By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 8, 2010; 6:40 PM
Geoff Tunnicliffe heads of one of the world's largest faith organizations -- the World Evangelical Alliance -- but on Wednesday morning when he reached the Florida pastor planning to burn the Koran on Sept. 11, "I felt like a deer in the headlights."
For weeks, Tunnicliffe had remained silent about the intention of the tiny Gainesville church to publicly torch Islam's holy book, not wanting to lend legitimacy to the Dove World Outreach Center or its controversial pastor, Terry Jones. But after hearing from Pentecostal leaders around the globe about their fears that the scripture-burning could spark sectarian violence, he decided he needed to appeal to Jones as a fellow Christian.
Tunnicliffe is among the religious leaders who have tried to reach out to Jones in recent days and persuade him to abandon his plans, which have been condemned by everyone from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Gen. David H. Petraeus to conservative commentator Glenn Beck to actress Angelina Jolie. Even Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist Billy Graham and an outspoken critic of Islam, tried twice without a success to reach Jones on Wednesday to express his disapproval of defacing or destroying the sacred texts or writings of other religions, a spokesman said.
During a 10-minute cellphone conversation, Tunnicliffe described himself as "pleading" with the man whose plans have already sparked angry protests in Jakarta and Kabul and that some fear could put the lives of U.S. troops in Muslim countries at risk.
"I tried to talk about the impact this would have on his own stated goals of taking the gospel to the world," said Tunnicliffe, whose group represents hundreds of millions of evangelicals, including those who live in Muslim countries.
He told Jones that Christian leaders and missionaries around the world were opposed to the burning and asked, "What are you hearing from God that these people aren't hearing?" He asked how Jones would feel if the event led to the death of a pastor or the destruction of a church in another part of the world?
Jones listened, but remained noncommittal. "He said they might not change their minds, but that they were praying about it," Tunnicliffe said.
At the end of the phone call, Tunnicliffe prayed for Jones.
"Here's the reality: That video will never go away," Tunnicliffe said. "It will be so detrimental to our work with religious liberty around the world. Everywhere I go around the world I will have to address this for years to come."
He and others described their lobbying efforts this week as delicate and strange. Jones doesn't belong to a religious denomination and doesn't appear to know fellow pastors in his town.
Some religious leaders said that they feared Jones wouldn't listen to strangers or that they didn't want to fuel something they hoped would go away. Others said the lack of more action by evangelical leaders reflects a distant and sometimes tense relationship with Muslims and the fact that many in that community are skeptical about Islam.
"People don't speak out the way they should, because they don't have personal relationships," said Richard Cizik, a former longtime lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, the U.S. branch of the World Evangelical Alliance. He noted that an NAE poll of evangelical leaders in 2008 found none who said they had a good friend who was Muslim.
Nevertheless, NAE President Leith Anderson issued a statement Wednesday asking Muslims not to judge "all Christians by the behavior of one extremist. One person with 30 silent followers does not speak for 300 million Americans who will never burn a Koran."
Christian leaders from other denominations echoed those sentiments on Wednesday, saying that there was no support in their communities for Jones. The question was how to reach the former hotel manager who sells furniture on eBay to make extra money.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said he decided not to approach Jones because he believes the pastor would disapprove of Land's advocacy for the rights of religious minorities and his general engagement with pluralism.
"If I know my boy, he thinks we're apostate liberals anyway," Land said. "My guess is my call would be counterproductive. My calling him would just encourage him to do it."
City commissioners and the mayor of Gainesville have called Jones, as have local clergy, including the Rev. Dan Johnson of the 4,000-member Trinity United Methodist Church, the closest house of worship to the Dove center. Johnson tried several times to make appointments with Jones without success before the Dove pastor called Johnson "yellow-bellied" in a local paper, said Troy Holloway, Trinity's director of stewardship development.
Tunnicliffe said he had offered to come to Florida on Friday to speak with Jones's church and was planning to deliver a letter to the congregation and run an advertisement in the Gainesville newspaper.
Asked if evangelicals leaders -- including himself -- had delayed trying to stop the Koran-burning because many Christians feel anxious about the spread of Islam, he said he didn't believe that was the case.
