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Business As Usual

When isn’t the Muslim world inflamed?

When word got out in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif last weekend that a Florida pastor had burned a copy of the Koran, a mob gathered in the streets and violence has ensued over the past several days resulting thus far in the deaths of 22 civilians including seven UN workers.

Let us not minimize the significance of burning a Koran. It is holy to millions of people the world over. Setting a Koran aflame is an exceedingly stupid thing to do whether or not it results in a violent response because it casts aspersions on all Muslims regardless of their behavior. After all, most observant Muslims manage to go through life without killing another human being.

So once again the Muslim world is inflamed. But then again when isn’t the Muslim world inflamed? Of course, most of us remember the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie following the publication of The Satanic Verses. While Rushdie is still walking this earth more than two decades after the fatwa was issued, the same cannot be said of Hitoshi Igarashi. If his name isn’t familiar it ought to be. Igarashi was the man who translated The Satanic Verses into Japanese and because of it he was stabbed to death in July 1991. And in case you think the Muslim world has forgotten about Rushdie, there were renewed calls for his death in 2007 when it was announced he would be knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

Remember when authorities in Sudan accused an English schoolteacher named Gillian Gibbons of blaspheming Islam because the children in her class named a teddy bear Mohammed? She was sent to jail and was due to receive forty lashes until international pressure was brought to bear against the Sudanese government, which released her from jail and deported her back to Britain.

Remember the Danish cartoon controversy? In January 2010, nearly four years after the cartoons of Mohammed were published in Jyllands-Posten, a Somali man broke into the home of Kurt Westergaard, the man who drew Mohammed, with the intent of killing him. Fortunately, Danish police were able to thwart the attack and Westergaard was unharmed.

Theo Van Gogh wasn’t so lucky. In November 2004, he was murdered in broad daylight in the streets of Amsterdam because of his documentary film Submission,which documented violence against women in the Muslim world. Remember what Van Gogh’s murderer, Mohammed Bouyeri, said to his mother in a Dutch courtroom? Bouyeri said to her face that he felt no sympathy for her because he deemed her a non-believer. Van Gogh collaborated on this project with former Dutch Member of Parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali who to this very day is under 24 hour protection?

Speaking of violence against women in the Muslim world, it was in January of this year that a14-year-old girl named Hena Akhter was executed in Bangladesh for having been raped. Yet in the eyes of Sharia law and the Muslim village council who upheld it she was nothing more than an adulterer who brought dishonor to both her family and to her village.

Let’s suppose for a moment that the Koran hadn’t been burned in that Florida church. Does anyone think it would have abated the anger in the Muslim world one iota? If there are Muslims who are prepared to kill someone for translating a book (let alone writing one); for drawing a cartoon; for making a film; for naming a stuffed animal or for being forced to have sex then something is very horribly wrong with how Islam is presently being practiced. In what other religion would such behavior be tolerated much less sanctioned?

Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fact a Koran was burned inside a Christian house of worship on our soil. As such I would think that it is reasonable to expect Muslims to be displeased with such an act. But I also think it is reasonable to expect Muslims to express their displeasure without committing acts of violence or calling for grievous harm to be done unto others. I think it is fairly safe to say that most American Christians think that burning Korans is a bad thing. With that in mind I further think it to be reasonable to expect Muslims to condemn their fellow Muslims when they commit acts of religious desecration such as when the Iranian regime recently burned 300 copies of the New Testament.

About the Author

Aaron Goldstein writes from Boston, Massachusetts.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (85) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Brian Mc| 4.6.11 @ 6:27AM

"Reasonable" has never been a word I'd associate with Jihad, Aaron. It is contrary to the whole concept of Islam.

Robbins Mitchell| 4.6.11 @ 6:41AM

“Yea,we’re such primitive cretinous barbarians that we can be emotionally manipulated like children…and when we heard that this redneck nobody preacher had burned one of our precious korans.well,we just reverted to being the reptile brained predators that we are and just did what comes naturally…we killed a bunch of innocent 3d party civilians”

John Daniel| 4.6.11 @ 6:57AM

Don't ya know...The Religion of Peace.

