Enough is enough. Enough with the bigotry and the hate. Enough with the race-baiting and the fake debate about the Ground Zero Mosque. Enough of white Americans putting up fences to keep their fellow humans out. Enough of the birthers.
Enough of Christian hypocrites who thump their Bibles while denying men and women the right to marry the one they love. Enough of conservatives holding up the Constitution having never actually read it and preaching about one nation under God and also denying that every American has the right to worship the God of their choosing.
Enough of Progressives and Democrats who engage in these debates rather than attack these bigoted racist hypocrites. Enough of the hate-mongers getting all the attention and press.
You have to draw the line somewhere. Guess what? Now’s the time.
You are entitled to your own opinion, after all, this is America and there is Freedom of Speech. But just as important, there is freedom of worship. Because of our freedoms, there, ironically, is the freedom to burn books. However.
Because we are Americans, because we defend and fight and preserve the right of free speech, because we have seen what happens in countries who don’t defend these freedoms, we do not burn books. Let me repeat that.
Americans Don’t Burn Books.
We print books that maybe you don’t people want to read. We print books filled with hate. We print and print and print books of all kinds, but we don’t burn books. By defending everyone’s right to speak, we defend our right to speak. By defending everyone’s right to their own religion, we defend our own right to our own religion.
We have gone to war with people who do burn books; Adolph Hitler comes to mind. Stalin. Pol Pot. There are others. Our military graveyards are full of the men and women who protected us, who gave their lives for us. Not one soldier has ever died, so we could burn books.
And we especially don’t burn the books of another person’s religion.
You may or may not believe in the Bible, but if you think the Bible is the worst book in the world, as an American, you don’t have to read it, you don’t have to believe, no one can force you to or hold it against you if you don’t, but you can not burn the Bible.
You may or may not believe in what is in the Torah. You may think the Torah is the worst book in the world, as an American, you don’t have to read it, you don’t have to believe it, no one can force you to, or hold it against you if you don’t but you can not burn the Torah.
Buddhist books, Pagan books, Hindu books. You can’t burn them.
And you can’t burn the Koran.
You may or may not believe in what is in the Koran. You may think the Koran is the worst book in the world, as an American, you don’t have to read it, you don’t have to believe it, no one can force you to, or hold it against you if you don’t but you can not burn the Koran.
I salute my friends at Human Rights First who are standing up against the bigots who would burn the Koran on 9/11. And if you want to, you can click here and get a free bookmark from Human Rights First. It says:
Americans Don’t Burn Books.
But other people do. Notice the crowd watching the book burning and who is in it.
…even from those who aren’t big fans of a particular religion, or even the concept of religion? Ironically, that’s the only reponse that seemed appropriate for this:)
The disconnect is between people who want this whole war with Islam to just be over, and people who are still fighting it. I would like it to be over but I understand that our guys are still getting blown up by some pretty Islamic people.
How does burning Korans or throwing them in toilets; attacking or burning mosques; or generally insulting Islam stop pretty Islamics from blowing our people up?
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I don’t think the people burning the Koran are interested in stopping anything. They just figure we will keep killing them.
You understand that SOME Muslims are terrorists, just like SOME Catholics aided/abetted child molestation, just like SOME Christians were Nazis…
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p>C’mon people. This isn’t a difficult concept.
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p>Are our soldiers under fire by “pretty Islamic people”? No freaking doubt.
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p>Does that mean we round up the Muslims and put ’em in a camp? Round up the Muslims and tell them to get out of our neighborhood? Round up the Muslims and tell them they’re all terrorists?
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p>This is America muthalovahs.
We just killed a whole lot of Muslims, we’ll kill a lot more this year. Would you really feel safe walking around Afghanistan right now?
Of course I wouldn’t feel safe walking around Afghanistan–it’s a motherfracking war zone.
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p>So… In your mind… Is this war about “KILLING MUSLIMS”? Seriously, I need to know this. Is that what we are trying to do in this war? Kill them all?
Not all. I think most wars come down to killing enough of the enemy until they stop fighting.
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p>And I don’t think we needed to be in this war, I think it’s a big waste.
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p>Who do you think is really running this thing? Us, or the people who do the killing? I think 98% of the effort is to kill, and the other 2% is to build mosques near ground zero like that’s going to make up for it.
Do you think that the “Ground Zero Mosque” (WHICH IS NEITHER A MOSQUE NOR AT GROUND ZERO) is part of the military engagement with Afghanistan?!
Jackass.
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p>They’re getting “blown up” by people who claim to Muslims, just as bombs are being tossed around Northern Ireland right now by people who claim to be Christians.
I was not aware that we had actually declared war with all of Islam. I must have missed that somehow.
Anybody acting contrary to that who claims to be Muslim is doing their share of damage to the Koran too, though in an ethical rather than physical sense.
Any religion worth its salt will have a way to have wars too. How do you think Islam survived for 1300 years?