"They may have some concerns, but you'd only find the very fringe that would have any support for this, even among the most conservative," Tunnicliffe said. "I think there would be a strong consensus that this kind of approach is absolutely not acceptable and not biblical."
BUCKNACKT'S SORDID TAWDRY BLOG We should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive & well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate, bier or wein in hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WHOO-HOO, WHAT A RIDE!!!!!!"
Showing posts with label koran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label koran. Show all posts
08 September 2010
Quran Burning Pastor Was Expelled From German Church He Founded After His Radicalism Alienated Congregation 8SEP10
Bravo for the Christians of this church for standing up for their Christian faith!
Before Rev. Terry Jones was being condemned by the White House and military commanders in Afghanistan for his planned “International Burn a Quran Day,” he was a pastor at an evangelical church he founded in the 1980s in Cologne, Germany. Jones grew the congregation of the Christian Community of Cologne to as many as 1,000 members, but his radical, hate-filled preachings eventually got him expelled from the church. According to the German magazine Der Spiegel, Jones ruled the church like a tyrant, even as his sermons became increasingly Islamaphobic and hateful, prompting his congregation to kick Jones and his wife out of the church last year:Various witnesses gave SPIEGEL ONLINE consistent accounts of the Jones’ behavior. The pastor and his wife apparently regarded themselves as having been appointed by God, meaning opposition was a crime against the Lord. Terry and Sylvia Jones allegedly used these methods to ask for money in an increasingly insistent manner, as well as making members of the congregation carry out work. [...]Former members of Jones’ German church described a “climate of fear and control” and said Jones insisted on “blind obedience.” Some former congregants are even “still undergoing therapy as a result of ’spiritual abuse.’” A German Protestant Church official familiar with Jones even said the pastor has a “delusional personality.”
Jones became increasingly radical as the years went by, former associates say. At one point he wanted to help a homosexual member to “pray away his sins.” Later he began to increasingly target Islam in his sermons. A congregation member reported that some members were afraid to attend services because they expected to be attacked by Muslims. “Terry Jones has a talent for finding topical social issues and seizing on them for his own cause,” says Schäfer.
In a heated interview on Thom Hartmann’s radio show, Jones confirmed that he had been the head of the Christian Community of Cologne, but refused to respond to Der Spiegel’s allegations, telling Hartman, “If you want to discuss 9/11, that will be fine, if not, I guess we will have to end this conversation”:
05 September 2010
Has Hate Corrupted the Church? 5AUG10 from SOJO & Remembering History’s Evils 30JUL09
SIMPLY written, profoundly moving and convicting, this piece speaks to all of us.
As a writer with a public blog, I’ve become used to getting hate emails. Sure, some people might leave offensive comments on a blog, but the real vitriol gets reserved for emails. From the sick and twisted ones detailing what sexual violence I need done to me to cure me of my feminism to the reminders that I will one day burn in hell because of my association with the emerging church, I’ve become used to the church’s odd way of demonstrating “love” to one’s neighbor. But when I look at the two posts that have far and away garnered me the most hate mail, I find it difficult to not be disturbed and heartbroken for the church.
Last summer my inbox filled up with angry responses to my post recounting the often-ignored history of the slaughter of the Native Americans at the Taos Pueblo (men, women, and children took sanctuary in the church and the U.S. Army burned them alive inside). I was called every name in the book for daring to question the greatness of the U.S. and our right to Manifest Destiny.
Then recently, my post supporting the Cordoba House (the mosque going in near Ground Zero) was linked to at the Cordoba House site to demonstrate that some Christians do support the project. That of course brought on a new wave of hate in my inbox. From those accusing me of supporting the pedophile religion of Satan to those telling me I was mocking the power of Jesus by tolerating Muslims, I witnessed the overwhelming animosity Christians hold toward the other. The words of Jesus to love our neighbor apparently don’t apply if that neighbor looks or believes differently than we do.
Out of everything I have written, that these two posts should elicit such visceral responses demonstrates how deep the issues of racism and prejudice still are in the church today. Oh, churches might give lip service to accepting others and being “colorblind,” but in reality those fears and prejudices run deep. The general message of the white American church is eerily similar to a white person saying “I’m fine with black people; I just don’t want them living next door.” So we are fine with collecting dream catchers and turquoise jewelry and seeing sexy Native American teens running around shirtless as they turn into wolves, but not with listening to their side of the historical story or admitting to our country’s acts of terrorism against their nations. And some even say they are fine with Muslims as long as they don’t put a mosque where we can see it or ask us to engage in reconciliation projects. Stereotypes and prejudices are preferred to the truth, and anger erupts if such positions are questioned or challenged.