FastJohnny| 4.6.11 @ 7:29AM

Look, it doesn't take a Koran burning to set the Muslim world aflame and it is not just the extremists either. I mean, look at Egypt and the recent murders of the Coptics and the Jewish family and the subsequent rejoicing among those of the muslim faith. Just two very recent examples of the anger that is manifest in the muslim faith in general. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge about history can tell you that this has been going on for centuries. Why is it that everyone, especially the liberal apologists, tend to ignore the obvious pathology that exists. Wake up, everyone. An old Native American proverb, explains this ignorance very well:

"You can not wake a person who is pretending to be asleep."

tatosian| 4.6.11 @ 7:36AM

If, as you say, the greater number of Muslims feel the violent response to Koran burning to be an aspersion against them all, why does the violence continue? Why is it so predictable?

One might also ask why the violence against Christians throughout the Muslim world, including the new democracy in Egypt, is so drearily predictable. And so pointedly ignored by those same Muslims. (And also the West)

Surely there must be something in the Muslim handbook that encourages those long suffering and maligned Muslims to countenance that savagery against non believers right? How can it be otherwise

The Muslims do not inhabit this earth alone. We are under no obligation to honor an ideology that so readily and uniformly dishonors and destroys those who do not share their beliefs.

That being the case, that handbook should be burned on street corners, study halls and impromptu gatherings across this free land.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related

Richard Baker| 4.6.11 @ 7:59AM

As part of the equation with Moslems, expect them to be "inflamed" by just about anything. As an example, I'm surprised that they aren't "inflamed" by flush toilets, gasoline, or Mercedes-Benz. After all, these are non-Islamic "Western" ideas/products. What a great mob of illiterates manipulated by imams, mullahs, and ayatollahs these heathens are.

jjmurphy | 4.6.11 @ 8:00AM

When I was young I new nothing about islam other than it was some weird religion over in the Middle East. Over the decades I watched, and learned. I don't need the "elites" telling me it is a religion of peace, or there are only a few "islamic terrorists". I have come to know that islam is a despicable cult of death and destruction and possibly the worst influence in our world today.

I love books and would never burn one, BUT if ever there was a book that deserved to be burned, the koran is it.

I am sickened that muslims can burn our flag, burn our "leaders" in effigy, burn churches, synagogues and bibles and no one blinks an eye (which is the proper response - let them act like ill-mannered children), yet let one person burn a koran and they go bat-crazy and start killing and burning.

Islam is the cause of this insanity, not us.

Dee See| 4.6.11 @ 8:03AM

"We are using MASSIVE third world
(largely muslim) immigration to destroy
British culture once and for all ---forever."
-TONY BLAIR
(leaked interview cited by ALAN WATT)

Good Islam, BAD islam. The Globalist EUGENICS borg just can't seem to decide.

Martin Owens| 4.6.11 @ 8:12AM

Remember the old Aesop's fable about the wolf accusing the lamb: when the lamb had successfully refuted all the wolf's bogus accusations, the wolf simply said: " all right- YOU're guilty 'case I'M hungry!" Leap, snap.
Nothing that Islam hasn't done before, nothing they wouldn't do today if they could.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.6.11 @ 8:13AM

Hey folks,
Do any of you happen to know the muslim...all muslims..."final fall-back position".

When backed into a corner...each and every one of them swell up and tell you that the Koran cannot, cannot be understood in any language but Arabic.
Yep!
Why is it then that there is NO orthodoxy, no pope, and no agreement or consensus among the thousands of mullahs and imams?

They don't even have any 'profession of faith', but rather a "declaration" ie: "There is no god but Allah...and mohamed is His prophet."

Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 4.6.11 @ 8:40AM

It's Wednesday, right? Well then it's time to issue a fatwa!! Tomorrow they'll declare jihad again, like they always do on Thursdays. Friday, just after prayers, it's off to the U.S. Embassy to burn the President in effigy (and the U.S. Flag, of course). Saturday, they'll burn all the Infidel's cars in Paris. Sunday they'll hit the links, and behead some Infidel Golfers. Monday it's time to stone to death somebody who told a killer joke about Mohammed (Mohammed and a Rabbi walk into a bar,...). Tuesday, what they hell happens on Tuesdays? I don't know, I think they go to work on Tuesday? I'm not sure!! Then it's back to Wednesday, and it's time to issue a fatwa again. It gets kind of old doesn't it? And if you declare Jihad every week, it kind of takes the sting off the threat. But hey, what do I know, I'm just a Infidel, who doesn't believe in their Moon God.

