Poll: International Burn a Koran Day

[Mercsenary]

The bible is the most burned book in history.
so someone is burning some koran's? big deal, its nothing compared to the holy matirial burned in history.

Yeah and its not like we have troops inside a heavily Islamic country who will no doubt go apeshit over it.

Oh wai-

Yes I understand that the Bible has been burned before and thus fair play all around but think about this.

JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN. DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD.

 

[Tenky]

Do muslims burn bibles? no.

While some do burn american flags, it deffinitely doesn't hold the same value as a "sacred text". I know some people take patriotism like if it was a religion, but it's not, get over it, to some you will be scum until you die, it's the nature of men, hatred towards difference. Some hate americans, and they are well in their right to do so. However they do not commit the horrible crime of burning a sacred text!

That priest surely had more than a handful of loose screws.

 

[signingupforgames]

however, muslims frequently burn american flags, american effigies (it was almost ironic to see arabs burning effigies of Obama to protest the burning of a symbol of import) and all sorts of things, is it that much of a outrage for a christian to want to do the same?

*Muslim Extremists. And i wholly believe the act is against the first amendment and if it isn't it should be. HOWEVER...oh wait...no i just believe it shouldn't be done.

 

[KingArmery]

He should not have gotten any attention from the incident. Hell, he can burn the Koran all day long so long as Muslims (or anyone else for that matter) are also allowed to burn his cherished Bible. I still believe he is stupid to call for an 'International Burn a Koran Day', though, considering how much backlash an incident like that would (and did, in a way) get.

In short, he was legally allowed to burn the Koran, but short-sighted in calling for what he did. He acted childish and subsequently should not have gotten any media attention for it.

 

[CpnBeef]

Woah. i totally read the title as "burn a Korean day" and then again in the initial post...

I heard about the whole Koran burning but seeing as i'm neither religious, anti-religious, american or muslim i kept myself well out of it. Laughably i got called a purist biggot for refusing to take a side by my friend, who i promptly tore to shred with words.

Sharp, sharp words.

 

[Harrowdown]

Kind of off-topic... But building a freaking mosque on groundzero is a freaking horrible idea. and dont come here and tell me they didnt know it would make a scene...
Why not build a monument to Hitler in Auschwitz while we´re at it?

(I do realize that the mosque - hitler isnt the best comparison, since not all muslims are terrorists, but really...)

Do your research. The "ground zero mosque" is actually an interfaith community centre called Cordoba house. It does have a muslim prayer room, but that's it. On top of that, it's not even at ground zero. It's a couple of blocks away.

 

[Chairman Meow]

It's not an "International burn a Koran Day" if it's only one bigoted, ignorant preacher and his few followers doing it alone in some remote area of the US.

 

[stranamente]

I'm an atheist and even I can say that burning a Coran is wrong for so many reasons. And (but I think someone may already have said that) you can't compare burning flags to burning the true core of your entire belief in life, and god.
Really. You can't.

 

[Thedayrecker]

There's no law that says he couldn't burn the koran, but calling a religion violent, and then threatening to burn its holy book reminds me of this quote from The Dark Knight:

"Let me get this straight: You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck."

 

[Tetranitrophenol]

Remember that is not "Muslims" that burn American flags but Conservative and extremist Muslims that do. This kind of "stupid" behavior has been seen in every country, organization and religion for generations.

For instance Christians,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4ihq1aT4Z4&feature=related

West Baptist Church; These idiots, hate American troops, hate Obama (the man with the power to divide by zero), and label anybody or anything that dont share their point of view as Satanic and impure. If someone wants to burn a Bible because of these guys, he will be no better than them.

Even normal Americans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AYrvLWZ9m0

Conservative and extremist, hating anybody that is not like them (in this case Mexicans), Again, if you want to burn the American flag because of this kind of people you are f***insane!

