Pastor weighing plans to burn Qurans amid U.S. warnings

[SteamWake]

I dont get what they plan to accomplish by doing this other than pepole getting pissed off.

Kind of like the Mosque at ground zero.

Both are stupid ideas.

[tater]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

I dont get what they plan to accomplish by doing this other than pepole getting pissed off.

Kind of like the Mosque at ground zero.

Both are stupid ideas.

This.

Again, there is ZERO question that they are protected in their right to burn any book they like—by the same Amendment that protects the mosque-builder near the World Trade Center site. The question was never one of legality, but propriety. The difference is funny, actually. The mosque builder claimed it was a positive thing to build the mosque there—and it's not positive. The church nuts could only want to burn the koran to be offensive.

I can see good reason to burn some korans—simply to demonstrate that it is no different than any other book. It may be destroyed, and doing so is a protected right. How about burning it along with some bibles—heck, throw in some Richard Dawkins to make the fundies happy. The purpose would be freedom of expression, not anythign else.

[Platapus]

I don't agree with the premise of the following. but I do like the way he wrote his position.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9...ont-Burn-Books

Americans Don't Burn Books.

by jamesboyce

Tue Sep 07, 2010 at 0702 AM PDT

Enough is enough. Enough with the bigotry and the hate. Enough with the race-baiting and the fake debate about the Ground Zero Mosque. Enough of white Americans putting up fences to keep their fellow humans out. Enough of the birthers.




Enough is enough. Enough with the bigotry and the hate. Enough with the race-baiting and the fake debate about the Ground Zero Mosque. Enough of white Americans putting up fences to keep their fellow humans out. Enough of the birthers.


Enough of Christian hypocrites who thump their Bibles while denying men and women the right to marry the one they love. Enough of conservatives holding up the Constitution having never actually read it and preaching about one nation under God and also denying that every American has the right to worship the God of their choosing.


Enough of Progressives and Democrats who engage in these debates rather than attack these bigoted racist hypocrites. Enough of the hate-mongers getting all the attention and press.


You have to draw the line somewhere. Guess what? Now's the time.
You are entitled to your own opinion, after all, this is America and there is Freedom of Speech. But just as important, there is freedom of worship. Because of our freedoms, there, ironically, is the freedom to burn books. However.


Because we are Americans, because we defend and fight and preserve the right of free speech, because we have seen what happens in countries who don't defend these freedoms, we do not burn books. Let me repeat that.

Americans Don't Burn Books.


We print books that maybe you don't people want to read. We print books filled with hate. We print and print and print books of all kinds, but we don't burn books. By defending everyone's right to speak, we defend our right to speak. By defending everyone's right to their own religion, we defend our own right to our own religion.


We have gone to war with people who do burn books; Adolph Hitler comes to mind. Stalin. Pol Pot. There are others. Our military graveyards are full of the men and women who protected us, who gave their lives for us. Not one soldier has ever died, so we could burn books.


Americans Don't Burn Books.


And we especially don't burn the books of another person's religion.
You may or may not believe in the Bible, but if you think the Bible is the worst book in the world, as an American, you don't have to read it, you don't have to believe, no one can force you to or hold it against you if you don't, but you can not burn the Bible.


You may or may not believe in what is in the Torah. You may think the Torah is the worst book in the world, as an American, you don't have to read it, you don't have to believe it, no one can force you to, or hold it against you if you don't but you can not burn the Torah.


Buddhist books, Pagan books, Hindu books. You can't burn them.
And you can't burn the Koran.


You may or may not believe in what is in the Koran. You may think the Koran is the worst book in the world, as an American, you don't have to read it, you don't have to believe it, no one can force you to, or hold it against you if you don't but you can not burn the Koran.


I salute my friends at Human Rights First who are standing up against the bigots who would burn the Koran on 9/11

While I like how he felt, I still believe that people do have the right to burn books they own. Americans have the freedom to do many stupid and irrational things. While I find the idea of burning books stupid and irrational and abhorrent, I will support stupid and irrational people burning books that they own.

In the America I love, even the stupid people have rights.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Platapus

In the America I love, even the stupid people have rights.

That pretty much sums up my view on First Amendment rights.

I think the man SkyBird has posted often on this subject. He is correct.

[Factor]

I'll bring the marshmellows.......

[tater]

Originally Posted by Factor

I'll bring the marshmellows.......

I'd imagine the burning ink would give them a bad taste

Maybe they could burn eco-korans made with soy ink?

[Factor]

Originally Posted by tater

I'd imagine the burning ink would give them a bad taste

?

Yea, you are proberly right, I will just stay home. LOL Proberly a good idea too as I would not be a bit surprised if a group of radical muslims show up with bombs and machine guns.....

[tater]

I had trouble even reading that screed.

Bookstores have some period when they celebrate "banned books." Least they do here. My brother in law used to do the windows for the store he worked in to pay his way through college.

The United States doesn't ban books. True. That would be against the First Amendment. The government shall not...

The people, OTOH, they can do whatever the hell they feel like.

We have gone to war with people who do burn books; Adolph Hitler comes to mind. Stalin. Pol Pot. There are others.

He seems to miss the point that those are not people, they are States. A government burning books is entirely different than people burning books. A state compels people to burn books (or not own them) on pain of death or loss of liberty. That's all the difference in the world.

Wonder how the kos people reacted to the artistic equivalent of burning the koran—putting a cross in a jar of piss, for example? I'd be interested to know, since the left can always be counted on to defend first principles for Islam, but never for the religion they really hate, Christianity.

Note I have no dog in the fight, being an atheist.

[Bilge_Rat]

I was thinking of joining in the debate, but I think Platapus sums it up:

Originally Posted by Platapus

In the America I love, even the stupid people have rights.

carry on...