Louis Jenkins| 4.6.11 @ 8:54AM

Female troopers in Afgahnistan are strongly suggested to wear the burka. Why? They'd get the lash or worse if caught out in public by the peaceful male worshippers. Burn a Koran and you'll get the lash or worse if caught by the Koran worshippers. Draw a cartoon, write a book, whatever, and if you're a non-believer you get canned. Meanwhile, the cultured, westernized leaders say this is a religion of peace? Give me a break. There's one problem though for these worshippers of peace. If they go to Fla. to kill a Baptist minister there may be a few of them taken out too. The only protection one needs against these Muslim hooligans is a 45 cal. Colt. Thank goodness we still have the right to defend ourselves and our family. God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our personal arms.

Stormzeye| 4.6.11 @ 9:03AM

At the heart of Judaism is "The Law"; at the heart of Christianity is "Love"; at the heart of Islam is "The Sword".
Islam means "submission". Conversion is offered to the conquered with the alternative being servitude in "dhimmi" status. This "religion" is practiced through domination; on a family level with women and on a global level with infidels. It is more concerned with the material world than the spiritual world. As a "way of life" rather than as a profession of faith it lacks, in my opinion, a theology and therefore is not a religion as such.

Booger | 4.6.11 @ 9:04AM

Why does every commentator feel the urge to stress that burning a koran is stupid, etc.? Because mohammedans view it as a holy book? The insistence of placing this caveat in front of any article dealing with the behavior of the followers of the pedophile false prophet mohammed (may his camel be ever horny and behind him) is ridiculous. The mohemmedans will always have their turbans in a wad, and as they have their heads up their ****** it gets uncomfortable for them. A religion that justifies pedophilia, rape, murder and theft is unworthy of any respect whatsoever. Just remember, however, that a koran wrapped in bacon and slow roasted over an apple-wood fire is far tastier than one that's completely burnt.

Bob Miller| 4.6.11 @ 9:10AM

Even if he has total freedom, a person has to set his priorities. What makes some exhibitionist loon want to waste his time burning a Koran? He wants his millisecond of fame.

John| 4.6.11 @ 9:32AM

Muslims in the entire history have never desecrates the holy books of christain, Jews . What this priest did was deeply offensive to Muslims. The reaction in Afghanistan has everything to do with the US occupation and drone holocaust. I except that the priest does not represent all christains. but the brutal US occupations and continued support of apartheid in ME has made many Muslims rightly opposed to US foreign policy. However US hegemony in ME & other parts of the world is coming to an end- the coffers are definitely empty. We may have a saner world. Amen to that.

Bill Sundling| 4.6.11 @ 9:33AM

There's something horribly wrong with ISLAM. Radicals are practicing it the way the Koran was written.
“Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them.” Koran 2:191
“Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood.” Koran 9:123
“When opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them.” Koran 9:5
“Any religion other than Islam is not acceptable.” Koran 3:85
“The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them.” Koran 9:30
“Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam” Koran 5:33
“The infidels are unclean; do not let them into a mosque.” Koran 9:28
“Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies.” Koran 22:19
“Do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them.” Koran 47:4
“The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them.” Koran 8:65
“Muslims must not take the infidels as friends.” Koran 3:28
“Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.” Koran 8:12
“Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels.” Koran 8:60

John Navratil| 4.6.11 @ 9:35AM

Booger,

The reason that it is not sensible to burn the Koran is that the result is so expectable. My complaint with the good pastor is that his actions had consequences for others which he knew he would not suffer. If he wants to burn a Koran, do so it Cairo or Tehran. That'll show them.

It's also in bad taste, like suspending a crucifix in urine. Giving such offence doesn't persuade anyone of anything.

Of course, Lindsey Graham has it completely backwards when he suggested the government ought to have something to say on the topic. If the pastor is not free to burn a Koran, none of us are free.

David W| 4.6.11 @ 10:07AM

Now I know why they have removed the "reply" function. After reading the comment from:
John| 4.6.11 @ 9:32AM
I can imagine there would be a large number of comments regarding the stupidity of this comment. Come on, "Muslims in the entire history have never desecrates the holy books of christain, Jews"? They burn churches, burn books, burn people who are Christian and Jews (or aren't they muslims?). Do you not even watch the news on the mainstream media or read newspapers? If the US were to leave Iraq and Afghanistan, if all US military were to leave every "muslim" country and if the US were to sell out Israel (which Obama is doing nicely) they would still hate us. After all, Osama bin Ladin has already called us to islam. We now only have three choices - become muslim, accept second-class/subservient existance, or fight. Ignorance doesn't even begin to describe this person.

hunter| 4.6.11 @ 10:08AM

This is the reason their people are still groveling around in the dust of the 7th century. Like mad snarling dogs, they can't even get along with each other. They should be reconized for what they are and treated as such, inhumane, manics.

tatosian| 4.6.11 @ 10:13AM

One of the concerns expressed by Goldstein, McCarthy and others seems to be the suffering experienced by the ever elusive (mythological) "Moderate Muslim" that results from any overt anti Islamic activity. Like the MoToons and the Koran burnings.