Granted, many Christians aren’t even okay with the lip-service tolerance or the “equal as long as they are separate” mentality. Recently Pastors Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL, declared September 11, 2010, to be International Burn a Koran Day. In a YouTube video (warning — video contains footage of a burning Koran) he tells viewers, “if you call yourself Christian you should be burning the Koran because it is of the devil.” Their blog even lists the top 10 reasons to burn a Koran as if it is some sort of late-night comedy routine (interestingly enough, I’ve heard most of the arguments they list used against the Bible as well).
Similarly, in a recent trip back to Taos, NM, I heard some white Christians discussing how the genocide of the Native American nations was a blessed gift from God to eliminate the satanic influence of their cultures from our “one nation under God.” There are some things that are just so extreme and so absurd that it is hard to believe people are even saying them, much less saying them in the name of Christ. But for many Christians this sort of hatred is at the core of their faith practice. Vengeance and revenge against the other have superseded the commands to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.
The question that plagues me is if the church will ever repent of its allegiance to hate and start following in the way of Christ instead? It seems like the church has embraced a culture of hatred. I used to have a bumper sticker on my car that said “I’m for the Separation of Church and Hate,” but someone found its anti-hate message so offensive that they vandalized it with a marker. On top of that, much of the church has lent its ear to the false prophets who mock the words of Jesus and who command their followers to run from the churches that encourage us to love our neighbor or to set the oppressed free.
When the truth of God has been replaced by these racist and hate-filled lies of our culture, it is hard at times to have hope for the church. When yet another hate email arrives in my inbox questioning my faith because I spoke out against acts of violence and terrorism against non-white American peoples, I have to wonder where Jesus is in the church these days. But even amidst all that darkness there are glimmers of hope. I see the Christians (the National Association of Evangelicals even) asking that the International Koran Burning Day be canceled in the name of Jesus. I see the handful of Christians willing to stand with Muslims as they build the Cordoba House. These are public voices presenting to the world the side of Christianity that isn’t defined by violence and hatred. They may be few, but it is enough to keep believing that the core of Christianity hasn’t been completely corrupted or destroyed.
Sorry for the long silence here. I spent the last week and a half at my parent’s place in Taos, New Mexico with a bunch of friends from our old church in Illinois. It was a great time, but I didn’t have two seconds together to attempt to even open my computer. Since we had friends visiting, we did touristy things all week and I couldn’t help but encounter stories of the history of the place that truly made me think.
It is strange being at places in America where our own sordid history has not been completely hushed up. In most of the country it is easy to forget who we stole the land from, who we enslaved to build initial infrastructure, and who we oppressed on our path to becoming a “great” nation. If those reminders aren’t there before our eyes, we tend to forget they ever happened (and then get accused of being unpatriotic or of outright lying if you even mention the history). But its hard to hide from that history in New Mexico – at least once you make even a vague attempt to open your eyes.
For instance – I attended the Emergent Gathering in Glorieta, NM a couple of times in the past. While I had heard that Glorieta was the site of a major Civil War battle, often called the Gettysburg of the West, I knew little else of its history or culture except for the fact that the Southern Baptists had built a camp there that did its best to pretend New Mexican culture didn’t exist. But this trip, I discovered that it was at the opening of the Glorieta Pass on the Santa Fe trail that the Mexican army made its last stand against the invading U.S. army in 1846. You see, for years U.S. citizens had been settling in Texas (often for the freedom to trade slaves). In 1836, these U.S. Texans declared Texas an independent country and went to war with the current ruler – Mexico. After remembering the Alamo and all that, the Republic of Texas formed. When the U.S. then annexed Texas in 1846 (which at that point included most of New Mexico), Mexico chose not to simply give up the land and leave. This was seen as cause for war and the U.S. invaded to secure the land we stole. General opinion saw it as our right to take the land, with some citing it “Our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” A small group of dissenters called this invasion robbery and murder, and Abraham Lincoln asserted “Let us put a check upon this lust of dominion.” But their protest was to no avail. And so the U.S. army met and massacred the Mexican army at Glorieta – claiming the territory for ourselves. It puts things in perspective to know the history of the place – knowing who died so we could use a spiffy retreat center.
