US church burning holy books

[Stomski]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11223457

Well played sir, well played. Just when we were getting to some semblance of normality with troops withdrawing from the middle east this douche Terry Jones, no not the Monty Python one, sets up this stunt.

I can remember another famous group that used to pull similar stunts.

[The Doctor]

That's a pretty disgusting and deplorable idea that chap has. For one thing, he is clearly ignorant of how much in common the Muslim and Christian faiths have in common. Also, he clearly doesn't understand his own religion's tenants of tolerance and understanding of people. I wouldn't call him a Christian at all. What a horrible, insideous little man.

-Ralph

[Gav]

I'm glad there's been an outcry of condemnation for this idiot. He actually said:

"We must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam."

What a powerful message, confirming your own ignorance and idiocy. How this is supposed to deter, frighten or do anything other than embitter folk is beyond me.

[Nigel]

I was just about to quote that same line myself.

But organiser, Pastor Terry Jones said: "We must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam."

Or to put it another way,

"We must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam," said the radical element of Christianity.

[legios]

It is rather unfortunate that the clear message they appear to be sending to radical Islam is

"We hate you and wish to destroy all that you value."

That isn't exactly going to help the situation.

I wonder how they would react if a Muslim group decided to send a message to Radical Christianity by burning a hundred or so Bibles?


Karl

[The Doctor]

I imagine they would react with a childish cry along the lines of : "See! We told you they were eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil!" Morons.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

Deplorable idea from a man who quite obviously believes little in the faith he claims to represent.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

Sept 8, 2010 12:00:28 GMT legios said:

I wonder how they would react if a Muslim group decided to send a message to Radical Christianity by burning a hundred or so Bibles?

Wikipedia's article on current Christian Persecution

[Deleted]

I prefer to stay out of all religions. It's a well known fact that some wars in the middle east were started through religion and I even chuckled to myself the other week when I was watching a documentary about the search for the Lost Ark of the covenant. One religious person claimed that the fabled Lost Ark was buried under a golden dome in Jerusalem and the only way to reach it is to demolish the golden dome (which is a sacred shrine for the Muslim religion). The narrator of the programme then pointed out that doing so would start World War 3.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Humans have been religious for most of history, but as soon as it began to lose its hold, atheist atrocities of equal severity started being perpetuated (French revolution, Stalinist Russia, etc.) which tells me that it was only ever an excuse for what people wanted to do anyway.

visnews-en.blogspot.com/2010/09/communique-concerning-koran-burning-day.html

VATICAN CITY, 8 SEP 2010 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue today released an English-language communique describing its "great concern at the news of the proposed 'Koran Burning Day' on the occasion of the anniversary of the 11 September tragic terrorist attacks in 2001 which resulted in the loss of many innocent lives and considerable material damage.

"These deplorable acts of violence, in fact, cannot be counteracted by an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community. Each religion, with its respective sacred books, places of worship and symbols, has the right to respect and protection. We are speaking about the respect to be accorded the dignity of the person who is an adherent of that religion and his/her free choice in religious matters.

"The reflection which necessarily should be fostered on the occasion of the remembrance of 11 September would be, first of all, to offer our deep sentiments of solidarity with those who were struck by these horrendous terrorist attacks. To this feeling of solidarity we join our prayers for them and their loved ones who lost their lives.

"Each religious leader and believer is also called to renew the firm condemnation of all forms of violence, in particular those committed in the name of religion. Pope John Paul II affirmed: 'Recourse to violence in the name of religious belief is a perversion of the very teachings of the major religions' (address to the new ambassador of Pakistan, 16 December 1999). His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI similarly expressed, 'violence as a response to offences can never be justified, for this type of response is incompatible with the sacred principles of religion' (address of His Holiness Benedict XVI, to the new ambassador of Morocco, 6 February 2006)".

Martin

[The Doctor]

Religions don't start wars. People start wars.

-Ralph

[legios]

Human beings tend to identify as part of groups, and in so doing have a tendency to define outgroups which over time come to be viewed as enemies.

Nationalism, religion, skin colouration, none of these create conflicts by their nature. They simply act as sorting mechanisms by which people differentiate "ourselves" from "others", and it could be argued that it is this tendency to identify an us and them that leads to conflict.

Reassuring to hear those words coming from the Vatican I must say.

Karl

[Grand Moff Muffin]

It is understood that the Pastor Terry Jones hasn't read the Qu'ran and has developed his view of Islam entirely from certain sectors of the media. And he has written a book called 'Islam is of the Devil'. Now, I think anyone who wants to claim to have an informed opinion of any religion should read its core text first. (As some here know, I have the Qu'ran on my bookshelf along with the Bible, the Analects of Confucius, the Greek Myths, writings of the Dalai Lama and more besides - and have read all of them, except for my own religion's text, the Bible, which I am still working through because it's so damned long.)

But to actually write a book condemning a religion you have had no direct contact with - and burn a book you haven't read - if you'll pardon the expression, it beggars belief.

Martin

[Andy Turnbull]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11256182

The sorry saga continues on.

Andy