By definition, a moderate Muslim would seem to be a Muslim that doesn't actively engage in activities that result in the death of non believers or the undermining and destruction of non Muslim societies and belief systems.

McCarthy and others insist we need the help of those Moderate Muslims in fighting the very Islamic ideology that those moderate Muslims themselves adhere to.

Isn't that a bit like seeking help from "moderates" inside Planned Parenthood in stopping the slaughter of innocents? Or seeking help in stopping illegal immigration from "moderate" illegal aliens? Or asking the moderates amongst the myriad of PC proponents to help us end the insanity of political correctness?

Surely you jest.

David W-- Don't waste your time with the John troll.

Turn Right| 4.6.11 @ 10:18AM

Why do the Muslims riot when a pastor burns a Koran when that is exactly what Muslim Imams would do? You see, only an Arabic language Koran is valid, and a Koran printed in English is haram. Real Muslims want them all burned. So this pastor was doing the radical Muslim’s work for them. Unfortunately, this pastor doesn’t seem to be doing his own work. He should have lit a fire to illuminate the Bible instead of lighting a fire to inflame radicals.

tatosian| 4.6.11 @ 10:23AM

The mere state of disbelief in the Islamic ideology is enough to inflame Islamic radicals.

Allah and Mohammed deem it to be so.

Anthony| 4.6.11 @ 10:43AM

"No insult, no matter how trivial or insignificant, shall not go unpunished". If this phrase doesn't appear in the Koran, it should.
So, we now know the answer to the age old question; if an insignificant pastor in a small Florida town burns a Koran, does the entire Middle East burst into flames?
Yet the left and weak kneed RINOs still attempt to appease these 7th Century fanatics. Twenty two dead over a burned Koran in Florida, no wonder Islam is the favorite religion of the radical left. They think exactly the same way, irrational.
I think as a gesture of good will we should send Lindsey Graham to Afghanistan to be stoned by this same mob as penance for the sins of the Great Satan.
That will shut the bigots up, right Lindsey, you pathetic moron?

Anthony| 4.6.11 @ 10:55AM

Booger, A great question, but you already know the answer. All writers and commentators are compelled by an overriding sense of wanting to appear reasonable, fair and openminded, hence the idiotic disclaimer.

John Navratil| 4.6.11 @ 11:02AM

Anthony,

If the pastor wants to go over to burn a Koran in Islamabad, I'll help him by the ticket. I stand by my earlier post.

Teaghan| 4.6.11 @ 11:06AM

Where are the comment boxes after each post?

tatosian| 4.6.11 @ 11:14AM

Good question...

cicero| 4.6.11 @ 11:19AM

We seem to be going about this all the wrong way. It is axiomatic that you get more of what you subsidize. If we stopped with the foreign aid, the sellling of weapons to people who do not have the skills or manufacturing capability to make their own, and pay them solely for the oil concessions (they do not have the expertise to drill their own), they will be relagated to seeing how well they do underd their own systems. Bailing them out whenever they decide to endulge in what they do for regime change - killing matches - is folly. Importing them into our back yards is suicide.
I recommend the reading of Kipling's "White Mans' Burden" on at least a weekly basis.

ABNCP| 4.6.11 @ 11:20AM

Sept 11 New York, United States of America, over 3,000 people, Americans and other nationalities were murdred. Muslims around the world danced with joy in their streets. Who can ever forget those pictures. That tells anyone everything they need to know about the Muslim so called religion.

Paevo| 4.6.11 @ 11:24AM

Muslims kill you if you don't bow to their religion of peace...