My point is, that these Muslims that you see on TV burning American flags and plotting against "freedom", "Democracy" and "McDonnalds" are extremists, mindless zombies that have been pounded those beliefs since they had use of reason, they don't represent the majority of the Muslim population just like the West Baptist church don't represent the majority of the Christian church and Backwoods Racist don't represent the majority of the American public. Burning the Koran will be offending a whole religion just because of a few idiots that haven't evolved past the middle ages.

"Let me get this straight: You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck."

^ what more do you want?

 

[Megacherv]

however, muslims frequently burn american flags, american effigies (it was almost ironic to see arabs burning effigies of Obama to protest the burning of a symbol of import) and all sorts of things, is it that much of a outrage for a christian to want to do the same?

No, no they don't...the militant Muslim extremists burn effigies and American flags. I went to my friend's house today (who is a Muslim, as are all of his family), and he wasn't doing anything of the sort.

Like you said, people in other countries burn U.S flags all the time, seems fair to light up a few qurans. And it is totally ironic and hilarious that people burn Obama pictures to protest burning things. lol

No, no it isn't. Firstly you're stooping to their level. Secondly, they're (and by they I mean just the extremists) burning a flag which is of their enemy, which is a country. Burning a Qur'an is offending not only a worldwide religion, but an worldwide culture.

Imagine if someone stereotyped gamers as the...well...the standard stereotype, and then slandered them. Say you're not in that stereotype, but are a gamer and acknowledge that firmly. You'd be pissed off. Imagine that 1000x worse as someone destroys something that symbolises you and your family's culture and way of life.

But the Obama stuff is pretty ironic and funny.

Agreed. I'm not even American, but the fact that someone thought it might be a good idea to build a mosque on ground zero absolutely fucking disgusts me.

Seriously? That's a pretty strong statement there. There was already a mosque in the WTC before it was destroyed (obviously).

Yeah it's idiotic and will only be the equivalent of adding petrol to an already roaring bonfire, but the extremists are already as needlessly irritable as a hornets nest suffering from steroid withdrawal symptoms, what's the worst that can happen?!!

Because you give them a serious reason to fight against the US (if not western culture altogether). Sure it may be just one guy, but how many militant anti-muslims do you think will join him?

Remember that WWI was started by killing one man...

So, I have a degree in Religions, and basically the problem with comparing burning the Qur'an to burning a picture of Obama or the US flag is this: within Islam, the Qur'an (read: ANY Qur'an in original Arabic) is considered a holy artifact. It holds a much greater significance than the Bible, where it is simply the words that are holy rather than the book itself. You really can't compare burning the Qur'an to burning a picture of some flag or a picture of some guy. People sometimes mistakenly compare Muhammad to Jesus, but it would be closer to say the Qur'an is the Jesus of Islam.

... flame on

You see, you get it. You understand perfectly.

And that 'Qur'an is the Jesus of Islam' line was genius.

 

[Leemaster777]

Uuuuggghhh. I LIVE in Florida (which is where this douche lives), so I've been aware of this freaking issue since the beginning. You know, I hate religious extremists of all types, but it's just embarrassing when it happens here. It makes everyone in the south look like a bunch of religious zealots with no class.

So yeah, as you can surmise from that last statement, I DON'T agree with this at all. It's frankly childish, and I can't tell whether or not this guy decided to do this out of ignorance, hatred, an honest thought that God wanted him to do it, or just plain old attention-seeking from the media.

 

[Agayek]

-snip-

The way I see it, while the priest's idea was in quite poor taste, he should have done it anyway, and everyone else should have shut the fuck up about it (assuming of course he, and whoever joined him, paid for the copies of the Quran they burned). I wouldn't have participated, but I can understand why some would want to.

The burning of a Quran harms absolutely no one (again, assuming it was a legitimately purchased copy), so there is absolutely no reason for anyone to be upset about it. There is quite literally no reason for anyone to be up in arms about this whole debacle. Hell, I'm kinda tempted to burn a Quran just to spite all the dipshits that are pissed about it.

