A small Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks could endanger the lives of American troops

[웃 910]

U.S. Afghanistan commanders condemn Koran-burning plan

(Reuters) - U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan warned on Monday that a small Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks could endanger the lives of American troops.

The warnings followed an angry protest on Monday by several hundred people in the Afghan capital, Kabul, who chanted "Death to America" as they denounced the planned burning event by the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center church.

The center, calling itself a "New Testament, Charismatic, Non-Denominational Church," says it will go ahead with the torching of the Koran on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 2001 attacks against the United States. Gainesville authorities have said that will contravene fire safety rules.

Two top U.S. commanders in Afghanistan said the proposed burning of the Muslim holy book risked undermining U.S. President Barack Obama's efforts to reach out to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. They said it could also trigger retaliation against U.S. forces serving in Afghanistan.

"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort," General David Petraeus, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in a statement to U.S. media organizations.

"It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world, we are engaged with the Islamic community," he added.

Lieutenant-General William Caldwell, commander of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, told CNN the news of the planned Koran burning by the little-known Florida church was already provoking popular anger in Afghanistan.

"It's their Holy Book, so when somebody says that they're going to destroy that and cause a desecration to something that's very sacred to them, it's already stirred up a lot of discussion and concern amongst the people," he said.

"We very much feel that this could jeopardize the safety of our men and women that are serving over here," Caldwell added.

In Kabul, the demonstrators, mostly students from religious schools who gathered outside Kabul's Milad ul-Nabi mosque, said they would continue their protests.

"We call on America to stop desecrating our Holy Koran," student Wahidullah Nori told Reuters.

The dispute came at a time of already heated debate in the United States over a proposal to build a cultural center and mosque two blocks away from the site in New York of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Opponents of the building plan say it is insensitive to families of the victims of the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda.

U.S. GOVERNMENT SLAMS 'OFFENSIVE INITIATIVE'

U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan soon after those attacks for harboring al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

Demonstrations and riots triggered by reported desecration of the Koran are not infrequent in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries. The most violent protests came after cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper in 2006.

In comments broadcast by CNN, Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, said it would be "tragic" if anybody's life was lost as a result of the planned Koran burning.

But he added, "Still, I must say that we feel that we must sooner or later stand up to Islam, and if we don't, it's not going to go away."

The church's website says it seeks to "expose Islam" as a "violent and oppressive religion." It displays a sign reading "Islam of the Devil."

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said the "United States government in no way condones such acts of disrespect against the religion of Islam, and is deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups".

"Americans from all religious and ethnic backgrounds reject this offensive initiative by this small group in Florida, a great number of American voices are protesting the hurtful statements made by this organization," it said in a statement.

Last January, Afghan troops shot and killed eight demonstrators and wounded 13 in southern Helmand province in a riot triggered by a report that foreign troops had desecrated the Koran during a raid. A spokesman for NATO forces denied the report.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6851V220100906

[Darnell 8,479]

*** moving to 'Politics and Religion' forum ***

[JohnSmith2007 353]

This is the dumbest thing I have seen in a while. These people are no more "Christian" than the Phelps nutbags.

[^_^ 5,021]

Gainesville authorities have said that will contravene fire safety rules.

Are they going to do it anyway?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There will always be nuts doing nutty things. Perhaps they shouldn't give the church crazies the publicity that elevates it to the national stage. It's not exactly a major church is it.

[justashooter 430]

if someone would give me a free copy i would burn it down in the garden with the other trash, but i sure as hell wouldn't go buying one to burn.

[_Simpson_ 250]

if someone would give me a free copy i would burn it down in the garden with the other trash, but i sure as hell wouldn't go buying one to burn.

so you would throw in the bible with that trash?

[ready4ONE 5,400]

There is more to this story. The pastor says they have a good relationship with the local Muslim community. And being such good neighbors the Church has sent the local Muslim community an open invitation to attend and it is his sincere hope a few will turn to Christianity as a result.

Isn't religious zealotry grand?

Edited September 7, 2010 by ready4ONE

[Danno 1,228]

U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan warned on Monday that a small Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks could endanger the lives of American troops.

I read this headline the other day and wondered if the possible loss of American lives would motivate this Church... or anyone really.....from doing that which angers fringe Muslims?

This question is bigger than this tiny Church in Fla.

IN fact, who do we blame over the loss of life, the people who kill because their faith was molested or the artist, writer or book burner?

[IndigoSkies 168]

It's very condescending to be a racist while claiming defense of having exactly one black friend. No real or self-respecting Muslim will ever befriend this fiend or his demon-children.

That said, there are millions and millions of copies of Qur'an in the world. And thanks to digital method of storing, the numbers of Qur’ans are really infinite. Even if by some stroke of bad luck all the Qur'ans are burned and all the digital copies erased, there will be still 10,000,000 people who have memorized the Qur'an by heart. So I say let him burn the Qur'ans, eat pork, shot guns, continue to sport a idiotic 'stache, continue to be an anti-globalist orge. His antics does nothing to stop Islam. If anything it re-invigorates Muslims.

Christians have been known to burn books throughout the history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonfire_of_the_Vanities Thanks to this sort of behavior, the world was cast into a period of Dark Age. And these religious demi-humans are hoping for exaactly the same thing again.

Edited September 8, 2010 by IndigoSkies

[The_Dude 1,142]

U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan warned on Monday that a small Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks could endanger the lives of American troops.

I read this headline the other day and wondered if the possible loss of American lives would motivate this Church... or anyone really.....from doing that which angers fringe Muslims?

This question is bigger than this tiny Church in Fla.

IN fact, who do we blame over the loss of life, the people who kill because their faith was molested or the artist, writer or book burner?

Danno, something like this doesn't just anger fringe Muslims, I would think it would anger all Muslims. This puts this church group in the same realm as the extremeist Islamic groups who preach hatred.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Imo its the media that will be to blame for putting troops at risk. There is simply no need to foreground this story.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

In theory anyway, American troops lives are at risk so that we CAN burn books. We may as well just surrender if we can't.

If we cannot stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen. For what purpose ARE we risking Americans lives in Afghanistan? I thought it was so they could have FREEDOM like "we have".

If I cannot burn my own privately owned books, then I have no freedom at all. If ANYONE can determine what books you can burn, they can determine what books you can read, stop this nonsense.

[The_Dude 1,142]

In theory anyway, American troops lives are at risk so that we CAN burn books. We may as well just surrender if we can't.

If we cannot stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen. For what purpose ARE we risking Americans lives in Afghanistan? I thought it was so they could have FREEDOM like "we have".

If I cannot burn my own privately owned books, then I have no freedom at all. If ANYONE can determine what books you can burn, they can determine what books you can read, stop this nonsense.

Gary, burning books is an uneducated ploy by the ignorant.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

In theory anyway, American troops lives are at risk so that we CAN burn books. We may as well just surrender if we can't.

If we cannot stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen. For what purpose ARE we risking Americans lives in Afghanistan? I thought it was so they could have FREEDOM like "we have".

If I cannot burn my own privately owned books, then I have no freedom at all. If ANYONE can determine what books you can burn, they can determine what books you can read, stop this nonsense.

American soldiers are not risking their lives in Afghanistan for the freedom to burn books. In fact its not clear at all what those lives are being risked for.