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p>I think it’s much more respectful to recognize the legitimate grievances of Muslims, even though terrorism is acted out by bloodthirsty crazies. Better to be real about it than try to paper it over by not burning the Koran while our guys are over there killing them.
Vietnamese people were once blown up, shot, and burned by some pretty Christian people.
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p>It seems to me that a pretty Christian president sent troops into Iraq and killed some Islamic people.
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p>And wasn’t it Catholics blowing up civilians in Northern Ireland?
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p>And Protestants terrorizing black citizens not that long ago in the South?
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p>By all means disapprove of the radical Islamists, hate them if you must, but don’t confuse them with the majority law-abiding people who aren’t any more radical than you. Most Muslims don’t approve of terrorism any more than you support the work of Fred Phelps.
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AMEN!!!
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p>And we echo back these words from the newly released statement “To Bigotry, No Sanction. To Persectution, No Assistance”:
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p>Today at 1pm, a large gathering of Massachusetts Religious leaders held a press conference at the State House in front of the Mary Dyer statue to respond to the anti-Islamic rhetoric, threats of buring holy texts and history of religious tolerance in Massachusetts. State House News has a brief report up now, but we expect some more coverage tonight and tomorrow am.
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p>All lay and ordained religious leaders in the Commonwealth are invited to join the 1300+ people who have already signed the statement here
My uncle died in the Battle of the Bulge fighting Hitler and fascism.
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p>My great grandparents died in Hitler’s overs of hate.
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p>The America to which my own grandparents fled for freedom was not a country where bigots picket funerals screaming hatred.
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p>Burning Korans is actually a death sentence for captured American and allied soldiers in the middle east.
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p>I consider that whomever would burn Korans is themselves guilty of treason against our troops – or terminal stupidity.
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p>My own father once laid down in front of trucks filled with scrap metal, that greedy industrialists were shipping to Japan in the 30s. He is 98 now, but still recalls shouting that the steel for which the greedbags were getting exhorbitant payment would come back in American bodies.
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p>Well, stupidity lives! And stupidity revels in publicity, I guess – and ought to earn no converts to a corrupted Christianity of Hate.
There is just as much bigotry and hate in this diary about Christians as what he claims to protest.
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p>This is one minister. And I know several who have condemned this from their pulpits – that’s not newsworthy. Gen. Petreus has asked this man to desist, and strikes the same note as those who want the mosque moved – he has the right, but it isn’t wise.
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p>Interesting – The minister claims he is doing this as a counter protest against Muslims who routinely burn Bibles and American flags at their protests. I’ve never seen anyone condemn that practice here.
Hate is hate. Christianity is not a religion of hate, and I don’t condemn Christianity Peter – I condemn hate and stupidity – and fascism – wherever I think I see these – whether it is interning Japanese Americans in World War II USA, or Hitler’s final solution, burning Bibles or Korans is equally an act of hate.
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p>Myself, I would prefer the outlier who garnered publicity by his pronouncements to get zero publicity, just as I would prefer the outliers who picket soldier’s funerals with hateful messages to get zero publicity.
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p>I think publicity is the fuel for this kind of hater-behavior and the media is culpable in that regard.
And I wish others would acknowledge that one minister with a flock of fifty is not Christianity writ large.
Which is precisely the point about the Mosque and Islam and these accurate descriptions of “Islamaphobia”.
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p>A group of crazy terrorists use Islam to wrap up their hate and murder.
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p>One terrorist cell with a flock of whatever is not Islam writ large.
that there are thousands of Christians who buy into fag-stoning and looked the other way at child molestation? Do you not think that there are thousands of christians who would burn the Koran but don’t have the balls or media savvy to go ahead and do it?
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p>Those hateful Christians share the philosophy of Reverend Koran-Burner Pete, or whatever his name is.
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p>Down with Christianity!! Right?
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p>Or wrong?
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p>Those thousands of Christians who are bigoted dicks who want to burn the Koran… they are not Christianity writ large.
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p>You can’t be someone who professes religious persecution (“Oh, do not tar me w/ the same brush as that hateful ‘Christian’ book burner!”) while doing exactly the same thing to Muslims and Islam
Weird, b/c it was your own.
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p>1. PP: “Stupid book burners aren’t Christians writ large”
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p>2. Me: “Right–just as terrorists aren’t Islam writ large”
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p>3. PP: “I would agree more if there were not thousands of cells and entire governments sharing their philosophy.”
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p>4. Me: “Thousands of Christians condone fagstoning and child molestations… They are not Christianity writ large”
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p>5. PP: “Yeah but atheists do too. What’s your point?”
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p>6. My point: See #2, which is a rewriting of PP’s #1.
…and I’m sure this “pastor” is revelling in it. We progressive Christians have to constantly fight this image it seems.
that strips entire nations full of women rights that are so fundemental we would laugh at the idea of doing so here.
