American pastor Terry Jones vows to hold national Koran burning event

Oh, hah. Story updated. Good. That's how it should be anyway.

 

I am pretty sure he will come out and say that the Imams lied to him.

Nevermind that he thought it's "Iman" rather than Imam hahaha

What a joke of a human being. His former church in Germany parted ways with him because of his attitude. Go figure.

 

I hear Terry Jones is a leading candidate for a German Freedom Award...

 

This is now an official attention w****.

 

Score!

 

well at least this makes my class "The Qur'an" more interesting. had a nice discussion on the whole situation today and it gave me plenty of time to complete my homework haha

 

they both have the legal right, they're also both incredibly insensitive.

 

burning a quran or bible is insensitive

is building a mosque or church insensitive?

 

First, thanks for taking the time to post that unusually serious (and sincere) post.

Now to your question above: That's sort of a funny question! What is anyone of us "hoping to accomplish" by posting here (I do not post on this topic in any other forum)? It's not like we get an academic degree or money for it, or chicks (exceptions to this happen and they don't always work out in the end), and unless you are delusional, you don't believe that you are changing the world by posting here either. We all post about topics that we are interested in and/or have strong opinions/feelings about. Some people post about guns, some people prefer to post about the Astros, I am interested in the topic of religion in general and Islam specifically.

I think that religion can be dangerous if it is abused to incite people (while its original purpose debatably is to be "opium for the masses", which probably was supposed to mean that it is meant to sedate people, if you agree with Karl Marx). Sadly, it seems that right now, by far, Islam is abused the most. I am interested in understanding whether there is something at its core that causes this or if it is all just a passing, contemporary phenomenon of some people having hijacked the religion, or a mix of both.

Again, I am under no delusion that I am changing the world (or anyone's mind, usually) in any way by posting here. So I think the question about "what is your goal" is somewhat strange. You could ask anyone who ever posts in the D&D the same question. I have learned quite a bit here, and I sometimes enjoy the banter, even if it is confrontational. Sometimes you also tickle out people's true feelings better by being confrontational. This is sort of the beauty of discussing something like this in the (relative) anonymity of a forum like this: I can gauge people's true feelings on issues by being a lot more confrontational than I would ever be in real life, without really hurting anyone's feelings or burdening a real life relationship with a person.

I don't think that arguing with people in depth about certain issues, even if usually coming from a critical angle equals "turning brain off". It is actually the exact opposite of that.

From a global perspective, you are right that these issues are bigger concerns. And if I was completely altruistic (very few people are), I should devote my whole life to working toward fixing these problems. Maybe one day. But people care about the issues that they feel impact themselves more directly, an egoistic view, certainly, but that's just human nature. I travel a lot. I narrowly missed being in London and Madrid just weeks removed from the terrorist attacks there. I was in the WTC a few months before 9/11. There are imminent terrorist threats in Germany. I see stories of "honor killings" in Germany. My Turkish driver non-chalantly tells me that it would be great if someone killed George Bush, that he took his kid to an anti-Israel demo and was so proud when the kid chanted "Death to Israel" all by himself, and that he doesn't believe in letting his wife leave the house without a head scarf. Etc. etc.. These are issues that are "closer to me" than world hunger. Is this a very subjective, egoistic perspective? Yes, surely. But unless anyone here can demonstrate that he or she devoted their whole life to combating hunger in the world, I do not feel that I have to be ashamed of not having done the same, compared to them.

I used to make excuses as well. But as you mentioned, the issues of how different views of the world and understanding of tolerance and freedoms and the significance of education, etc. are become more and more apparent in Europe. You automatically assume that certain sects and their way of practicing a certain religion cannot be the "source of trouble". And I understand that it is a dangerous path to think in that direction, and one should be especially careful to even consider thinking in that direction when coming from a country that has a terrible history with exactly that kind of thinking. But I am not talking about genetics or race or anything like that. I am talking about a school of thought that might or might not be one of the "sources of trouble". That is a big difference. If it becomes apparent that a certain school of thought is behind a lot of violence and intolerance and oppression, it must still be allowed to question that school of thought without being labeled a racist or what not.

 

Palin didn't condemn it, she only tried to use the incredible outrage against this to justify not building a mosque. She said this was like building a mosque near ground zero!

So burning Korans = building a mosque near zero?????

 

Yup. Boring story too.

He wants to burn a book. Whatever.

 

only if your religion is nationalism hiding behind the Cross.

 

It's amazing what the media considers "news" these days.

 

ATW, thanks much for your reply!
Wow, it's felt like a discussion for just a bit. Kind of exhausting, so I'm ready to go back to poo.

 

Me too:

 

I got a nice Idea.
Let's all get together and buy him a Ticket.
A tour really. Where he can goto all these Muslim countries and
bring the Message of Christianity to them
Just send him and his flock.

I think his sacrifice would be noted.
He can burn all the Korans he wants over there . . . well. . . he can try

Amazing how bold folx are behind the Safety of the American walls
put them out there among the people. . . different story .

Rocket River

 

Doesn't your statement mean that it is safe to express one's opinion in the USA while it is not safe in some of "these Muslim countries"?

 

I think this comic best explains how I feel about this whole situation with the book burning idiot.

 

Brilliant cartoon, let's just hope that we will not read about some fanatic Muslim entering the cartoonist's house with an axe.