Same thing in Taos. One of the oldest continuously lived in pueblos in America is the Taos Pueblo. In 1847, after the U.S. took New Mexico, local Indians and Hispanics were fearful that the U.S. wouldn’t honor their ownership of the land and so staged a rebellion against the U.S. governor in Taos. The governor ended up dead and the U.S. Army moved quickly to quash the revolt. (the Indians actually claim that they had nothing to do with the murder, that the Mexicans set them up). As the U.S. army attacked, many of the pueblo’s residents (the women and children) as well as some of the insurgents took refugee in the Catholic church on the pueblo seeking its protection and sanctuary. The U.S. army burned them alive inside the church. The picture is of the remains of the church that has simply been left in ruins since that day.
I hear those stories and know that even though I am enjoying the benefits of past oppression, I have to at least acknowledge that great evil has been done. But there were others touring the Taos Pueblo I overheard who were offended that the Indians dare tell the story of how the U.S. army massacred their people. They thought it was rude and uncalled for to even bring up such stories. I found it interesting that here I was having no choice but to confront the sins of our collective past, and others around me were trying to silence history. But then I thought, at least they were hearing the stories whether they choose to believe them or not. That’s why I am a huge fan of going to places where that history is in your face. No, its not fun to visit the site of a massacre, or of a firebombing, or the Holocaust Museum, but unless we make that effort we too soon forget that they exist. And from there we quickly start pretending that the evils they remind us of never happened. We need those reminders.
As a writer with a public blog, I’ve become used to getting hate emails. Sure, some people might leave offensive comments on a blog, but the real vitriol gets reserved for emails. From the sick and twisted ones detailing what sexual violence I need done to me to cure me of my feminism to the reminders that I will one day burn in hell because of my association with the emerging church, I’ve become used to the church’s odd way of demonstrating “love” to one’s neighbor. But when I look at the two posts that have far and away garnered me the most hate mail, I find it difficult to not be disturbed and heartbroken for the church.
Last summer my inbox filled up with angry responses to my post recounting the often-ignored history of the slaughter of the Native Americans at the Taos Pueblo (men, women, and children took sanctuary in the church and the U.S. Army burned them alive inside). I was called every name in the book for daring to question the greatness of the U.S. and our right to Manifest Destiny.
Then recently, my post supporting the Cordoba House (the mosque going in near Ground Zero) was linked to at the Cordoba House site to demonstrate that some Christians do support the project. That of course brought on a new wave of hate in my inbox. From those accusing me of supporting the pedophile religion of Satan to those telling me I was mocking the power of Jesus by tolerating Muslims, I witnessed the overwhelming animosity Christians hold toward the other. The words of Jesus to love our neighbor apparently don’t apply if that neighbor looks or believes differently than we do.
Out of everything I have written, that these two posts should elicit such visceral responses demonstrates how deep the issues of racism and prejudice still are in the church today. Oh, churches might give lip service to accepting others and being “colorblind,” but in reality those fears and prejudices run deep. The general message of the white American church is eerily similar to a white person saying “I’m fine with black people; I just don’t want them living next door.” So we are fine with collecting dream catchers and turquoise jewelry and seeing sexy Native American teens running around shirtless as they turn into wolves, but not with listening to their side of the historical story or admitting to our country’s acts of terrorism against their nations. And some even say they are fine with Muslims as long as they don’t put a mosque where we can see it or ask us to engage in reconciliation projects. Stereotypes and prejudices are preferred to the truth, and anger erupts if such positions are questioned or challenged.
Granted, many Christians aren’t even okay with the lip-service tolerance or the “equal as long as they are separate” mentality. Recently Pastors Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL, declared September 11, 2010, to be International Burn a Koran Day. In a YouTube video (warning — video contains footage of a burning Koran) he tells viewers, “if you call yourself Christian you should be burning the Koran because it is of the devil.” Their blog even lists the top 10 reasons to burn a Koran as if it is some sort of late-night comedy routine (interestingly enough, I’ve heard most of the arguments they list used against the Bible as well).