John| 4.6.11 @ 12:16PM

Islam in its entire history has only preached goodness and the moderate path in all things. The prophet said that the closest to the believers are the christains. But he urged his followers to eat with Jews because they keep the kosher laws. no doubt Islamic history has had a few low moments in an ocean of peace but compared to the brutality of the west the Muslims are saints. on any measure Islam is a peaceful discourse in theory and practice. If you like monotheism then only in Islam will you will find salvation. Islam is not a new religion - it is the goodness found in all faiths. For example I would hapily be called a monotheistic christain because that in essense is Islam. Quoting the Quran out of context will get you nowhere. The minor skirmishes at the time of the prophet probably constitute no more than a good night of drone attcks in Afghanistan. The fact that you're trying to make more of them exposes your hate fest.

davelnaf| 4.6.11 @ 12:30PM

Although most Muslims are not the human equivalent of animals, so many of the poor ones are that it’s safe to say that we will be seeing a lot more of this type of homicidal behavior. Most Westerners seem unable to grasp how appallingly unenlightened the average poor Muslim is and you don’t necessarily have to go to places like Afghanistan to find one. The poor Muslim type is the immigrant of choice for European elites. America may be a different story, but the occasional news item about Muslims trying to seek some kind of political or legal advantage for their religious beliefs shows that we are allowing in only a more sophisticated version of the same problem.

It is a testament to the incompetence of the American political class, in particular the current occupant of the White House, that a partial solution to insulating ourselves from Islam, particularly its homicidal variant, is not being pursued more vigorously, which is increased drilling for domestic oil. Arab oil wealth fuels our involvement with emotionally and intellectually backward Muslims. Take away the oil card they play against us with a vengeance and we might even be less inclined to go along with the foreign adventures like the current Libyan effort.

GSR| 4.6.11 @ 12:31PM

I think the Muslim world is right to be upset. As long as we in the West continue to steal their oil, back dictators who abuse people, help Israel slaughter them, prevent them from getting the weapons to protect themselves there will be anger.

The Muslims are still less violent than their Christians counterparts (such as the millions killed in Congo or Rwanda that get no mention) or Kenya (where thousands were recently murdered following corrupt elections)

Heck, I would take the proud and moral Egyptian protestors (demanding dignity and democracy) over the Tea Party lunatics (complaining about Obama 'The secret Muslim Marxist' or 'black helicopters' or 'Communism', etc.). At least the Egyptians are not brainwashed paranoid hate-filled racists like the Tea Party freaks!!!!

Steve A| 4.6.11 @ 12:32PM

John, Nice try. Go sell it womewhere else pal.

If Iran had the US military at its disposal, we would all be rolling out our prayer rugs daily or face the machette. You need to get a grip.

GSR| 4.6.11 @ 12:39PM

And by the way ABNCP: The people dancing were five Israeli military personnel who worked for a moving company with a camera aimed at the World Trade Center from New Jersey.

Typical ignoranus. Strong opinion but no fact!!!!

Steve A| 4.6.11 @ 12:54PM

GSR, Wow, I was not aware that Israeli military were fat, overweight females who wear the black habib & do the tongue rattle.

simon templar| 4.6.11 @ 12:59PM

GSR:
What parallel universe do you come from or are you just mentally disturbed? Think? No, you don't think....maybe you and John can get together and move to one of these wonderful "heaven on earth" countries. I give you a your useful idiot heads off.week before they cut

Steve A| 4.6.11 @ 1:00PM

GSR, I hereby nominate you to volunteer for a human shield job opening in Tripoli.

Job requirements:

1: You must hate America.
2: No war for oil believer.
3: Bush lied, people died.
4: Low IQ

You are a lock for the job.

simon templar| 4.6.11 @ 1:01PM

The last line correction.....I give you a week before they cut your useful idiots heads off.

Anthony| 4.6.11 @ 1:53PM

John, I share your point as well. Yes, this moron's actions do have consequences that affect others, but how absurd is it that this small action in Florida produces 22 deaths half a world away?
The Muslim reaction is so disproportionate to the act, so as to lead to no other conclusion that these people are truly insane fanatics.
I'll send $10 for his ticket to Afghanstan as well, perhaps on South West Airlines with a convertible top.

Anthony| 4.6.11 @ 1:55PM

Occam's Tool| 4.6.11 @ 2:11PM

Dear John,

Muslims all the time desecrate the places of worship and holy texts of Chriatians and Jews. Get over yourself, man.

toze| 5.2.11 @ 5:44AM

It is with great sadness that I read all this hatemongering. As a humanitarian aid worker I have spent the last four years surrounded by Muslims. Some I don't like, but most have been very gracious to me and I have very good friends who practice Islam. The director of our security is Afghan/Canadian. To judge an entire religion by it's fanatics shows a lack of intelligence. To debase an entire group of people based on the actions of a few. None of you are correct about Muslims how do I know, I work with them, I live with them and I interact with them on a daily basis. It is sad that the internet allows people to be so anonymous that they feel justified in spreading rumors and engaging in hatemongering. I feel sad for you all. If you had any guts at all you would post with your real names and stand behind your opionions no matter how distorted or inane they are. Please look in the mirror before you start criticizing people of whom you have no knowledge. These type of posts make me feel embarrassed for America.

