Anti-gay religios nutcase “Pastor” Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainseville, FL is no stranger to rgose of us who follow the radidly anti-gay, right wingnut, religious zealots who attack the LGBT Community using religion as a way to gather lemming followers.
Jones and his follwers were against the election of Gainesville’s openly gay mayor, Craig Lowe, earlier this year. Lowe was the subject of an anti-gay leafleting campaign during the campaign, led bu Jones which focused on his sexuality. The leaflets asked voters to “Please help to make this town more like San Francisco, CA. Don’t let Traditional Values Activist [sic] use scare tactics against you!” The leaflets also told voters that Lowe would support an “agenda” that included “Gays in Women’s Restrooms,” as well as “Gay Marriage,” “Gay Public Sex Education,” and “Gay Oriented Churches,” among other things and they also set uup signs reading “No Homo Mayor,” later shortening that slogan to “No Homo.”
But not content in just hating “Homos” Pastor Jones and his folowers are now going after the Muslims. The church set up signs declaring that, “Islam is of the Devil.” When one of the church’s signs was vandalized on the evening of July 21, the church website sought to pin the act on gays the following day. “This is private property and vandalism is a crime here in America,” read the text, going on to say, “In Islam, many actions that we consider to be crimes are encouraged, condoned or sheltered under Islamic teaching and practice, though. Another reason to burn a Koran.”
*Continue reading and watch Doves Minisrty disgusting “Burn The Koran” YouTube Video by clicking on “Read more…” below
Jones has come up with a plan to stand firm for righteousness: he’s calling on his followers to burn copies of the Qu’ran, the holy book of the Muslim faith on Sept. 11th no less.
The Friendly Atheist blogger Hemant Mehta called up Jones to ask what’s behind the burn. Jones tells him this is not about hate but about Christian truth — and bringing Muslims to convert. Says Jones:
We love the Moslems and hope that they would come to true salvation. What we are attacking is Islam, the religion, and Sharia law, the political system.
According to Jones, the organizers got the idea from another Facebook event, “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” earlier this year (sigh).
Response from Florida’s Islamic community has been relatively muted so far. September 11 this year falls within the Eid al-Fitr holiday when Muslims mark the end of fasting for the holy month of Ramadan. RNS reports that local Muslims are planning to use the feast as an opportunity to share Islamic traditions and Qurans with the church members and the wider community.
“We don’t want to do anything that would be reactive,” said Ramzy Kilic, communications director of the Tampa Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
In the Orlando Sentinel, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said,
“American Muslims and other people of conscience should support positive educational efforts to prevent the spread of Islamophobia.”
He said CAIR’s research shows that anti-Muslim bias decreases when people have access to accurate information about Islam and are able to connect on a personal level with ordinary Muslims.
Terrorism in the US has not been a one-way street either and the Islamic community in Florida has been one of it’s recent targets.
On May 10, a pipe bomb exploded in the Islamic Center of Northwest Florida in Jacksonville. No worshippers were hurt, but Kilic said the planned burning of Qurans could escalate tensions in the area
What a scary fucking country we live in.
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