Similarly, in a recent trip back to Taos, NM, I heard some white Christians discussing how the genocide of the Native American nations was a blessed gift from God to eliminate the satanic influence of their cultures from our “one nation under God.” There are some things that are just so extreme and so absurd that it is hard to believe people are even saying them, much less saying them in the name of Christ. But for many Christians this sort of hatred is at the core of their faith practice. Vengeance and revenge against the other have superseded the commands to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.
The question that plagues me is if the church will ever repent of its allegiance to hate and start following in the way of Christ instead? It seems like the church has embraced a culture of hatred. I used to have a bumper sticker on my car that said “I’m for the Separation of Church and Hate,” but someone found its anti-hate message so offensive that they vandalized it with a marker. On top of that, much of the church has lent its ear to the false prophets who mock the words of Jesus and who command their followers to run from the churches that encourage us to love our neighbor or to set the oppressed free.
When the truth of God has been replaced by these racist and hate-filled lies of our culture, it is hard at times to have hope for the church. When yet another hate email arrives in my inbox questioning my faith because I spoke out against acts of violence and terrorism against non-white American peoples, I have to wonder where Jesus is in the church these days. But even amidst all that darkness there are glimmers of hope. I see the Christians (the National Association of Evangelicals even) asking that the International Koran Burning Day be canceled in the name of Jesus. I see the handful of Christians willing to stand with Muslims as they build the Cordoba House. These are public voices presenting to the world the side of Christianity that isn’t defined by violence and hatred. They may be few, but it is enough to keep believing that the core of Christianity hasn’t been completely corrupted or destroyed.
Remembering History’s Evils
http://julieclawson.com/2009/07/30/remembering-historys-evils/2009 July 30
It is strange being at places in America where our own sordid history has not been completely hushed up. In most of the country it is easy to forget who we stole the land from, who we enslaved to build initial infrastructure, and who we oppressed on our path to becoming a “great” nation. If those reminders aren’t there before our eyes, we tend to forget they ever happened (and then get accused of being unpatriotic or of outright lying if you even mention the history). But its hard to hide from that history in New Mexico – at least once you make even a vague attempt to open your eyes.
For instance – I attended the Emergent Gathering in Glorieta, NM a couple of times in the past. While I had heard that Glorieta was the site of a major Civil War battle, often called the Gettysburg of the West, I knew little else of its history or culture except for the fact that the Southern Baptists had built a camp there that did its best to pretend New Mexican culture didn’t exist. But this trip, I discovered that it was at the opening of the Glorieta Pass on the Santa Fe trail that the Mexican army made its last stand against the invading U.S. army in 1846. You see, for years U.S. citizens had been settling in Texas (often for the freedom to trade slaves). In 1836, these U.S. Texans declared Texas an independent country and went to war with the current ruler – Mexico. After remembering the Alamo and all that, the Republic of Texas formed. When the U.S. then annexed Texas in 1846 (which at that point included most of New Mexico), Mexico chose not to simply give up the land and leave. This was seen as cause for war and the U.S. invaded to secure the land we stole. General opinion saw it as our right to take the land, with some citing it “Our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” A small group of dissenters called this invasion robbery and murder, and Abraham Lincoln asserted “Let us put a check upon this lust of dominion.” But their protest was to no avail. And so the U.S. army met and massacred the Mexican army at Glorieta – claiming the territory for ourselves. It puts things in perspective to know the history of the place – knowing who died so we could use a spiffy retreat center.
Same thing in Taos. One of the oldest continuously lived in pueblos in America is the Taos Pueblo. In 1847, after the U.S. took New Mexico, local Indians and Hispanics were fearful that the U.S. wouldn’t honor their ownership of the land and so staged a rebellion against the U.S. governor in Taos. The governor ended up dead and the U.S. Army moved quickly to quash the revolt. (the Indians actually claim that they had nothing to do with the murder, that the Mexicans set them up). As the U.S. army attacked, many of the pueblo’s residents (the women and children) as well as some of the insurgents took refugee in the Catholic church on the pueblo seeking its protection and sanctuary. The U.S. army burned them alive inside the church. The picture is of the remains of the church that has simply been left in ruins since that day.I hear those stories and know that even though I am enjoying the benefits of past oppression, I have to at least acknowledge that great evil has been done. But there were others touring the Taos Pueblo I overheard who were offended that the Indians dare tell the story of how the U.S. army massacred their people. They thought it was rude and uncalled for to even bring up such stories. I found it interesting that here I was having no choice but to confront the sins of our collective past, and others around me were trying to silence history. But then I thought, at least they were hearing the stories whether they choose to believe them or not. That’s why I am a huge fan of going to places where that history is in your face. No, its not fun to visit the site of a massacre, or of a firebombing, or the Holocaust Museum, but unless we make that effort we too soon forget that they exist. And from there we quickly start pretending that the evils they remind us of never happened. We need those reminders.
