US church to go ahead with Sept. 11 Quran burning

[hani_backup]

I read this article and my mouth dropped.

Apparently "International Burn a Koran Day" is September 11th.

Comments

[shadowspoken.livejournal.com]

Saw it on the news today at lunch, the guy is a friggin' idiot.

[hani.livejournal.com]

'greed.

[hana-ginkawa.livejournal.com]

It's completely stupid. As if all the world's evils was born from the scripture of the Koran. I've never read it, but neither have they. If they did, though, I'm sure it would be similar in values to their own "word".

People...*shakes head*.

[hani.livejournal.com]

It is. peeeeeeople

[tothedreamtime.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Tanakh (Old Testament) is much more violent and vulgar than the Qur'an. The New Testament, sans The Apocalypse of John, is likely the tamest of the three. But the Tanakh is still far ahead of the Qur'an in terms of "woah, did God/that guy just say that?".

[jenifermichelle.livejournal.com]

While this man is disgusting, I can't say I'm surprised given its coming from Florida. People there are ridiculously racist and, even when presented with the cold hard fact that Islam has the same Judaic roots as Christianity, they will still proudly call it the bastard religion of the terrorists. What's even more sickening about this guy is his role as a community leader, he's teaching his congregation, who surely bring their kids to church too, that such hatred is not just okay, but being actively offensive is the right thing to do. So very, very disgusting.

[hani.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'm not American, but I thought Florida was a little more accepting... Though I suppose because they're close to the border, they're not as accepting, of races or religions.

[tothedreamtime.livejournal.com]

Flordia is filled with your stereotypical racist rednecks.

[jana-hahn.livejournal.com]

I think I'd have to agree with that. I don't know how true, but some/most people in Florida or Texas are not more accepting.

Anyway, I am kinda anticipating what's going to happen next. Coz if the burning did happen, they're so gonna spark more hate from the rest of the world...

[hani.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the escalation would be frightening.

[talkingdonkey.livejournal.com]

This infuriates me so much. I've been following this story. Clearly this is the best way for peace.

[hani.livejournal.com]

Clearly. You must make war to get peace...

[tothedreamtime.livejournal.com]

I think the most poignant thing about this is that it is an example of meeting ignorance with ignorance. Muslim extremist did something ignorant, so Christian extremists sink to their level and do something also ignorant. With the way it goes, this ignorant act will be countered by extreme Muslims with another ignorant act and it will keep going back and forth. They both have the same God share connections to Judaism, which based itself on the religion of Ur from where Abram/Abraham originated. Muslims also believe that while Jesus is not the son of God, he is a prophet and will return. This issue is a fitting representation of the problems in the Middle East. The US views the region through the glass of Orientalism and this act of ignorance is met with ignorance in return. That is how we arrived at where we are today. I am sick of fundamentalists (including atheists) and individuals/nations who act belligerently. It would be nice to build a rocket and put people like this pastor, bin Laden, Bush, Mullah Omar (If he even exists), Palin, etc... inside and shoot them into space.

[hani.livejournal.com]

Yeah, though it sometimes sucks having to be the one who "turns the other cheek," sometimes it's necessary to do so. I'm a little apprehensive of what the backlash would be. I sometimes wish I had read Dawkins since that's most people's example of extreme atheism.

[tothedreamtime.livejournal.com]

Ultimately, sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you can do. You cannot defeat an enemy whose ranks will grow with each defeat. This is the case with both American Christian extremists and Middle Eastern Muslim extremists. Only through attempting to educate people and showing them that their enemy is more like them that they realize can you remove them from such a path. And some people, no matter what you do, will never change their warped views and desires.

[baka-kit.livejournal.com]

It's not so much "International" as it is "Tiny Redneck Town in Florida Koran Burning Day" but these small-minded hatemongers want to convince everyone that they're not backwards remnants from a more bigoted era.

If General Patreas asked them not to do it but they're going ahead despite the risk to the troops, it should show everybody exactly what kind of people they are, and how much concern they don't have for their fellow Americans.

[hani.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the pastor wants to start it this year (the "International" Burn a Koran Day). It's a little hypocritical they think they're patriots...

[tothedreamtime.livejournal.com]

Oh it is quite representative of international issues. While not openly this extreme, the US often has an ethnocentric foreign policy and this leads to problems. The Middle East has seen this often. Such as the way in which the US encouraged the Iraqi-Iranian War by selling weapons to both sides while telling each nation they were selling weapons only to them. I can write a huge paper on the ways in which diplomatic, economic, and military action involving other nations has been, and continues to be, ignorant. To the current issue, the current conflicts have become a glorified back and forth game. Right-Wing Christians have become a major group in the military and many have views similar to this pastor. Some join to "kill heathen sandpeople" in revenge for 9/11 and denying Jesus as their savior. The presence of belligerent "holy" men and leaders in the region do not help. But the current wars were also started by a belligerent leader whose re-election proves the stupidity of many of my fellow Americans. Too many mistakes were made by incompetence that has made the US appear the villain that radicals accuse it of. That only swelled the ranks of extremism. It would be quite a sick joke if at least one of the many conspiracy theories about this whole issues being manipulated by someone with agents on both sides were true. Sad to say, but if that turned out to be true I don't think I would be particularly surprised.

Many people seem to not understand what patriotism is. A patriot is not someone who blindly follows/supports the government, military, etc... It is someone who holds to the ideals and wants to make their nation truly better. Religious tolerance is a patriotic thing as it is a foundation that this country is based on. Separation of Church and State was designed to free these two institutions from influencing the other. Religion and government together are dangerous. Contrary to popular belief while some of the founders were Christian, several were not. Ben Franklin was an Occultist and Thomas Jefferson was a Deist who believed in a God, but not in the divinity of Jesus. You can find a lot of quotes where these and other individuals indicate no Christian basis for the US government or their disbelief in the the religion. Protesting the military when it does unethical things (Which, sadly, it has done a lot of in the Middle East as of late) is patriotic. The individuals who usually go on about patriotism are those who do not know the meaning of the word. Sarah Palin's (A good example) desire to deplete our natural resources and wildlife, use the military in unethical ways, reinforce plutocracy, support of extreme religious ideology, desire to regress are all fall short of what the hopes for the US were.

[jixel.livejournal.com]

maybe we could burn bibles on dec 25th

[hani.livejournal.com]

Heh. I think Easter, with Jesus's ressurection would be more equivalent. Though, I suppose I should be glad they're not burning them on Eid...

[tothedreamtime.livejournal.com]

That would make you no better than him, though. And yes, Easter is the most important Christian holiday.