RSS Feed Menu
Mitt Romney today spoke out against a Florida church’s plans to burn a copy of the Koran. Politico reports:
Presumed GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney came out Wednesday against the planned burning of the Quran by a Florida pastor, saying that doing so would endanger American troops.
“Burning the Quran is wrong on every level,” the former Massachusetts governor said in a statement to POLITICO. “It puts troops in danger, and it violates a founding principle of our Republic.”
The Rev. Terry Jones has been under pressure to not go forward with the planned burning of the Islamic text on Sept. 11 at his Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Fla., but pledged Wednesday that he will proceed as planned.
“We are still determined to do it,” Jones said on CBS’s “Early Show.”
While Romney was critical of the idea, he did not line up with those who have suggested that Jones should not be permitted to carry out his plan.
Click here to read more.
Carney // Sep 8, 2010 at 4:28 pm
I supported him in 2008 and plan to do the same in 2012.
pampl // Sep 8, 2010 at 5:12 pm
I’m surprised and impressed by this. Score one for the Mittster!
easton // Sep 8, 2010 at 6:07 pm
I am not surprised by this. Mitt is a Mormon, they are raised with awareness of religious bigotry and discrimination. I would have been surprised if he didn’t take this position. By the way, Orrin Hatch has taken the same position.
ProfNickD // Sep 8, 2010 at 7:58 pm
No, a private citizen burning his own property is *not* wrong, on any “level” — but wild-eyed ghouls who oppose an individual burning his own property and so decide to rampage through streets burning down other people’s property and killing other people is wrong on every “level.”
The multicultural left ( along with, apparently, Romney) doesn’t get this point: burning the Quran is a fundamental test of *Muslim* tolerance, not of our own. If Muslims peacefully protest, which is completely their right, Muslims can be equal partners with all other religions in building a tolerant and free future for humanity.
But if they repeatedly act like savages upon seeing an act of — in their eyes — blasphemy, we know that Islam is simply one more doctrine of totalitarianism that needs to be defeated, much like Nazism and Communism.
A violent Muslim response, in other words, shows that Islam is the enemy after all.
pampl // Sep 8, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Really? So if I burn a Bible and it makes some third world mob turn violent, it means Christianity is the enemy, right? Or is your idiotic “test” only applicable to Islam?
Rob_654 // Sep 8, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Of course many of the same people who express no problem with burning the Koran are many of the same people who freak out when the United States flag if set on fire or stepped on in mud – and you can only imagine their horror if someone decided to have a Holy Bible Bonfire.
The only question about “Christians” burning the Koran is:
- Would Jesus pick up a lighter and start torching copies of the Koran himself?
If you believe so that is an interesting view of what Jesus stood for.
If not, then anyone who does is not walking in the steps of Jesus.
ProfNickD // Sep 8, 2010 at 9:19 pm
pampl,
Perhaps you’ve been missing the commentary by the Bill Mahers, Larry Davids, and Conan O’Briens of cable tv, the books by Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins, movies like The Life of Brian, The Last Temptation of Christ, Dogma, and the acts of stand-up comedians on Friday nights anywhere in America but I have some news for you: Christianity is blasphemed and criticized all the time and… no Christian mobs burning things and killing people.
Christians do not saw off heads of their critics; nor, for that matter, do Hindus, Jews, Mormons, Buddhists or any other major religion.
It is Islam that responds to blasphemy with violence and no other religion in the contemporary world. It is only in the fantasy of the multicultural Left that Christians engage in terror, mayhem, and 7th century levels of savagery.
BloggyBayou // Sep 8, 2010 at 9:58 pm
CNN/Time: Either Do An Honest Poll In Florida Governor and Senate Races or I’ll Burn This Comic Book
http://www.practicalstate.com/?p=2369
Cheers
anniemargret // Sep 8, 2010 at 10:31 pm
profnickd: You make good points. But you are forgetting one thing. As we speak, some American soldier somewhere is dodging bullets and IEDs and/or getting the arms and legs blown off, or becoming slowly mentally deranged. Because we are there to ‘win hearts and minds.’