30 August 2010
CHRISTIAN AMERICA NEEDS TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST KORAN BURNING
THE thought of a day of Koran burning make me sick to my stomach. I know the vast majority of Americans are better than that, but the fact that it is happening is wrong. All I can picture in my mind is the orgy of book burning in Nazi Germany, especially books by Jewish authors and about Judaism, and then books by unionist, and Christians, and foreigners.....and then I can see Kristalnackt, and then the smoking chimneys of the death camps. The increasing violence in the language against Islam, and now this planned day of violence against the Koran, a holy book.....what will be next? What will it take to stop this growing hate, this hate that has no Christian scriptural basis or backing? I fear for the religious soul of our nation.
The religion "of the Devil" ... practiced by "animals of Allah" ... worshipping a "monkey-god"...
Messages of hatred and discrimination are polluting our public discourse as we approach the anniversary of 9/11.
This Muslim-bashing follows on the heels of a debate about the "Ground Zero Mosque." Comments from fearmongers have been deeply discriminatory-and completely disregard what's really at stake: our Constitutional values, fundamental rights, and national security.
Cynically using the 9/11 anniversary to vilify Islam and Muslims trivializes the real tragedy of 9/11-the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians.
We've gotten to the point that a small group in Florida is supporting a "Burn a Koran" event on September 11th-sponsored by a church, of all places. Left unchallenged, their message of hatred is heard loud and clear across the globe.
Where is the sense in this situation?
The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville Florida has posted on its website "10 Reasons to Burn a Koran." We're making our own list. Send us your top reason NOT to burn a Koran-we'll select the top 10 answers, post them on our website, and distribute them near and far to make sure that your voice is heard in this debate.
This misguided and violent rhetoric only harms us by alienating the communities whose cooperation is essential to effectively combat terrorism. Let's show the fearmongers and the world that Americans don't support this kind of hatred!
Human Rights First has been fighting discrimination and intolerance wherever it occurs, monitoring situations all over the world where bias turns into violence and finding ways to combat it. Help us push back on those who are delivering messages of hate.
Sincerely,
Tad Stahnke
Director of Policy and Programs
As September 11th approaches, a wave of anti-Muslim bigotry is sweeping the country.  |
Messages of hatred and discrimination are polluting our public discourse as we approach the anniversary of 9/11.
This Muslim-bashing follows on the heels of a debate about the "Ground Zero Mosque." Comments from fearmongers have been deeply discriminatory-and completely disregard what's really at stake: our Constitutional values, fundamental rights, and national security.
Cynically using the 9/11 anniversary to vilify Islam and Muslims trivializes the real tragedy of 9/11-the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians.
We've gotten to the point that a small group in Florida is supporting a "Burn a Koran" event on September 11th-sponsored by a church, of all places. Left unchallenged, their message of hatred is heard loud and clear across the globe.
Where is the sense in this situation?
The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville Florida has posted on its website "10 Reasons to Burn a Koran." We're making our own list. Send us your top reason NOT to burn a Koran-we'll select the top 10 answers, post them on our website, and distribute them near and far to make sure that your voice is heard in this debate.
This misguided and violent rhetoric only harms us by alienating the communities whose cooperation is essential to effectively combat terrorism. Let's show the fearmongers and the world that Americans don't support this kind of hatred!
Human Rights First has been fighting discrimination and intolerance wherever it occurs, monitoring situations all over the world where bias turns into violence and finding ways to combat it. Help us push back on those who are delivering messages of hate.
Sincerely,
Tad Stahnke
Director of Policy and Programs
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