Top US commander: Burning Quran endangers troops

[GUNNER]

VATICAN CITY, Sept 8, 2010 (AFP) - The planned mass burning of copies of the Koran in the US state of Florida would be "an outrageous and grave gesture," the Vatican said on Wednesday.

The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue said in a statement it had "received with great concern the news of the proposed 'Koran Burning Day,'" scheduled for the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

"Each religion, with its respective sacred books, places of worship and symbols, has the right to respect and protection," the council said.

A small church, the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has vowed to mark Saturday's ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by burning Korans as they remember the almost 3,000 people killed by Al-Qaeda hijackers.

The council said "deplorable acts of violence" like the September 11 attacks by Al-Qaeda cannot be counteracted by such acts.

"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," the council said.

The planned stunt was condemned by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the White House said it could trigger outrage around the Islamic world and endanger the lives of US soldiers.

Both NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the commander of US and coalition troops in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus had already said the protest would endanger allied troops in Afghanistan.

 

[Ahmad]

6. Media uses opportunity to heavily bad name Islam. Any violence against Muslims will be justified, just like the killings in Iraq, Afghanistan, America (civilians killing civilians), Palestine and other countries who have suffered from this.

7. .

forget about america, do you know how many civilians are killed by the taliban/al qaeda in afghanistan?

 

[Durran3]

forget about america, do you know how many civilians are killed by the taliban/al qaeda in afghanistan?

Or how many Arab tribes killed the number of innocent people in Darfur? Or how many people died during the Iraq, Iran war? Or how many people die in Pakistan due to honor killings, terrorism... Muslims seriously need to stop blaming all ills on the west

 

[Jigs]

Interview from yesterday. Pastor is a completely crazy.

 

[Durran3]

YouTube - AC360 - Pastor Terry Jones Wants To Burn Qurans On 9/11

Interview from yesterday. Pastor is a completely crazy.

Just when we thought we couldn't get enough of religious bigotry....

 

[Fighter488]

Defending speech we hate ​

Posted by Carol Rose, On Liberty September 7, 2010 08:23 PM

My love for freedom of speech is akin to a mother’s love for her children: you defend them even though you don’t always like what they do.

So it is with free speech of Pastor Terry Jones and his Dove World Outreach Center in Florida, which has announced an ugly and misguided plan to burn Qurans in a public demonstration of hatred for one of the three Abrahamic religions, namely, Islam.

My first reaction to the Dove World story was to ignore it. After all, this church espouses a bizarre “Islam is evil” message that reportedly has attracted only 50 members -- all of whom apparently skipped over the parts of the New Testatment where Jesus preaches tolerance for people of other faiths (remember the story of the good Samaritan?). But no matter: religious liberty is there in the First Amendment – right next to freedom of speech – as one of the core liberties upon which our nation was built. Dove World has every right to cling to its liturgy of intolerance whether it fits within my definition of Christianity or not. That’s freedom of religion.

Unfortunately, Dove World’s pathetic publicity stunt was vaulted to front-page news thanks to the message-spreading power of the Internet. It got even more credence when Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, sent an email to the Associated Press warning 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.”

Gen. Patraeus’ prediction may be correct – images of Americans as anti-Muslim, book-burning fanatics surely hurt our efforts to win friends and influence people in Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East. Words have power – and pictures multiply their impact a thousand-fold. Indeed, that’s why repressive dictatorships, including the Taliban, limit freedom of speech in order to ensure social order and control. These same regimes generally oppose religious liberty for the same reason.

What makes America different from these dictatorships – and what makes our nation great – is that our Constitution doesn’t permit our government to silence speech or censor religious beliefs that it doesn’t like. Ironically, these are very Constitutional freedoms that our men and women in uniform are risking their lives to defend on our behalf. We owe it to them to defend these freedoms at home – even if it means defending speech that we hate or religious beliefs that we may not support.

The best response – the patriotic response – to Dove World's proposed book burning is to reaffirm our national commitment to religious and ethnic diversity. Such a reaffirmation is urgently needed at this sad period in American history, when anti-Muslim bigotry threatens to become mainstream political rhetoric.​

Raising our individual and collective voices to counter intolerance is already happening across Ameria, including on the steps of the State House this week in Boston, where inter-faith leaders together reaffirmed their commitment to religious tolerance in our Commonwealth.

