Plan B Forum

Despite multiple pleas to reconsider, two local religious leaders held a private Quran burning in a Springfield backyard Saturday afternoon.

The Rev. Bob Old and the Rev. Danny Allen both had different reasons for burning the Muslim holy book, but they said it had nothing to do with whether or not a mosque was built near ground zero.

"It's about faith, it's about love, but you have to have the right book behind you. This is a book of hate, not a book of love," said Old while holding up a Quran.

The two men said they burned the books to defend the United States Constitution and the American people. It's a move that has been denounced by Christian groups, politicians and even some of their family members.

Three women who have loved ones fighting abroad stood outside of Old's home holding up signs to protest the burnings.

"Somebody's got to stand up for the troops," said Ashley Parsons.

Parsons' husband is fighting in Afghanistan. This is his fifth tour of duty. She said she thinks it is shameful someone would take the anniversary of a national tragedy and do something that both the president and military leaders have said could endanger troops fighting abroad.

"I was livid," Parsons said. " I was very angry. I was very angry, and I'm scared. I'm scared for my husband. I'm scared for my friends and everybody who protects us."

http://www.wsmv.com/news/24972042/detail.html

A hate-filled fanatic ripped pages out of a Koran and lit them aflame Saturday amid the chaos outside the planned community center and mosque near Ground Zero.

"If they can burn American flags, I can burn the Koran," the unidentified zealot shouted. "[Americans] should never be afraid to give their opinion."

Witnesses said it was a ghastly display of fervor - apparently inspired by the Florida pastor who vowed to torch the holy books earlier in the week - overshadowing what should have been a somber day.

"Burning Korans is like setting up a recruitment to Al Qaeda - it does nothing for the cause and only brings problems," said Lance Corey, 61, a retired history teacher from the Bronx who opposes Park51.

Those on both sides of the argument over the Muslim community center rejected the actions of the Koran burner, who was escorted away but not arrested.

Corey was there in protest of Park51, but nonetheless condemned the hateful display. "I think it was irresponsible and unnecessary," he said.

Mosad Almontaser, 55, a teacher from Brooklyn, said it was simply "ugly."

"Is that supposed to bring people together? What's the point? I thought that was horrible. It helps no one," he said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/201 ... rry_j.html

Video on page.

A Brisbane university lawyer expects to be sacked after posting a video of himself burning the Koran and Bible online.

Queensland University of Technology employee Alex Stewart has taken leave from his non-academic position as a commercial contracts lawyer.

The university is investigating the video in which Mr Stewart appears to smoke marijuana rolled in pages from the religious texts, before rating which "burns better".

The homemade video was posted on video sharing website YouTube on Friday.

Widespread criticism of the clip led The Islamic Association of Australia this morning to call on Muslims to remain calm.

The Catholic Church, QUT and the Queensland Law Society also have condemned the clip.

The video followed international outrage at a firebrand US pastor who threatened to burn 200 Korans to mark the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Terry Jones was apparently persuaded to abandon the provocative ceremony by a promise to rethink plans to build a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero in New York.

Mr Stewart, an atheist, met QUT management this morning and agreed to take leave, a university spokeswoman said.

However, Mr Stewart fears he will not be allowed to return to the Brisbane campus.

"I'm screwed. I think I will lose my job over this. Damn it," he wrote on a website for Brisbane Atheists, of which he is an assistant organiser.

He wrote that the substance portrayed in the video was lawn clippings.

However, on the video he alluded to it being marijuana and pre-empted a police investigation.

"I probably won't appear on webcam again after the police come and arrest me," he says.

A spokeswoman this morning said police would not charge Mr Stewart.

"We haven't detected any criminal offences," the spokeswoman said.

During the 12-minute film Mr Stewart says he is performing an experiment to test whether the Islamic or Christian text is more conducive to burning.

He says people offended by the experiment are taking it "too seriously".

"It's just a f...ing book, who cares," Mr Stewart says.

"Like you can burn a flag and no one cares, people get over it so with respect to books like the Bible, the Koran, or whatever, just get over it."

