'But to the world, we can only say we are sorry, and please don’t judge us by these bigoted few.'

[seafan]

From Juan Cole today on the planned Qur’an burning in Gainesville, Florida on September 11, 2010, by a very small, hate-driven right wing extremist group:


September 7, 2010

.....

It isn’t only Petraeus who is petrified by the way this auto-da-fe could spin out of control. The Catholic cardinal in Mumbai, India and an archbishop in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, have condemned the stunt, as well. Likewise, Christian leaders in Indonesia have jointly protested the Gainesville church’s plans. Terry Jones, the Dove pastor, appears to want to prove Muslims are intolerant by provoking them to attack ‘Christians’ over the burning of their scripture. I.e., he thinks just like al-Qaeda, which wanted to provoke Christians to attack Muslims so as to demonstrate Christian imperialism. If what you want to do is spread hate and produce dead bodies, that is easy. Sowing rancor and harvesting corpses is no harder than piling up garbage. Producing love and tolerance and unity across ethnic and religious boundaries is what is hard, and it is very, very hard. The most difficult thing in the world, like balancing a pyramid on its nose. Which is why we honor the Gandhis and the Martin Luther Kings, who strive toward it on a large scale. What is worrisome is that technology is magnifying the power of tiny fringe hate groups to shape the world.

As I pointed out in late July, “The German poet Heinrich Heine (d. 1856), in his play lamenting the forced conversion of Spain’s Muslims to Christianity, “Almansor,” wrote, “Wherever they burn books, in the end they will burn human beings.” (When the Nazis burned books in 1933, Heine’s were among those set afire, and his prediction was borne out).” (For the full posting, click here).


.....

One of the accusations that anti-Muslim bigots like the Dove group constantly make against the Qur’an is that it promotes vigilante violence. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, scholars of religion have found that the Bible is far more violent than the Qur’an.

.....

A correspondent from Gainesville writes,

‘As a long time resident of Gainesville FL, it pained me to hear this morning on NPR of a demonstration in Afghanistan against the 9/11 Quran burning here. We in Gainesville pride ourselves as being a progressive, tolerant and forward looking city. We also happen to be home of the small (less than 50) Dove Outreach church, a reactionary and publicity seeking outfit. Please, people of the world, know that this stunt has stimulated much pain and concern in our community. It has stimulated a lot of planning and dialogue, and there will be a variety of events to counter the proposed burning. There has been wildly inaccurate reporting about the event, with the Wall Street Journal repeating the false report that Dove is a “mega-church”. It is a micro-church, also run as a used furniture store . . . They are loving all the publicity, while the rest of our community can only look on in horror and try to come up with a cogent response. That this small group of wing-nuts have garnered so much publicity is a shame; hopefully we will make it through the week peacefully and come out with a community made even stronger. But to the world, we can only say we are sorry, and please don’t judge us by these bigoted few.’

Religious tolerance and respect for the Qur’an by the many in America will outlive the hatred of the bigoted few.

[LibDemAlways]

1. If the media didn't publicize this stupid act by a handful of nut cases,

no one outside their sick little world would know or care. These people are nothing but publicity hounds, and the stupid ass media is giving them exactly what they want by shining the spotlight on them. A responsible press would pass on this, but the days of responsible journalism in this country are long gone.

[gratuitous]

3. Yep, it's called feeding the trolls

And Mr. Jones looks like, sounds like, and acts like a troll.

As for not judging the entirety of the U.S. by Mr. Jones' actions? Well, I would say that we in the U.S. have a lot of work to do in that regard. It's nice that Mr. Cole is asking for some grace and some space from the rest of the world, but it would sound a lot better if our country practiced what he's preaching.

[seafan]

2. The diseased bigots among us will not stop until they incite violence.

All eyes on Dove World

By Kimberly C. Moore
Gainesville Sun

September 8, 2010

.....

In his sermon Sunday at Dove World, (Pastor Terry) Jones said prophets in the Bible put their lives on the line for their beliefs and he condemned area churches for reading from the Quran during Sunday services.

"We have to remember the church has always been called the army of God. So now, they say, is the time to stand and act like the army of God," he said in a sermon posted on Dove World's website. "How cowardly has our Christianity fallen from the truth and from the gospel? It is sad. I would probably cry if I were on camera."

At Dove World on Tuesday, a Gainesville police officer was stationed across the street from the church. The church's lighted roadside sign was damaged, although it was not clear when it was broken.

Jones did not respond to e-mailed questions, including how he would explain his actions to the parents of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A request at Dove World to talk with Jones was met with an order to leave church property. "The Gainesville Sun is no longer welcome here," a church official said, although media outlets from all over the state and nation were allowed to stay.

Following a series of stories by The Gainesville Sun on the church throughout the past year, Dove World recently lost tax-free status on part of its property because the church runs a for-profit business in an adjacent building.

The entire property is for sale.

Maybe this would be a good place to build a mosque.



German church founded by Terry Jones rejects Quran burning

September 8, 2010
AP

BERLIN - A leader at a German evangelical church founded by Terry Jones said Wednesday he has no doubts the Florida-based preacher will carry out plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, saying his congregation is "shocked and surprised" at his radical determination.

Stephan Baar of the Christian Community of Cologne, founded by Jones in the 1980s, said although the congregation has had no contact with the 58-year-old preacher since throwing him out in 2008, he does not expect Jones to cave in to pressure from the White House, religious leaders and others to call it off.

.....

Germany's Lutheran Church has condemned the threatened burning of the Quran, considered by Muslims to be the word of God, and the president of the country's largest Jewish organization recalled how the Nazis burned books in 1933, only years before they set up crematoria to carry out the Holocaust.

"We can not allow that in certain circles, a subtle and often silent policy of hate and fear is allowed to be carried out and bear fruit," Charlotte Knobloch told the online edition of Focus on Wednesday.

Baar was also quick to distance his small, independent church and its congregation of about 60 members from the ideas of its founder, saying they had severed ties since breaking with him over differences in his leadership style.
"We felt that he was taking the church in a direction that did not conform with what we believe," Baar said. He refused to elaborate.

German media have reported that Jones also ran into legal trouble while here and was convicted by a Cologne administrative court in 2002 of falsely using the title of "doctor" although he had not completed a Ph.D., and fined him €3000 ($3,800).

Jones calls himself as "Dr." on the website of the Dove World Outreach Center, an independent church that he now leads in Gainesville, Florida.

An armed Christian organization, Right Wing Extreme, will protect a church that is planning to host an "International Burn a Quran Day" on September 11, the church's pastor said Tuesday. ---LINK






----LINK



This poisonous hatred must be eliminated from our world.