Occam's Tool| 4.6.11 @ 2:11PM

Sorry, "Christians."

R. Eads| 4.6.11 @ 2:12PM

John; The more you post on comments the more ignorance of muslims and history you exhibit. You are also a lousy speller!

WEB| 4.6.11 @ 2:17PM

Read "Islam Rising" by Jim Murk if you really want to understand the problem.

R. Eads| 4.6.11 @ 2:17PM

John and GSR are in reality the same idiot under different cover.

Paevo| 4.6.11 @ 2:33PM

"The current thinking is that since Muslims can't control themselves, we should limit our freedom in order to avoid offense. "
http://www.familysecuritymatte.....detail.asp

USSAlabama| 4.6.11 @ 2:48PM

They are the same person.

NEWS ALERT
In Saudi Arabia it is illegal to possess a bible and if one is found, their religious police burn them.

Some [trolls] are just SO ignorant, not even knowing the common things that go on in the world, too willing to display that lack of knowledge and try to defend it.

Pastor Jones| 4.6.11 @ 3:09PM

GSR should be submerged in a vat of urine along with the crucifix. There he could contemplate comparative religion.

tsd| 4.6.11 @ 3:41PM

An idiot Christian in Florida burns a Koran ( an inanimate object of paper and ink that represents the religious words of Muslims) and radical Muslims thousands of miles away kill innocent people who had nothing to do with the burning. A radical Muslim goes into a Muslim mosque and blows himself up, along with other Muslims, many Korans burn....to many Muslims with his point of view he is considered a hero. Please tell me how a civilized society can ever deal with these radical people. Set the religion aside, any people who think and act like this are pure and simple, hateful animals.

Impeach Don't Wait| 4.6.11 @ 3:49PM

I don't have the gonads to burn a "holy book," I'm too "considerate" of other peoples' feelings,... but SOMEBODY'S got to protest in SOME way, or these "reigious followers"--who play for keeps shall we say--will indeed rule the world because everybody stepped aside because they didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. The Christian scriptures do say that Christians WILL BE BEHEADED for their faith... and I'm pretty confident I know who will be doin' the beheadin' 'cause the stage is being set right now. Western societies need to be wise.

Impeach Don't Wait| 4.6.11 @ 4:00PM

"Unfortunately, this pastor doesn’t seem to be doing his own work. He should have lit a fire to illuminate the Bible instead of lighting a fire to inflame radicals."

Hey, Turn Right: So-o-o-o nicely stated. Gosh I love the way you wrote that!

Occam's Tool| 4.6.11 @ 4:18PM

Dear Steve A,

as everyone knows, the Mossad are masters of disguise. Not only do they masquerade as overweight ululation (I looked up the precise spelling, Steve A---you're worth it) prone burqa clad idiots, they also train sharks to attack Egyptian beaches and train squirrels to infiltrate Iran.

Thank G-d for patriots like GSR.

K962| 4.6.11 @ 4:28PM

The Koran is a book, period. Last week in Pakistan suicide bombers killed 50 odd people at a mosque. How many Korans were blown up with them? Where then is the outrage? This whole koran thing is just an excuse to kill the infidel!

Seek| 4.6.11 @ 4:50PM

Piety is overrated as a virtue -- and underrated as a vice. And Islamic piety is the worst kind. Hysterical infantile men. Has ever a single society succeeded under that rotten religion?

Dabnabit| 4.6.11 @ 5:02PM

If we are not allowed to show our displeasure freely, then it will only get worse. They are destroying their religion with these actions. A fatwa against all other religions will not succeed.

John II| 4.6.11 @ 5:23PM

Dear John:

Agreed. Islam is relidjun of piece. Islam allways nice--live with christain and jew and hindoo and boodist in harmoney. No Muslim ever make wife wear berka or kill sister or chop head off infidel or burn sinnagog or uther howse of wurship. Muslim wommin free. Free to worship Allah as Allah pleaze. Occam Tool an uthers say bad thing about Islam and holy kuran. Occam an uthers infidel, but Muslam never burn Occam an uthers. Muslum allways nice.