To support any American who claims patriotism and fly the flag and then deliberately provokes animosity is not just foolish, they are giving our American soldiers even more stress than they are already under.
I don’t give a fig what their ‘rights’ are…if they doing anything to undermine these young men and women then they should be given their just due… scorn and contempt.
anniemargret // Sep 8, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Romney is correct. We are not a third world country. We are the US of A and we can learn tolerance and reject hate. Everytime those twin morons, Beck and Palin get up and fuel the fires of suspicion, hate and prejudice, they undermine everything this country stands for. Islam may have to go through their own convulsions and civil wars and self-analysis before they turn from violence as the first resort.
In the meantime, we continue to do what we always have done. And that is to be the shining beacon of hope and intelligence and tolerance before the world.
Carney // Sep 8, 2010 at 11:53 pm
anniemargaret, while I think Romney needs to be dignified and statesmanlike and I’m glad he chose to be, and while the First Amendment clearly protects Muslims’ freedom of worship here, our having allowed demographically significant numbers of them into America was idiotic. If you are truly worried about America becoming more and more like a Third World country, then you should oppose mass immigration from the Third World.
pampl // Sep 9, 2010 at 12:29 am
ProfNickD maybe you shouldn’t try to talk authoritatively about religion when all you know of it is what your conservative cocoon wants you to think. Out here in reality, Hindus are rioting and executing Muslims in India, Christians are executing blasphemers in Africa, and one of the world’s worst genocides was perpetrated by Christians against Muslims. Of course, as long we’re looking at genocides, the worst in history were committed by Christians and atheists against people of other religions, so you really don’t have a leg to stand on.
Rabiner // Sep 9, 2010 at 1:42 am
ProfNickD:
I don’t understand how you can be so ignorant of recent world events regarding genocide and civil uprisings related to religions. As Pampl mentioned it was a Christian Serbia that went to kill Albanian Muslims in Kosovo. Not to mention other acts like Christian Russia in a civil war against Muslim Chechnya and demolishing the capital of Grozny. This happened not more than two decades ago and yet you plead ignorance as though Christians are incapable of such acts. Muslims aren’t the only crazy ones.
anniemargret // Sep 9, 2010 at 7:56 am
Anyone with intellectual honesty will know that if a bunch of American Muslims got together to rise up and burn hundreds of Bibles, there will be Christians with guns showing up at the burning.
This whole ‘he’s worse than I am’ argument is not the point. Sure, this ‘pastor’ has the right to say what he wants, or do something that will insult and inflame another’s race or creed. But he is deliberately ignoring the pleas of the military, and of the general, who is warning retalitation aginst our troops not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in other areas where American troops are based, of violence directed towards them.
In short, the ‘pastor’ is opening up a powder keg. He doesn’t care. Christ was the Prince of Peace. He was the God of forgiveness and love and peace. His name is being distorted by so-called ‘Christians’ in this country who feel the need to feel superior to anyone not embracing their brand of theology .
Whether or not the insulted party reacts with violence or contained outrage is not the point . The point is our troops will have an even nastier job of it to face, because this moron needs to prove his point and save face.
anniemargret // Sep 9, 2010 at 8:30 am
carney: I oppose illegal immigration. I don’t care if they are Canadians, Muslims, French, or Mexicans.
On the other hand, I am totally and utterly disgusted by what passes off for ’solutions’ from the right and left. And I hate what has happened to Americans that now they are embracing anti-minority hate and suspicion.
There are always better solutions but it will require grown-ups who can put down the sticks and stones and ugly words.
There has to be a comprehensive illegal immigration bill passed by both Democrats and Republicans. We need to stop illegal immigration at the borders. We need to show more contempt for morons like Beck, Palin, Bachmann and the Limbaugh who use their bully pulpits to spew antagonism, fear, suspicion and hate while making big bucks doing so.