Now is the time for all voices of decency to speak out loud and clear to condemn bigotry and religious intolerance in all its manifestations, while reiterating the fundamental American right to religious liberty and protest as essential elements of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom.

This blog is not written or edited by Boston.com or the Boston Globe.
The author is solely responsible for the content.​

Defending speech we hate - On Liberty blog - Boston.com

 

[Unbeliever]

Israel, the great friend of west is also killing tens of thousands of people in palestine and grabbing their land, how many of your governments have condemned this?

By the way, Taliban and Al Qaeda is killing more Muslims than non muslims, even the word trade center had considerable number of muslim victims.

Why are you deflecting? Is asked you a simple question which in my opinion goes to one of the core issue an answer would be much appreciated.
And just to make this perfectly clear again, I am NOT DEFENDING THIS ASSHOLE. I am looking for the reasons and alternatives to the expected reactions.
Israel really has nothing to do with violent reactions to perceived "blasphemy" we are talking about here. So I would much appreciate it if you would stick to the question, otherwise I guess were done, I am not interested in childish blame-games and bringing Israel into this is nonsensical.

To your second paragraph, I know that. Its horrible. It is called sectarian violence and it is in part about who has the "true" interpretation of Islam. Especially in Afghanistan with the Taliban and in Iraq with Sunni, Shiites and Kurds this is on display. (like in Northern Ireland until a couple of years ago with Christianity). Of course, there are also political and geo-political power play issues involved. But as always, religion makes it much easier to get people to behave in such a barbaric fashion.

 

[Gin ka Pakistan]

Clever, I have to agree with you..unlike the thankless who take 200million showing "heart-breaking" pictures of kids in floods... and then just go on bashing USA.

when your Army/AirForce/Navy were incompetent it is the Americans who flew the desperate souls in desolate locations to safety.. remember that..

I am bashing on US , oh my God you clever its the Indian out sourcing of US I was bashing on not the US ,
I have always thank US for the great work they are doing in relive work.

 

[Nishan]

Well, after being burned the holy book of Muslims . . . Smart people of the west will come after a period, to ask some stupid questions:
Why Muslims blow themselves up?
Why Muslims are destroying civilian aircraft and trains?
Why do Muslims hate the West?

 

[gambit]

If you want peace from us, then act in the way that will make us do peace dealings with you.... Not in the way this maniac is acting.. they can do Blasphemy and insult our religion and you people expect us to be peaceful to you.. If you are thinking so then you are only dreaming of such peace..... This peace will never come.

Qur'an is everything for us. It is our Law.. If he will do it inshaAllah some true soldier of Islam will kill him...

It absolutely is delightful to me to read words such as these.

 

[NWO]

It absolutely is delightful to me to read words such as these.

Why would it be delightful to you to see hatred spreading between people?

 

[Jigs]

Why would it be delightful to you to see hatred spreading between people?

He enjoys these extremist statements because they fortify his inaccurate beliefs. If you haven't noticed he is anti Islam and what he quoted is justifying his warped views....

 

[Vassnti]

Well, after being burned the holy book of Muslims . . . Smart people of the west will come after a period, to ask some stupid questions:
Why Muslims blow themselves up?
Why Muslims are destroying civilian aircraft and trains?
Why do Muslims hate the West?

So seeing it hasnt happend yet why are people who claim to be Muslim doing these things already?

I find the actions of this mental retard that dares to call himself a christian revolting, he ignores the message of the Bible he claims to defend to spread hatred by insulting Islam.

By the same measure i find the threats of those that call them selves Muslims disgusting that they ignore the message of the Quran they claim to defend with threats to murder the innocent simply because a man of weak mind and morals does the wrong thing.

 

[Kompromat]

Why would it be delightful to you to see hatred spreading between people?

He just simply doesn't care .

 

[Coltsfan]

Why would it be delightful to you to see hatred spreading between people?

He enjoys these extremist statements because they fortify his inaccurate beliefs. If you haven't noticed he is anti Islam and what he quoted is justifying his warped views....

He just simply doesn't care .

Chill Guys,

IMO he was just being sarcastic.....