The Islamic Association of Australia president urged "hurt" Muslims not to retaliate.

"Of course we're hurt ... but I would urge my Muslim fellow men to respond with caution and with responsibility," Sheik Muhammad Wahid said.

"They should be careful when they respond upon these issues. We are a community of tolerance [and] understanding.

"Of course people will be angry but I urge they should not take the law into their own hands and they should show their response in a positive way to explain [to] the whole Australian public that we must live in a way that we respect each other's faith and practices."

Sheik Wahid questioned Mr Stewart's motive for publishing such a video.

"This is very disturbing for us, not [just] for us, for everyone who respects other faiths and practices," he said.

A spokesman for the Catholic Church, Bishop Michael Putney, said Mr Stewart had caused "pain" to religious followers but he did not expect them to retaliate.

"I think some will get a bit cross with him and others will say what a silly fellow he is," Bishop Putney, who chairs the Australian Catholic Church's committee for ecumenism and inter-religious relations, said.

"[Mr Stewart] has caused pain in people and may incite anger in people and I don't think that's ever acceptable.

"I would think his behaviour gives atheism a bad name and I suspect the university will be a little bit embarrassed by what he's done."

QUT vice-chancellor Peter Coaldrake moved to distance the university from its employee.

"QUT does not condone the destruction of any religious artefacts. This was a personal view and action expressed in the person's own time," Professor Coaldrake said.

"[Mr Stewart] does not associate himself with QUT in the clip.

"QUT is tolerant of all religions and welcomes staff and students from many countries to our university and regularly celebrates their cultures and religions."

The Queensland Law Society condemned the clip but has not commented on Mr Stewart's status as a registered lawyer.

"The Queensland Law Society does not support or condone Mr Stewart's recent actions or views," chief executive Noela L'Estrange said.

Almost 1000 people around the world have watched the clip on YouTube, to mixed reviews.

Brisbane Atheist members have inundated the group’s website with support for Mr Stewart.

One member urges him to do a second experiment and recommends which religious texts to use.

In his profile on the site, Mr Stewart claims not to be a radical atheist.

"I consider there is insufficient evidence to support a supreme being and that there is even less evidence to support any particular religion," he says.

Sheik Wahid questioned Mr Stewart's motive for publishing such a video.

God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule
SEPTEMBER 26, 2001 | ISSUE 37•34
NEW YORK—Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing each other Monday.


God.

"Look, I don't know, maybe I haven't made myself completely clear, so for the record, here it is again," said the Lord, His divine face betraying visible emotion during a press conference near the site of the fallen Twin Towers. "Somehow, people keep coming up with the idea that I want them to kill their neighbor. Well, I don't. And to be honest, I'm really getting sick and tired of it. Get it straight. Not only do I not want anybody to kill anyone, but I specifically commanded you not to, in really simple terms that anybody ought to be able to understand."

Worshipped by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike, God said His name has been invoked countless times over the centuries as a reason to kill in what He called "an unending cycle of violence."

"I don't care how holy somebody claims to be," God said. "If a person tells you it's My will that they kill someone, they're wrong. Got it? I don't care what religion you are, or who you think your enemy is, here it is one more time: No killing, in My name or anyone else's, ever again."

The press conference came as a surprise to humankind, as God rarely intervenes in earthly affairs. As a matter of longstanding policy, He has traditionally left the task of interpreting His message and divine will to clerics, rabbis, priests, imams, and Biblical scholars. Theologians and laymen alike have been given the task of pondering His ineffable mysteries, deciding for themselves what to do as a matter of faith. His decision to manifest on the material plane was motivated by the deep sense of shock, outrage, and sorrow He felt over the Sept. 11 violence carried out in His name, and over its dire potential ramifications around the globe.

"I tried to put it in the simplest possible terms for you people, so you'd get it straight, because I thought it was pretty important," said God, called Yahweh and Allah respectively in the Judaic and Muslim traditions. "I guess I figured I'd left no real room for confusion after putting it in a four-word sentence with one-syllable words, on the tablets I gave to Moses. How much more clear can I get?"