And we need to show the world we have tolerance for miniorites be they cultural or religious. There are thousands of Americans who call themselves agnostics and atheists. They are ‘unchurched’ – what’s next, more bigotry against them too while giving lip service to freedom for all?
If the pastor wants to prove he’s a moron, he can. But we can also respond with contempt. It is not just the Muslims he is insulting worldwide . He is ignoring the very religious principles he pretends to hold dear, causing people who are not Christian to have a very distorted view of it. He is also blatantly ignoring the plea of our military general speaking for our soldiers. That’s a serious issue unto itself.
abj // Sep 9, 2010 at 9:06 am
anniemargret –
Very well said, on all points. I was going to jump into the fray but…I don’t think I have anything to add. You’ve articulated my sentiments pretty well. Reasonable people can disagree, and I disagree with you often on this board – but this pastor’s actions are simply indefensible on every level.
Fairy Hardcastle // Sep 9, 2010 at 9:30 am
“Christian Russia?” Wow, they are about as Christian as our President. Please do elaborate with citations to the Russian constitution, federal law etc. that show Russians believe in Christ as the Savior.
So with the exception of ProfNikD, everyone seems to agree that is never right to criticize the Prophet. You see it will never be the case that some Muslim who is offended by criticism cannot get to either a soldier or a civilian. Ok, so some of you think it is ok to criticize the Prophet. Well, when, where and how? How about a cartoon drawing of the Prophet? Cartoons have a long history in America. Are we supposed to stop that too? Are people saying that we cannot criticize ever any religion?
Pointing to instances where other religions, such as Christianity, may have influenced people to kill people of another religion is irrelevant. Criticize Christianity too then! Put the crucifix in urine upside down, draw pictures of evil priests, actually torture and put people to death (ok wait a minute not the last one even though that is what happened to Christ).
It is quite beyond me that free speech loving liberals are saying it is always wrong to criticize Islam.
abj // Sep 9, 2010 at 9:49 am
Fairy,
Um….ever heard of the Russian Orthodox Church? Russians have always, in general, been pretty religious – even during the Soviet years.
And nice straw man here: “everyone seems to agree that is never right to criticize the Prophet.” I don’t believe anyone posting above has said this. Rather, people are saying – don’t do needlessly stupid things that may put our troops at risk and pointlessly anger an entire religion. It’s interesting that those who argued against building the mosque in Manhattan were so obsessed with sensitivity, and yet appear to have little regard for sensitivities of Muslims.
ProfNickD // Sep 9, 2010 at 11:03 am
pampl and rabiner,
Funny you should bring up the Bosnian civil war as an example of “Christian” slaughter — I was going to use it as a counter-factual:
The Bosnian civil war had very little to do with religion, but a whole lot to do with nationalist/tribal hatreds. The comparable case is the Rwandan genocide — one tribe slaughtering another in fear/hatred of The Other.
Put another way: for you to claim that the Bosnian civil war involved genocide by Christians (and I do, btw, believe that genocide did occur) you have to demonstrate that Christians were involved in it, not just by vaguely asserting that “white Europeans” = “Christian.” You would have to show, for example, that Milosevic is the head of a Christian state, with the public and unambiguous backing of the Orthodox Christian religious authorities, and, most importantly, was employing unambiguously Christian legal/religious doctrines to justify the war.
Besides, I thought Milosevic was a communist. “Godless communists” aren’t Christians, by definition.
In terms of Putin and Chechnya: again, Putin is hardly a Christian head-of-state, backed by Christian legal authorities, and employing unambiguously Christian legal doctrines. It should be noted, however, that the Chechens, unlike the Bosnian Muslims, were acting under Islamic legal doctrines, and, indeed, loudly and proudly proclaimed them. The Chechens wanted to set-up a sharia-compliant state, while the Bosnian Muslims were barely even Islamic — they certainly didn’t employ Islamic doctrines like the Chechens did.
