claimed to he would not be having a meeting with an emissary of the devil.
Of course, he never really believed it, but I bet at his age a few additional book sales will not go amiss. Meanwhile a few people died in Afghanistan during the protests, but as they weren’t saved I don’t suppose he minds.
September 12th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
@ Gordon: I don’t about book sales. This pastor must be wishing he’d thought about what all this publicity would do to him. Seems the bozo could imagine the glare of publicity on his cause, but not the interest this would generate in his own prior history. There are reports that he and his wife were kicked out of a previous church they ran in Cologne for control-freakery, violent exorcisms and our old friend, financial irregularities.
Bet he didn’t want that dragged out under the spotlights. Oh, and their adult daughter has long disowned them, calling their congregation “a cult”.
What a pair of fine, upstanding citizens… I never go for conspiracy theories. Real life is just so much funnier.