Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida and Their "Burn a Koran (Quran) Day"
General David Patraeus believes that the Koran-burning could cause controversy "everywhere in the world." Attorney General, Eric Holder has gone so far as to say that the Koran-burning is "idiotic." I have to agree. U.S. Military and government officials have made it clear that such an act is not only disrespectful, but it endangers our troops. Violence has erupted in the past over allegations that soldiers were desecrating the Koran. Now, after Terry Jones and his minions announced their plan to burn the Islamic holy book, a protest of 500 people, who were chanting, "death to America" broke out in Kabul, Afghanistan. Apparently, "burn a Koran day" is not going over well with Islamic folks. Who would have thought? Thanks a bunch, Terry Jones.
Pastor Terry Jones says, "We must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam." Yeah, Terry, you might want to start by targeting the radical element and not every single Islamic person on the planet by burning the Koran. All of the opinions of the U.S. Government and military are not going to save us from the backlash of Terry's "burn a Koran day." Middle Easterners are not going to see that. They are only going to see smug old Terry and his hateful ways. Thanks, again, "Dr." "Pastor" (whatever) Terry Jones.
Terry's brilliant plan to make all Americans look like hateful morons may be a publicity stunt for his book "Islam is of the Devil." That is just a guess, though. Unfortunately, it is working. What appears like hundreds of supporters have been posting on his "Islam is of the Devil" facebook page. There are even people making fun of Muslims replying in Arabic. (Note to internet antagonists: Use Google Translator and you will see that they are not being mean to you.) Thankfully, a few sane people are adding their tidbits too. I wonder how many people are thinking about turning "burn a Koran day" into "burn a bible day?" Hopefully, not too many. Neither action is admirable.
Source
BBC, US church defiant despite condemnation of Koran burning, retrieved 9/7/10, bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11223457
Published by Shelly Barclay
Shelly Barclay writes on a variety of topics from animal facts to mysteries in history. Her main focus is military and political history. She is the Boston History Examiner, Military History Examiner and the... View profile
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71 Comments
Post a CommentI guess the Joker finally figured out that Kryptonite is useless against Batman and Robin.
I'm not even going to give Victoria/Disraeli a glance - Disraeli was quite obviously stating his opinion and not any sort of empirical proof. But foremost you continue to mix up the Declaration with the Constitution. I'm not sure I follow your argument about truth, perhaps because of your wording. Either way, why are you pushing this? Will your faith be lessened because Shelly (or I) don't believe, or because the founders didn't share your beliefs? Probably not. No Christian in this country should need to validate themselves by saying "see?! these men were also christian!" So what if they are or aren't? (Before you bounce this back to me, I have argued against the stories of them being truly Christian because it simply isn't true, not because it makes me feel 'validated') Does it change how smart they were? Do we tend to think of Washington or Jefferson any less for owning slaves?
Just as atheists will sometimes say "God Bless you" when someone sneezes, the founding fathers used the rhetoric of the time period to bring their points across. You are taking quotes from both Franklin and Madison completely out of context - there are reams of evidence written by both men pointing toward both being, at best, deists, much like Jefferson. Adams and [gasp!] Washington were also very lackadaisical about their religion. Since we're arguing the founders...why is Lincoln brought into this? His faith in God had no bearing on the tenets this country was built on.
I'm not sure why I keep debating this, except I'm in a particularly ferocious mood, and I'm hoping that by example anyone else reading this will take the time in the future to check their arguments against facts and not speculation. Just because a person lives near or in the same time period as another does not necessarily mean they will have more of an understanding of someone's intent than people 200 years later - mostly because Mr. Webster was not A) sitting in with the founders (he was born in 1782) and B) he was not providing the "definition" of the word atheist, he was providing his *opinion* - totally different things. I'm not very clear what you think having someone quoted in Webster's dictionary after the fact has anything to do with the founder's intentions.
Gail, perhaps I haven't been clear enough. I am an atheist. I do not believe in god. Whether men believed in god in the past or not is irrelevant to me. Your interpretation is irrelevant to me. In short, you are wasting your time.
One more comment. If the Preamble to the Constitution says: "We hold these truths to be . . . ." then how does the word truth hold any credience meaning that if the truth is any god or no god at all then it cannot be truth. So what truth do they mean when they say ". . . created equal endowed by their CREATOR? Which CREATOR? It doesn't say: whomever you perceive Him to be? They had SOMEONE in mind and His TRUTH had to come from somewhere or is like evolution? Just evolved.
Benjamin Franklin said: "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this TRUTH: that God governs in the affairs of men.' And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, it is probable that an empire can rise with His aid?" Abraham Lincoln said "I know that the Lord is always on the side of right. But is my CONSTANT ANXIETY and PRAYER that I - and this nation - should be on the Lord's side." Queen Victoria asked her prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, "How do you know God exists?" To which he replied, "The Jew".
Daniel Webster, author of American Dictionary of the English Language, being alive in 1828, should have known more about our Founders intent than we do! Let's see! Hum! How about James Madison, fourth president of the US said: "We have staked the whole of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind of self-government, upon the capacity of each an all of us to govern ourselves (indivually), to control ourselves (individually), to sustain ourselves (individually) according to the Ten Commandments of God." Hum, wonder which God that is?
I don't know how I missed that malarky about atheism. Quoting something from the 1800s isn't going to get you anywhere with me. Good grief.
Also, I think any atheist parent would have a problem with you citing an obviously prejudiced source - I find it hard to believe that an 'unbelieving' parent could not find tenderness in their love for their own children. Nor do I have any problem finding awe in nature or humanity without thinking there is something supernatural behind it all.