And now back to "El Cid" (1961), in which Herbert Lom plays a disagreeable Muslim fanatic. But those were the bad old days, before liberal enlightenment had taken hold.

John| 4.6.11 @ 6:04PM

the reaction in Afghanistan can only be understood in the context of the US occupation. Religious freedom is restricted in Saudi for both Muslims and non Muslims . 19 of the men who committed the 9/11 atrocity were Saudis . Most of the terror inflicted against America is funded by Saudi nationals. Saudi is also the closest American ally in ME. Americans need to reflect on this. And cut the house of saud loose. They're are brave Saudis fighting for freedom. America needs to support them.

simon templar| 4.6.11 @ 6:08PM

John II...I fell out of the chair laughing on that one....much appreciated! Well said!

LiveFreeOrDie| 4.6.11 @ 6:42PM

I'm inspired. I think I'll buy a copy of the K-ran on my way home tonight. Probably take it out to the backyard and defecate on it before soaking it in gasoline and torching it in front of a video camera. Look for my video on YouTube later tonight. This despicable book of lies is in no way, shape or form, "holy".

Then again, I wouldn't want to, "...casts aspersions on all Muslims..." that would be, uh, impolite. Guess I'll just go home and pray for them instead. (To the one and only, true God.)

Jeamar37| 4.6.11 @ 6:43PM

The author mentions the murdered Theo van Gogh's colleague who now lives in the US under fear of death from Islam's moderate wing. Read her book, "Ifidel" to see how the peaceful Muslims treat each other. They are barbarians and no hiding our heads in the sand to pretend this isn't a Holy War is suicidal. Part of the problem is that members of an increasingly secular Western society can't take a Holy War seriously. We had better. Our lives and future depend on it.

Jeamar37| 4.6.11 @ 6:44PM

PS: Should have mentioned "Infidel" is written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

George True| 4.6.11 @ 6:48PM

Rather than "burn a koran day" we need to start a "burn a koran EVERY day" movement. We need to burn korans publicly, every hour of every day, 24/7/365, in the public squares of cities and towns large and small all over this nation.

Then we need to start dipping all of our military ammunition in pig fat, and advertise that fact continuously. We also need to have our military adopt a practice of stuffing bacon or sausage into the mouths of dead jihadis, and/or wrapping them in pig entrails before burial.

We need to show the utmost disrespect, disdain, and disgust as possible for that satanic religion from hell.

Then we need to use our troops currently in Iraq and Afghanistan to invade Iran, destroy their Revolutionary guards, destroy their nuclear facilities, kill as many of their mad mullahs as we can find, and arm the pro-democracy opposition. Then bring all the troops home by way of Pakistan, and take all their nukes while we are passing through.

We need to support and build up Israel in every way possible, and we need to give them the green light to do whatever they need to do with regard to Gaza, the West bank, and Syria.

Then we need to send a communique to every arab/muslim country that if any nuke of any kind ever goes off in America, we will immediately nuke Mecca, no ifs ands or buts.

We also need to shut down every mosque in America, and expel every last muslim agitator within our borders. Then tell the remaining so-called "moderate" muslims that they are free to stay here and are free to practice their religion in the privacy of their own homes, but anything that looks the least bit like agitation on behalf of their religion or sharia will get them deported faster than they can say mohammed.

Ken (Old Texican)| 4.6.11 @ 6:48PM

John
I like the Saudi royals.

They enjoy Scot's whiskey with me. I lived there in Saudi Arabia, and occasionally they drop in my home here in Texas.
Their black-sheep are jihadists.
Conversely,
you, John, are a swine behind.

I throw swine blood upon you every time you show up here.

Thom| 4.6.11 @ 6:55PM

"When isn't the Muslim world inflamed?" Well the answer to that question over the long term is pretty much never. When Islam doesn’t have an external scapegoat to rage against they are pretty much full time killers of each other in trying to outdo one another in pleasing their murdering prophet. All one has to do is read the Koran to understand there is nothing in common with mainstream religious principles as most people see authentic religions. It is not a religion in the true sense of the word. It is an ideology just like Marxism, Fascism and all similar collectives bent on conquest. The Borg is pretty much what Islam promises the world when it ignores the true intentions of Islam.