(As for Hindu mobs killing Muslims: no, that was a scene in a movie, Slumdog Millionaire. Muslims in India have nothing to fear from the Hindus. The reverse, however, is not likewise true.)
I invite you both to step back for a moment and consider: where is the worldwide Christian religious movement that is engaged in military combat and mob violence that is supported by the Christian religious authorities, Christian politicians, Christian monied elites, Christian media sources, and Christian schools and centers of religious thought; that sees legions of young Christian jihadists flocking to the fight to bomb, behead, and slaughter; that results in thousands of deadly attacks that have killed tens of thousands in just the last few years; and that clearly identifies specific Christian doctrines in its mission?
Carney // Sep 9, 2010 at 11:11 am
Anniemargaret, I never mentioned illegal immigration.
I’m talking about mass immigration, demographically significant immigration, from the Muslim world or the rest of the Third World.
easton // Sep 9, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Carney, what to you is the third world? You can’t honestly believe that Mexico is the third world, can you? And China graduates nearly as many engineers per year as we have engineers in total. Some of the world’s greatest minds are in China, you don’t want them because the country is classified as the third world?
And what about Filipinos? Have you ever noticed how many are in our health care field doing things Americans are far too stupid to do, or lazy? To give you an example, my wife is Chinese, she went to Nursing school in the states, she graduated at the top of her class even though English is her second language and she was not a very good student in China. Within her graduating class were many Filipinos, also people whose second language is English. These are the people who work in nursing homes cleaning up old people’s bowel movements, bathing them, taking care of them. Do you want to do it? Is it “beneath” you? Without these immigrants from the 3rd world, you would have to do it all yourself, or would have to do with substandard care when you become elderly (unless you want to burden your own children to change you, feed you, bathe you)
You can’t oppose immigration from the 3rd world when you understand the needs they fill in America (by the way, you want to work picking crops in Caliexico, California?)
CO Independent // Sep 9, 2010 at 12:59 pm
This entire spectacle is an artifact of the media. This pastor’s congregation numbers about 50 disaffected losers in northern FL. If we simply ignore him the whole thing goes away.
@anniemargret:
There is a rich history of muslims burning bibles and destroying churches and religious artifacts, and there has been no reaction whatsoever in the US. See, for example:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/285123/christians_in_gaza_fear_for_their_lives.html
>> In short, the ‘pastor’ is opening up a powder keg. He doesn’t care. Christ was the Prince of Peace. He was the God of forgiveness and love and peace. His name is being distorted by so-called ‘Christians’ in this country who feel the need to feel superior to anyone not embracing their brand of theology .
Get a grip. I am unaware of a single mainstream Christian organization which has come out in support of this Pastor or his stupid stunt. To the contrary, every mainstream Christian organization has condemned this little publicity play. There is simply no support for this in American culture, even in secular culture. I am betting that fewer than 20 people will show up at his little book burning, excluding the hundreds of media who will be there to broadcast the event.
Now if we were burning flags or bibles–that would be a completely different story. Every lefty in the country would be screeching about his First Amendment rights.
@Prof:
Give it up. It is a futile effort. You are correct. Christians fight wars, but they no longer fight religious wars. You can cite all the facts you want to buttress your position but lefties won’t listen. It is part and parcel of the anti-Christian bias of the modern American left to attribute any act of violence committed by someone of European ancestry to the Christian church. God makes us speed, and Jesus commands that we run stop signs.
pampl // Sep 9, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever read someone so spectacularly misinformed as the good Professor. No, Doc, it wasn’t just a scene in a movie. Try reading a newspaper sometime. Mosques in India have been getting burned to the ground. As for the rest of your blather, it’s the same intellectually dishonest garbage I had predicted so I see no reason to respond to it- I refuted it in advance.