An eye for an eye I suppose. Still you should never burn books it's really messed up, and is that really how Koran is spelled? I always thought it had a Q :/

There's a few spellings in English for it. The real word is القرآن according to Wikipedia, but there's about a dozen different romanizations of the word.

First things first. Not Muslims. Extremists and unhappy, manipulated people that happen to be Muslims along the way. Catholics burned US flags too. Plenty of people dislike your nation and States aren't without a blame.

Back in the times of Cold War it was America and Soviet Russia that pumped millions into Afghanistan, supporting local crime lords. Both those nations armed the today's suicide bombers and terrorists, but back then it was 'right thing to do'. Cold War ended, and everyone left the middle east to it's own problems, leaving only tons of weapons behind. Neither of those 'super powers' spent money on eduction, infrastructure or humanitarian help along the way, creating a perfect environment of poverty for an extremist uprising.

Also.
Books are not to be burned. Never, ever. We've seen it already. Inquisition burned the 'forbidden' books, Nazi's burned books, do we want to uphold those 'noble' traditions? Furthermore, Koran is a religious book. Destroying it wouldn't show your disdain for the extremists, it would show your ignorance and lack of tolerance for different beliefs. Majority of Muslims doesn't go around blowing themselves up, why do you wan't to act against them? Further more, there is enough of catholic extremists that do similar things.

And finally, flag of USA is not a religious symbol. No matter how much brainwashing you wish to take. It's a symbol of government and national pride. Nothing more. So yeah, the backlash was deserved and thank god it happened. Last thing the world needs is escalation based on idiotic religious prejudice.

Unless it's a systematic elimination of every copy of a book available in a country/culture, it's not the same as the book burnings you mentioned. Those were specifically designed to annihilate all trace of the ideas they contained from the surrounding culture. Even if everyone in the US got together and burned a Quran (which is extremely unlikely), we still wouldn't be able to remove the concepts and whatnot it contains.

Also, religious symbols have just as much significance as national symbols. Both are things people put irrational pride in for very little in the way of concrete reasons. The comparison is perfectly valid.

You are 100% correct about the effects the Cold War had on the Middle East though. That conflict is the primary cause behind much of the contention.

 

[oktalist]

"Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen."
("Where they burn books, in the end, so too will they burn people.") -Heinrich Heine, 1823.
Engraved on a plaque at the site of the first Nazi book burnings in Berlin.

This is what it boils down to. I can't stop you from setting fire to some paper and ink, but that act can only be interpreted as meaning "I hate all Muslims unconditionally because they are to blame for everything that is wrong in my country and I am pleased when they die." So if you do not agree with that statement then you should not do it, because that's the only way that an outside observer is going to interpret that action.

I find this whole subject and the fact that it is getting so much coverage to be very unsettling.

Also a flag is not a holy book.

First things first. Not Muslims. Extremists and unhappy, manipulated people that happen to be Muslims along the way. Catholics burned US flags too. Plenty of people dislike your nation and States aren't without a blame.

This.

The bible is the most burned book in history.

Most of those were burned by members of various conflicting sects of Christianity and Judaism.

If they want to burn bibles

It's just as much an outrage burning a Bible

Who said anything about burning Bibles?

Why not build a monument to Hitler in Auschwitz while we´re at it?

(I do realize that the mosque - hitler isnt the best comparison, since not all muslims are terrorists, but really...)

Um, no, it isn't the best comparison. Hitler was a Christian, and I'm sure there's a church in Auschwitz.

 

[oktalist]

Man, in the middle east, I'd love to be the guy that sells American Flags. He must earn SOOOO much money. He probably has branches everywhere!

I think his name is Agent Provocateur.

The guy who sells the Danish flags must've thought he was on to such a losing proposition. Imagine his surprise when the global news media spotted those cartoons and his flags were suddenly in such high demand. It seemed like everywhere the TV cameras went, there was a Danish flag. Hey, wait a minute...

