DWOC's International Burn a Koran Day

From the article:
Iraq's top Shiite Muslim leader has condemned plans by a pastor in the United States to burn copies of the Koran, but urged Muslims not to be provoked and called for tolerance of Christians.

Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in a statement released Thursday night, said: 'While we denounce the assault on the Holy Koran and stress the importance of not letting this occur, we urge Muslims, where ever they are, to exercise the utmost restraint.'

‘Do not do what would hurt the followers of the church,' he said.

Al-Sistani said the call by Florida pastor Terry Jones for the Koran-burning on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, was not compatible with the task of religious leaders to 'promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.'

This is exactly what I mean by a tolerant shrug. Sorry, he is not condemning violent reactions. Rather, he “urges” Muslims to exercise “restraint”. Is the restraint “urged” because it is wrong to do violence? No, it is urged so as to not “hurt the followers” of Islam. What about urging restraint because it is wrong to do harm to others who don’t believe as you do? What about condemning violent responses to hateful speech as being antithetical to the word of Allah, the teachings of Mohammend and “not compatible with the task of religious leaders to “promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence”?

He does not defend the right of people to speak their mind. Instead, he “stress[es] the importance of not letting this [burning] occur.” If DWOC wants to legally make his statement how can he be prevented except by violence? By changing the fundamental constitutional guarantees of our country?

Where is the unequivocal condemnation of violence? Where is the “violence in response to speech is sinful”?

This statement by “Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim leader” is exactly the type of reaction that I am talking about. Tell the faithful it is wrong and evil to kill in response hatred. Tell them this idiot has the right to make his own choices about Allah. Tell them that any one who encourages them to harm others in response to this action is working against the will Allah. Don’t simply "urge restraint" because a violent response might make Islam look bad.

In order to truly “promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence”, I would hope for more from “Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim leader”.

Muslims are indifferent to this pastor's well being because what he proposes to do is beyond vile (who in here cares what happens to Fred Phelps?). There are idiots out there talking about how they would respond to this pastor's action by attacking and Americans/Christians and I don't see Muslims being indifferent to this.

There will be one nut job out there that thinks he's going to get heaven credits with a violent act against this pastor. Best of luck to the pastor.

In light of Iraq's top shiite cleric "urging restraint" by all Muslims, I suggest it is not just the pastor who need fear from a "nut job out there that thinks he's going to get heaven credits with a violent act."

Muslims are indifferent to this pastor's well being because what he proposes to do is beyond vile (who in here cares what happens to Fred Phelps?). There are idiots out there talking about how they would respond to this pastor's action by attacking and Americans/Christians and I don't see Muslims being indifferent to this.

There will be one nut job out there that thinks he's going to get heaven credits with a violent act against this pastor. Best of luck to the pastor.

In light of Iraq's top shiite cleric "urging restraint" by all Muslims, I suggest it is not just the pastor who need fear from a "nut job out there that thinks he's going to get heaven credits with a violent act."

Would a Shinto shrine be OK at Pearl Harbor within 10 years of Dec. 7, 1941? How about a skin-head / Nazi outreach center near the Holocaust Museum?
We keep being told by many on the left that we must be tolerant of Muslims, how about peaceful Muslims step up and be tolerant of the U.S. and the families of 9/11 victims. That would go a long way towards healing wounds.

We're not at war with peaceful Muslims, but we are at war with those that believe in the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood, whether we like it or not.

apples and oranges my friend. not close

Why yes we should be tolerant of our fellow Americans. After all we were founded on the principles of tolerance. 4 thousands mosques, 5-7 million muslims across this great country. And have been legally immigrating at a fairly fast rate since 9/11...i think almost 100k a couple years ago. At my Baptist church we have welcome muslims in to gain a better understanding of their faith and shared service...pretty normal people. My friend we will thankfully never be a war with islam because of our principals. We will be at war with people who use Islam as a veil against our government policies in the middle east. Now they will lose.

