In protest of what it calls a religion "of the devil," a nondenominational church in Gainesville, Florida, plans to host an "International Burn a Quran Day" on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. The Dove World Outreach Center says it is hosting the event to remember 9/11 victims and take a stand against Islam. With promotions on its website and Facebook page, it invites Christians to burn the Muslim holy book at the church from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. "We believe that Islam is of the devil, that it's causing billions of people to go to hell, it is a deceptive religion, it is a violent religion and that is proven many, many times," Pastor Terry Jones told CNN's Rick Sanchez earlier this week. Jones wrote a book titled "Islam is of the Devil," and the church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase. Muslims and many other Christians -- including some evangelicals -- are fighting the initiative. The church launched a YouTube channel to disseminate its messages. "I mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim? As they're on the way to Mecca? As they gather together in the mosque on the floor? Does it look like a real religion of joy?" Jones asks in one of his YouTube posts. "No, to me it looks like a religion of the devil." The Islamic advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Muslims and others to host "Share the Quran" dinners to educate the public during the monthlong fast of Ramadan beginning in August. In a news release, the group announced a campaign to give out 100,000 copies of the Quran to local, state and national leaders. "American Muslims and other people of conscience should support positive educational efforts to prevent the spread of Islamophobia," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper in the release. The National Association of Evangelicals, the nation's largest umbrella evangelical group, issued a statement urging the church to cancel the event, warning it could cause worldwide tension between the two religions. "The NAE calls on its members to cultivate relationships of trust and respect with our neighbors of other faiths. God created human beings in his image, and therefore all should be treated with dignity and respect," it said in the statement. Dove's Facebook page, set up for the September event, has more than 1,600 fans. "Eternal fire is the only destination the Quran can lead people to, so we want to put the Quran in it's [sic] place -- the fire!" the page says. But another Facebook group with more than 3,100 fans says it stands "against the disrespect and intolerance that these people have for the Muslim people" and encourages people to report Dove's page to Facebook. Targeting another group it calls "godless," the Dove center is also hosting a protest against Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe, who is openly gay, on Monday at Gainesville's City Hall. The group previously fought -- unsuccessfully -- to derail Lowe's election campaign. "We protest sexual perversion because the Bible protests it. ... What is acceptable to today's leadership becomes acceptable to tomorrow's society," the church says in its blog entry about the event. Read another article on the matter - Being a Muslim myself, I'm in utter shock and disappoint. Words can't explain how I feel right now. And what's worse is that nothing is being done to stop this.
I'm Muslim too, and I'm fairly happy thank you very much! That is disgusting, the burning of any religious book is disgusting. I guess some people forgot that the majority of people involved in Islam, Christianity etc are normal, decent people. Why hurt so many because of the actions of a minority?
What kills me is this... How about "BURNING THE HOLY BOOK OF A RELIGION IS UTTERLY WRONG AND OFFENSIVE"? It's like they don't even care.
I lost faith in the Church - like, all religious congregations - long ago, and it was because of stuff like this, albeit not as extreme.
I heard about this yesterday and it pissed me off, now that I've read those quotes from Gibbs and Patraeus I'm just really at a loss for words. I'm also a Muslim, I just can't fathom how people can be so god damned ignorant. If he took the time to do a little research on Islam he might have been able to tell that all these terrorist attacks are not condoned in Islam. Its sad that our nations leaders don't even make any attempts at trying to reach some sort of understanding as to why this is wrong (I'm talking specifically about the two quoted above). Its pathetic really.
*sigh* These people should be ashamed for even thinking of such a horrid day. How dare these guys even consider themselves Christian after this? This is a terrorist act that they are putting together, and makes them no better than the ones who crashed the planes into the World Trade Center.
Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. John Lennon had the right idea.
To be honest, I bet the majority of extremely religious people are miserable. Religion may prevent you from doing the things that make you happy by saying they're wrong and then cause you to fear the consequences of disobeying their "rules". I, as an atheist am much happier than I had ever been when I was Christian. So, I know what it's like and I can compare experiences. Some people don't release that you don't have to have religion to have morals and ethics and to be a good person, and imho I find it strange to obey something because a book tells you to and to not just do it because it's the correct thing to do.
If you follow a religion I don't think it's always as simple as reading a book and feeling you SHOULD obey it, it can just as well be reading it and thinking "hey, that's a good idea". If you do feel obliged to do everything it says just because I don't think that's right, but there's nothing wrong with being inspired to do things by a holy book. Not that everything they say is good but you kind of have to rely on people to have enough common sense to at least realise that in the modern world, and not that you have to subscribe to everything else but apparently it makes people feel happier with themselves so whatever.
Eh, for some people, it's their life, so they don't really know misery from it because it's what they were raised to know, believe, understand, and abide by.
Well, I can respect that and I'm sorry if I had offended anyone. Well, I'll just agree with both Dean and Louis, it is good to be inspired. Religion works for some though perfectly. It's just that religion is not for me. At all.
I know how you feel man. Sometimes it is for some people, and sometimes it's not. Just so long as we are all tolerant, accepting, and understanding.