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p>So James…how would you like your mother to get 99 lashes for being in a picture without a headscarf and a suspeded death sentance for adultery?
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p>People give far too much credit to Islam for being civilized.
…that we might associate with Islam were actually part of Arabic culture that predated the Prophet. Islam was introduced in large measure to alleviate the worst aspects, but I guess old habits die hard. Besides, in historical terms Christianity really would not come out looking very well in a “We’re-more-civilized-than-you” spitting contest with Islam.
It’s reality. Today, there are entire nations that oppress, murder, and terrify in the name of Islam.
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p>Christianity in historical terms is irrelevant except to prove that, with some great violence and millions of deaths, it can change.
Has been convincing Americans of America’s greatness.
Since I don’t believe the official 911 story at all and or many other aspects of “great” moments in American history the burning Koran episdode reads like another cheap commercial media episode of Pavlovian propaganda programming.
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p>It’s done by “the left” and it’s done by “the right”. It is only a symptom of a empire being deliberately taken down by globalists who can’t survive on a billion dollars.
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p>See Dr. Robert Bowman among others.
ever happen, but I pretty much agree with you on this one LHM. I think the left is less guilty of imperialism and American exceptionalism than the right, but no one’s hands are clean.
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p>Bowman is nuts, IMHO, but I’ll focus on where we agree.
a Cold War Russia “replacement” enemy!
trash the lamestream media and use the net while we still have it and search for some other ex-government officials for their take on current affairs.
“Nuts” is a relative term in these “Interesting” Times.
http://solari.com/blog/?p=3532
Doesn’t is seem odd that some hick preacher with a flock of 30 listeners makes the headlines in a country of 350 million people when he acts like a barbarian? If this was news could we not fill the pages of the newspapers every day with such incidents? And is it not odd that a proposed mosque building a few blocks from the WTC is part of a national demonstration when there is already a mosque closer to WTC than the proposed one? So, is this really news? Where do the protesters come from? What is their organization(s)? Not too many people get up in the morning and, on their own, decide to protest something.
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p>Could it be that Islam is being branded for us? Are we to associate Islam with terror? And, what’s the bottom line? As Pavlov’s dogs are we to agree with the news and government when blame is placed for a terror crime? Are we all to support a bill of attainder to round up these people? Didn’t this happen before?
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p>Who’s next?
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p>“Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should.” “Sugar Pops are tops.” “Coke is it.” “The only good Jap…”
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Similar to how the right-wing message machine has succeeded in making the word socialism evoke images of the worst of Soviet Russia instead of its more moderate applications in Europe and even (gasp) the United States.
From the Facebook group “International Burn a Koran Day”:
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p>12,258 members as of 6pm
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p>Don’t know how to hyperlink:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/…
Terry Jones is an oily, sleazy salesman for his church.
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p>The truth is that many Americans have been slowly and quietly leaving organized religion behind.
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p>By burning the Korans, Terry Jones gets press. He gets people say how “big and bad” he is for doing it. This is a sales pitch to get boneheads to join his church and give donations.
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p>That’s all it is.
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p>He has every legal right to do it, and should not be threatened.
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p>But he’s no hero, either. He’s a carnie barker, an oily salesman.
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p>He should be ignored. Ignoring Terry Jones will let this blow over, and not give him the press he wants.
Doesn’t make it morally right, but the right to do it is protected under the bill or rights.
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p>Other stupid acts protected by the “Bill of Rights”.
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p>Burning the US flag.
The “Piss Christ” photograph (which I remember the left was in a twitter about)
Building a Mosque near ground zero (against the wishes of many of the family members of victims).
Neon Nazi marching in Skokie, IL
anti-gay protests at military funerals
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p>We have significantly more freedoms to express ourselves, sometimes in an offensive way, then Western Europe and the UK where they can ban many of these offensive acts either through legislation or regulation.
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I believe there a lot of violent verses & misogyny in the Koran, how about a call to remove those?
Let’s not start talking about banning book-burning because the Nazis did it, or because some religions consider certain inanimate objects sacred.
He could teach that small-town preacher to love through the power of dance.
In my view, no book should be burned. I see no particular reason to distinguish the Koran (or Quran), the Bible, the Torah, or any other religious tract from any secular writing. Books should not be burned, whether “religious” or not.
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p>I also feel strongly that these nutcases can not be prosecuted, at least not for burning a book. The arguments that these incite violence, threaten our troops, promote terrorism, and so on, may or not be true, but in my view they have only social impact.
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p>We know, from eons of experience, that burning or banning a particular book or tract tends to promote, rather than obscure, the “objectionable” contents of the item.
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p>I tend to agree with the sentiments expressed upthread that this non-story is being used by the mainstream media to further “brand” Muslims, by keeping this in circulation. I think this “story” deserves, at most, a paragraph at the back of the local advertising circular for the neighborhood of this crazy.