We're seeing violence acts against Muslims now in America without them having to burn the Bible.Violence against Muslims here is wrong and I denounce it. Although what you're talking about is likely the cab driver incident and one or two others. These are isolated incidents and comparatively small compared to the violence that Muslims threatened over the Quran burning threat and committed during the Mohammed drawings.

And yes, burning Bibles or the Qur'an is an absolute no-no by anyone, be it Christian or Muslim or a Jew.

As for Obama making a statement, why would he? He wasn't president when the incident took place.He's the CinC now and the incident has hit the media now. If you're gonna hold the red lightsaber, gotta step up.

If you want them to have a military policy to burn all trash except the Bible you have my support. I will not support distributing them or donating them somewhere outside the danger zone.Fair enough. The military folks shouldn't be doing this type of thing anyway. While I was in the USAF I ran across a few of the evangelicals, they can't help themselves for their own good. There's a time and place for everything, if you want to spread the Word come back to Afghanistan/Iraq etc. when you're out and a civilian if you feel that strongly about it.

In light of Iraq's top shiite cleric "urging restraint" by all Muslims, I suggest it is not just the pastor who need fear from a "nut job out there that thinks he's going to get heaven credits with a violent act."

What do you expect this Ayatollah to say? Unlike Christianity Islam and Judaism don't subscribe to turning the other cheek. In Islam one is expected to conduct himself/herself righteously towards others at all times.

My friend we will thankfully never be a war with islam because of our principals. We will be at war with people who use Islam as a veil against our government policies in the middle east. Now they will lose.I hope and pray you're right, but they will only lose because of two things; 1) the American people understanding more about Islam and those that use its teachings to support violence and 2) moderate or peaceful Muslims becoming more outspoken and forceful in the condemnation of violent acts in the name of their religion.

What do you expect this Ayatollah to say? Unlike Christianity Islam and Judaism don't subscribe to turning the other cheek. In Islam one is expected to conduct himself/herself righteously towards others at all times."others" would be read as "other Muslims", non-believers have a different set of rules.

We're seeing violence acts against Muslims now in America without them having to burn the Bible. It's one thing for US personal to burn the Bible an entirely another for Muslims to do so for the sole purpose of Aggravating Christians. Burning the Qur'an is an absolute no-no by anyone, be it Christian or Muslim or a Jew.

For Christians, Jesus is the word of God. For Muslims, the Quran is the word of God. Imagine someone burning Jesus. -Emad El-Din Shahin

Hey Emad - How about we just imagine someone hanging him on a cross and slowing torturing him to death?

I recognize the subtle difference between each religion's view of its fundamental text. In orthodox Christianity, the Bible is believed to be the word of God transcribed by divinely inspired authors - Sacred due to the divine inspiration which brought it into existence. Whereas, as I understand it, the Koran is, very literally and in a real personal sense, the word of God - Sacred by its existense. Yet, for all this subtle, somewhat rhetorical BS to non-theologians, does it in any way change the underlying truth that violent destructive responses to the non-violent choices of others is antithetical to the teachings of Allah?

The military got the sense that those churches will keep sending proselytizing Bibles and like the military personal said, if they returned them they will send them right back to another organization and thus give the impression that the Military is there to proselytize. They've made a tactical decision, one which I am sure was difficult. As for Obama making a statement, why would he? He wasn't president when the incident took place. If you want them to have a military policy to burn all trash except the Bible you have my support. I will not support distributing them or donating them somewhere outside the danger zone.

You know what. I am pretty much in complete agreement with you on this. My differences don't (at this point :) ) warrant a digression.

"others" would be read as "other Muslims", non-believers have a different set of rules.

If you're eying it from extremist angle, I suppose so. There's lots of room for improvement on the part of the Muslim world. The sad truth is people in the Muslim world take their own ineptitude and frustrations with their condition on people who are not like them. This has happened in the past, happens in the present, and will happen in the future. This is not a domain exclusive to Muslims either (see Kosovo).