"But somehow, it all gets twisted around and, next thing you know, somebody's spouting off some nonsense about, 'God says I have to kill this guy, God wants me to kill that guy, it's God's will,'" God continued. "It's not God's will, all right? News flash: 'God's will' equals 'Don't murder people.'"

Worse yet, many of the worst violators claim that their actions are justified by passages in the Bible, Torah, and Qur'an.

"To be honest, there's some contradictory stuff in there, okay?" God said. "So I can see how it could be pretty misleading. I admit it—My bad. I did My best to inspire them, but a lot of imperfect human agents have misinterpreted My message over the millennia. Frankly, much of the material that got in there is dogmatic, doctrinal bullshit. I turn My head for a second and, suddenly, all this stuff about homosexuality gets into Leviticus, and everybody thinks it's God's will to kill gays. It absolutely drives Me up the wall."

God praised the overwhelming majority of His Muslim followers as "wonderful, pious people," calling the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks rare exceptions.

"This whole medieval concept of the jihad, or holy war, had all but vanished from the Muslim world in, like, the 10th century, and with good reason," God said. "There's no such thing as a holy war, only unholy ones. The vast majority of Muslims in this world reject the murderous actions of these radical extremists, just like the vast majority of Christians in America are pissed off over those two bigots on The 700 Club."

Continued God, "Read the book: 'Allah is kind, Allah is beautiful, Allah is merciful.' It goes on and on that way, page after page. But, no, some assholes have to come along and revive this stupid holy-war crap just to further their own hateful agenda. So now, everybody thinks Muslims are all murderous barbarians. Thanks, Taliban: 1,000 years of pan-Islamic cultural progress down the drain."

God stressed that His remarks were not directed exclusively at Islamic extremists, but rather at anyone whose ideological zealotry overrides his or her ability to comprehend the core message of all world religions.

"I don't care what faith you are, everybody's been making this same mistake since the dawn of time," God said. "The Muslims massacre the Hindus, the Hindus massacre the Muslims. The Buddhists, everybody massacres the Buddhists. The Jews, don't even get me started on the hardline, right-wing, Meir Kahane-loving Israeli nationalists, man. And the Christians? You people believe in a Messiah who says, 'Turn the other cheek,' but you've been killing everybody you can get your hands on since the Crusades."

Growing increasingly wrathful, God continued: "Can't you people see? What are you, morons? There are a ton of different religious traditions out there, and different cultures worship Me in different ways. But the basic message is always the same: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Shintoism... every religious belief system under the sun, they all say you're supposed to love your neighbors, folks! It's not that hard a concept to grasp."

"Why would you think I'd want anything else? Humans don't need religion or God as an excuse to kill each other—you've been doing that without any help from Me since you were freaking apes!" God said. "The whole point of believing in God is to have a higher standard of behavior. How obvious can you get?"

"I'm talking to all of you, here!" continued God, His voice rising to a shout. "Do you hear Me? I don't want you to kill anybody. I'm against it, across the board. How many times do I have to say it? Don't kill each other anymore—ever! I'm fucking serious!"

Upon completing His outburst, God fell silent, standing quietly at the podium for several moments. Then, witnesses reported, God's shoulders began to shake, and He wept.

Lord Jim wrote:Now I have to admit, that was pretty good...

Worthy of a PJ O'Rourke or Chris Miller piece in the golden age of The National Lampoon...

I downloaded a copy of the koran today Jim, if you want I'll burn you a copy.

Gob wrote:I downloaded a copy of the koran today Jim, if you want I'll burn you a copy.

A radical who burned pages from the Koran outside a planned mosque near Ground Zero was fired from his job at NJ Transit, sources and authorities confirmed.

Derek Fenton, an 11-year employee at NJ Transit, was fired Monday, the agency said in a statement, two days after he was photographed burning the Koran.

"Mr. Fenton's public actions violated New Jersey Transit's code of ethics," NJ Transit said.

"NJ Transit concluded that Mr. Fenton violated his trust as a state employee and therefore was dismissed."

Fenton's hate-filled display occurred during a protest against the mosque on the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/201 ... ansit.html