John| 4.6.11 @ 8:10PM

very rude texan,
I'm glad to hear that the Saudi royals are your best friends. Which particular violation of human rights attracted you to them. The Saudi royals days are numbered. Freedom and democracy beacons in the deserts of Arabia. The times they're are a changing. Tyranny will not last. Racists and fanatics beware. May god guide us all to his final religion that completes the revelation to mankind. Amin.

USSAlabama| 4.6.11 @ 8:42PM

John II - hilarious! I am still laughing.

As for "John" - I never read his comments, and no one else should either. If you do, at least don't write an intelligent response.

Richard Baker| 4.6.11 @ 9:06PM

John:
That's Amen, knucklehead. It means "so be it." Freedom and democracy in Arabia? God, you really are stupid.

sablegsd| 4.6.11 @ 11:11PM

This Christian thinks every koran should be burned or thrown in the hog yard. People need to quit sucking up to these neanderthal cretins and their stone age book of hateful, intolerant government.

islam is NOT a religion and the book of evil is NOT holy.

Occam's Tool| 4.6.11 @ 11:24PM

Dear John II---I am honored to be part of your brilliant skewering. Hell, I'm honored to put a blog next to yours. Wow, Lom in El Cid, huh? I was just familiar with him as Inspector Dreyfuss.

Occam's Tool| 4.6.11 @ 11:25PM

Mr. True---why the hell aren't YOU running for POTUS?

Nate W.| 4.7.11 @ 1:14AM

I'm still in the dark; was this a North Koran or a South Koran that was burned?

Richard Baker| 4.7.11 @ 11:42AM

Jeamar37:
Read "Infidel" and was struck by the sheer level of intrusion by the Sharia happy-folks in her and others' lives. The Islamic crazies make liberals look almost benign, in comparison. "Religion of Peace" my foot.

LAGUY| 4.7.11 @ 2:53PM

"something is very horribly wrong with how Islam is presently being practiced."

No, Aaron, they are practising Islam quite correctly. The problem is with Islam itself. While Islam is practiced in the world, we will have no peace. And we all know it.

RCV| 4.7.11 @ 7:26PM

The hypocrisy of the Taliban sympathizers in Afghanistan is that, in supposed protest of the Qu'ran burning in Florida (for which I have nothing but contempt), they burned a girl's school down and in the process burned 20 Qu'rans which were in the classrooms. Their real target is human rights, and in particular, the right of young women in Afganhistan to have active, productive lives instead of being condemned to serve as the property of those thugs.

Zilla | 4.8.11 @ 3:24PM

Islamorageboys are perpetually offended, they cannot be appeased so there is no point in trying.
Aaron, I quoted from & linked to your post here at my blog:
http://zillablog.marezilla.com.....eedom.html

Peter Martin| 4.9.11 @ 2:53PM

Sen. Graham "reminds" us that we are at war. How very observant. Then it would follow that there should have been a prohibition on Mein Kampf burning during World War Two, no?

vladdy| 4.9.11 @ 9:42PM

"It's also in bad taste, like suspending a crucifix in urine. Giving such offence doesn't persuade anyone of anything."

Disagree. It is not comparable to a crucifix. The koran is a bloody, violent book with instructions about how to behead, stone, ostrasize,etc., anyone who isn't a muslim. As I am not a muslim, why should I consider it a book to be respected? We should not be dhimmis. It is okay to burn porn if you feel like it; well, the koran's full of pedophilia, rape,and torture porn. There's nothing holy about it -- just because someone says there is. So what? Many of us agree that it is just fine to destroy written instructions on how to kill and maim them.

And don't forget the slippery slope. If we respect murderers and their book enough to treat it as holy half way across the world, what's to stop muslims from demanding next that all the women here wear hijab? After all, that's something else "holy" to them -- shouldn't we respect it? And female genital mutilation?

No need to be PC about a totalitarian cult.

Nothing disgusting about burning a book of hate.

vladdy| 4.9.11 @ 9:48PM

Joh,you really believe there's a democracy
movement in the Middle East? That's baffling enough, but to follow it up with some garbled words about warning "racists." Huh?

vladdy| 4.9.11 @ 9:49PM

All apologies for leaving the "n" off your name, John.

The Old Chief| 4.10.11 @ 5:22PM

Many atrocities have been committed in the name of religion, although most Christians quit doing it around the 14th or 15th centuries. Muslims, however, haven't figured it out yet. I suspect if we isolated all islamic nations to one part of the world, they would eventually kill each other off and end the problem. Ya think?

Creative Recreation | 8.10.11 @ 10:43PM

is good

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