Despite Government Warnings, American Church to Proceed with "Burn a Quran Day"
Despite warnings from the White House and Gen. David Petraeus that he would endanger U.S. troops overseas, a Christian minister in Florida vowed Tuesday to go ahead with plans to burn copies of the Quran in protest of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Pastor Jerry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center, which has about 50 members, sa.
In an email to the AP, Petreaus warned that "images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan - and around the world - to inflame public opinion and incite violence."
P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the State Department, echoed Petreaus' sentiments, deeming plans to burn the Quran "un-American", stating that it doesn't represent the opinion of most people in the U.S. He added:
"While it may well be within someone's rights to take this action, we hope cooler heads will prevail."
Jones says that he is also concerned about how the burnings might be taken, but wonders how many times the U.S. can back down. He said:
"We think it's time to turn the tables, and instead of possibly blaming us for what could happen, we put the blame where it belongs — on the people who would do it. And maybe instead of addressing us, we should address radical Islam and send a very clear warning that they are not to retaliate in any form."
Jons said he has received more than 100 death threats and has started wearing a .40-caliber pistol strapped to his hip. The threats began not too long after he proclaimed in July that he would stage "International Burn a Quran Day."
Supporters of Jones have been mailing copies of the Islamic holy text to his his evangelical Christian church to be burned in a bonfire Saturday evening.
The local fire department has denied Jones a required burn permit for Saturday, but he says he is going ahead with his event anyways. He says that his lawyers have said that his right to burn the Quran is protected by the First Amendment whether or not he has permission from the city.
Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is deeply offensive to Muslims, who consider it to be the word of God and insist it to be treated with the utmost respect.
An interfaith group of evangelical, Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Muslim leaders meeting in Washington D.C. have condemned Jones' plans as a violation of American values and the bible. Rabbi Steve Gutow of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs commented:
"This is not the America that we all have grown to love and care about. We have to stand up for our Muslim brothers and sisters and say, "This is not OK.'"
Comments
On September 11th of this year the Dove World Outreach Center, a Church in Gainesville, Florida, intends to burn copies of the Holy Quran even though they have been denied a fire permit from the city of itself. By performing this act, the group will do nothing but anger Muslims worldwide. Perhaps this extremist minority group should take a moment to study the true Islam, which preaches a message of peace and tolerance. The head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a peace-loving Islamic group based in London, has issued a statement on this matter. He said, “The world needs peace, love and brotherhood. The world needs an end to wars. Instead of walls of hatred being erected we need peace to prevail and for this to occur people of all faiths must join together.” Instead of furthering the existing racism and bigotry against Muslims in the United States, this group should follow the teachings of the Bible and “Follow peace with all men…” (Hebrews 12:14).
>Subject: Airport Profiling?
>To ensure we Americans never offend anyone - - - -
>particularly
>fanatics intent on killing us - airport screeners
>will not be allowed to
>profile people. They will continue random searches
>of 80-year-old women,
>little kids, airline pilots with proper
>identification, Secret Service
>agents who are members of the president's security
>detail, 85-year-old
>Congressmen with metal hips and
>Medal-of-Honor-winning former governors.
>
>In the interest of fairness and justice's blind
>eye, let's pause a moment and take the following test:
>
>In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were
>kidnapped and massacred by:
> > > > > > > (a) Olga Corbutt
> > > > > > > (b) Sitting Bull
> > > > > > > (c) Arnold Schwartzeneger
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 1979,the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over
> > > > > > by:
> > > > > > > (a) Lost Norwegians
> > > > > > > (b) Elvis
> > > > > > > (c) A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > During the 1980's a number of Americans were
> > > > > > kidnapped in Lebanon by:
> > > > > > > (a) John Dillinger
> > > > > > > (b) The King of Sweden
> > > > > > > (c) The Boy Scouts
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was
> > > > > > blown up by:
> > > > > > > (a) A pizza delivery boy
> > > > > > > (b) Pee Wee Herman
> > > > > > > (c) Geraldo Rivera making up for a slow news day
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was
> > > > > > hijacked, and a 70-year-old
> > > > > > > American passenger was murdered and thrown
> > > > > > overboard by:
> > > > > > > (a) The Smurfs
> > > > > > > (b) Davy Jones
> > > > > > > (c) The Little Mermaid
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens,
> > > > > > and a U.S. Navy
> > > > > > > diver was murdered by:
> > > > > > > (a) Captain Kidd
> > > > > > > (b) Charles Lindbergh
> > > > > > > (c) Mother Teresa
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
> > > > > > > (a) Scooby Doo
> > > > > > > (b) The Tooth Fairy
> > > > > > > (c) Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid who had a
> > > > > > few sticks of
> > > > > > > dynamite left over from the train job.
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the
> > > > > > FIRST time by:
> > > > > > > (a) Richard Simmons
> > > > > > > (b) Richard Gere
> > > > > > > (c) Michael Jordan
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 1998, the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
> > > > > > were bombed by:
> > > > > > > (a) Mr. Rogers
> > > > > > > (b) Hillary, to distract attention from Bill's
> > > > > > women problems
> > > > > > > (c) The World Wrestling Federation to promote its
> > > > > > next villain:
> > > > > > > "Mustapha the Merciless"
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked and
> > > > > > destroyed and thousands
> > > > > > > of people were killed by:
> > > > > > > (a) Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and
> > > > > > Elmer Fudd
> > > > > > > (b) The Supreme Court of Florida
> > > > > > > (c) Mr. Bean
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 2002 the United States is fighting a war in
> > > > > > Afghanistan against:
> > > > > > > (a) Enron
> > > > > > > (b) The Lutheran Church
> > > > > > > (c) The NFL
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and
> > > > > > murdered by:
> > > > > > > (a) Peter Jennings
> > > > > > > (b) Peter Falk
> > > > > > > (c) Billy Graham
> > > > > > > (d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the
> > > > > > ages of 17 and 40
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Profiling? Hmmm . . . Nope. Don't see it. No
> > > > > > patterns anywhere
These stupid liberal idiots IGNORE the fact that Muslim countries are responsible for the worst human rights atrocities in history, and that there is NO FREEDOM in Muslim countries.
Liberals don't care about America; they only defend people other than Americans, even if they murder and mutilate women and non-Muslims.
Let them burn.
It is horrible to rationalize the burning of the Koran. Muslims in general did not commit the atrocities of which you speak, extremists did. You can't just put a vendetta on a group as a whole for the actions of a couple radicals, proclaiming they are working for Islam when they really go against some its main tenets.