 

[Kortney]

however, muslims frequently burn american flags

I came to this line and stopped taking you seriously. My Father was a Muslim and I can tell you with 100% confidence that, on a whole, Muslims do not burn American flags. The few hundred psychos you see chanting in the streets in Kabul do not represent the entire Islamic community. Generalisations never work.

is it that much of a outrage for a christian to want to do the same?

Yes it is. Because the people I mentioned earlier who burn the American flag seldom are even educated. They are (mostly) people who have been to a few years of school, been brainwashed by their education system and their family and community and are tricked into acting in a mob mentality frenzy.

Do you really want to mirror their actions?

Then you are, in my mind, no better than they are. In fact, you are in many ways worse because you should have the ability to look at their actions and think "I don't want to act like that."

now its a simple question, is it wrong to ostracise a christian for burning a important symbol of a religion who routinely burn important symbols of his?

Yes. Don't you realise that part of the core of Christianity is to have strength and faith in your own religion and not worry about the "haters".

What would Jesus do in this situation?

He'd probably say something about not falling into the temptation of wickedness and remaining a good person. He'd probably say something about them being the fallen ones, and that we don't have to stoop to their level. He definitely would not pick up a Koran and light it on fire.

even simpler: did this priest deserve such a backlash?

He deserved to be told to screw his head back in and that he is acting like a fool. I don't think he deserves to be treated like Satan, he just sounds misguided.

he was doing what muslims have been doing to his flag for the past 20 years.

I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible to you:

Shut up.

You are generalising 1 570 000 000 people and it's incredibly offensive.

 

[guntotingtomcat]

What on earth was it meant to achieve? He does realise that not every Muslim is a terrorist, right?
Also, there was a serious risk that the actions of some crazy guy, safe and comfy in America, would lead to extremists retaliating against soldiers fighting in the middle east.
Counterproductive Tool!!!

 

[Agayek]

It annoys me that because the genius that came up with the day spelt "Qur'an" wrong every second post has now spelt it Koran. It just looks stupid. Anyway, its not like every Muslim burns the American flag its just a few, so to burn the Qur'an in retaliation is just being petty and racist.

Technically, it's القرآن. Everything else is a poor translation, regardless of how it is spelt.

Also, why is it so offensive to burn a few Qurans, when you imply it's acceptable for them to burn a few flags? That just seems somewhat contradictory.

There are two things that are wrong in that post of yours.

First, it's not a mosque, but an Islamic community center that has a room of prayer in it (I don't know what it is named in English).

Secondly, it's not on ground zero, it's two blocks away.

Considering 2 blocks is less than half a mile away, it may as well be right on the site of the towers.

That said, I don't get what the fuss about it is. It could be a full-blown mosque and it should still not cause any offense, unless of course they do something like prayer services to commemorate the guys who actually crashed the planes (which a surprising number, aka more than a handful, of mosques and other muslim owned business actually do). Then I can understand, and fully support, the people that would get pissed off about it.

Jones is a HUGE moron, and he does NOT represent the rest of the United States. Burning the Koran is wrong because it is a huge disrespect to ALL Muslims. Not all Muslims are America-hating terrorists, and more Muslims than the flag-burning ones are going to be offended when some dumbass reacts childishly and burns their holy book.

Treating every Muslim like terrorist scum is like treating every German like a Nazi. Some people need to learn the difference and know who to blame.

To be fair, the vast majority of Germans in WWII supported the Nazi campaign, at the very least implicitly. If they hadn't, the Nazis would never have been able to pull it off. Look up the Rosenstrasse Protest [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenstrasse_protest] at some point. The Nazi agenda was completely cowed by a hundred or so women standing around outside a building. If the majority of Germans made it clear they wouldn't stand for the systematic murder of Jews and other "non-desirables", the Nazi leadership would have caved quickly.