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Clergy of many faiths came together in Gainesville, Florida today to speak out about the planned burning of the Quran. A press conference was held on the steps of City Hall at noon. Rev. Larry Reimer of United Church of Gainesville opened the press conference and then representatives of various faith communities came forward to make statements.
This is an important response to the "Burn a Koran Day" at Dove World Outreach in Gainesville, scheduled for September 11. As first reported by The Creative Seminole, the Gainesville faith community decided that "If they can burn it, we can read it". Today’s press conference provided more information on the plans for the interfaith community’s response to the planned burning. Gainesville’s clergy were prompted to this action in part because the planned burning is seen in some international communities as emblematic of the attitudes of many Americans (led by conservative politicians) and all Christians toward Muslims. In fact, these perceptions are even believed to fuel terrorist recruitment.
Video of the press conference is broken into three segments below. The audio is a bit weak at the beginning of the first but improves as it goes on. Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
41 Comments
Thank you for this report – recommended
Last I heard (your previous article, Mr. White) the ratio of readers to burners was 25:1.
That wave of Islamophobia sweeping the nation sure is massive, huh?
And the organization doing the burning has a membership of about 50 in a city with a population over 100,000.
Imagine how people would feel if a Bible, or Torah, was to be burned. This is equivalent.
Thank you for this important report and many thanks to the faith leaders of Gainesville who have stood up to hate and religious-based intolerance and bigotry.
Out-f*cking-standing, Jim…! ;-)
That is the best piece of great news I’ve read in the past week…! My hat’s off to those fine folk in FLA…! *g*
recommended and tweeted. thank you for reporting the clergy standing up to hate
G-ville rocks!!
I really don’t care for the organized orthodoxies, but all I have to do is put the shoe on the other foot and imagine Beethoven’s 9th script being burned and WHAM, I’m in the canoe!
Kudos to Gainesville!
And yet in the Middle East their views are portrayed as representing mainstream America, I believe you said?
Indeed. Because the hatemongers have gotten so much coverage in the press, and especially because wingnut politicians have been fanning those flames, a false image is created.
I don’t know when they plan to do their book burning but on that day Obama should be in Gainesville and make a speech on the steps of city hall. A president should lead and show the world that we are not filled with hate. But Obama won’t do this, I expect. Might offend some wingnuts.
What have you seen on tv? Heard on radio? Gainesville Pastors or Glenn Beck?
Which Democrats have given their full unconditional support to freedom of religion as it pertains to the “Mosque”?
It’s refreshing, in these depressing times, to hear voices like those. Thanks, Jim, for the great coverage.
We need a group of people dressed up as church of satan members to show up and support the hater church that will be doing the burning.
That would be redundant, don’t you think?
There is a cultural component I would love to add to this groups reading effort: maqam.
Maqam is a form of musical improvisation across the Islamic world, with modes, just like in the Western world, only a bit different.
This is a maqam saba, or in a sad mode.
This is a maqam bayati http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0mvRAzC47g&feature=PlayList&p=7BC1A1DB14C71120&index=0&playnext=1, or in a joyous mode.
To have players moving from the saba mode to the bayati mode on a similar them during the counter of Dove’s efforts would be MOST COOL! I wish I had time available to whip one up.
Thanks, Kelly. Great stuff.
Personally, I think we should all burn a bible and send the charred remains to the “Dove” church (the most inappropriate name for this Christian-in-name-only “church” if ever I heard one).
My house has two and we won’t miss it. Fire it up!
Not sure you quite grasp the concept here. How about we show respect for all religious traditions, and not go around burning each others holy materials?
Ooohh nice!
You may be more of this sentiment:
“any place where jazzed is played is a sacred place”
- from “Bobby Sanabria & MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra”
And, you might like these as well:
Shye Ben Tzur – Shoshan Clip (“Shoshan is a coming together of devotional poetry [traditional Sufi Qawwli], Rajasthani rhythms, and western sounds in a celebration of divine love and life.”)
Glorious Sun
I’m opposed to any book being burned…! 8-(
However, Bras are a whole ‘nuther matter…! ;-)
Agreed on the books. I’ve seen a few folks suggesting locals should turn up with fire extinguishers.
I’ll just be there with my FlipCam to record it.
Awesome, I eagerly anticipate your local coverage…! *g*
What have you read right here at FDL, let alone places like dailykos? Sure, sure: the broad brush that gets waved around is clearly labeled GOP or rightwing or (insert insult) to indicate it’s the other guys, but that brush sweeps across at least a third of the country. That’s more than enough to be considered “mainstream.”
Nutcases, loudmouths, and extremists are portrayed as being representative of an entire political party or movement in order to demonize the opposition. The consequence of those words is that huge numbers of people are associated with values they find repugnant.
Look at it this way, if someone got all their information about the Tea Party (excuse me: the teabaggers) from FDL, would they think that about one-fifth of Americans are stupid, racist, islamophobic, violent haters?
Peace activists are becoming involved as well.
There are some excellent photographers and videographers with this bunch. *g*
Agreed, although I did make one exception a few years back. I was talking to an Iranian student who asked how they could convince Jews that not all Iranians were anti-Semitics who wanted Israel “wiped off the map.” I suggested they organize simultaneous protests in multiple cites to burn copies of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” In a country where the state-run television still airs the film version once a year (or did at the time) I thought that would clearly indicate the disconnect between the words of government mouthpieces and the feelings of the actual citizens.
Yeah, but they are irony deficient. It would be nice if someone could point out those shared values.
Yes. Because they are. It’s been thoroughly documented. (see Altemeyer, Bob, Dean, John, and many others…)
Awesome. I look forward to seeing you and your group here. I just wish the circumstances were better.
I don’t know yet whether I’ll be there or not.
A relative of mine lives pretty close to Gainsville. She is a Christian conservative and would have nothing to do with Obama or the dems and she told me so repeatedly. Within the last few months she has had an awakening of sorts and has changed her views. So she says anyway. All the hate talk about Obama in her church got to her and so she walked out.
I appreciate the Clergy showing up and speaking out.
If you remember, Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was addressed to his fellow Clergymen, He observed, writing on the margins of newspaper, the only paper he was allowed, — I am in here, where are you? He critiqued the white clergymen of Birmingham’s call for a go slow and moderate movement, particularly their criticism of King’s decision to allow schoolchildren to march into the face of the dogs and firehoses…asking the question of why children should not be concerned about inheriting a society of legal inequality.
I am glad to see the Gainesville Clergy step out — they need to be publicly recognized for doing so. I suspect the internal politics of some congregations will make this decision uncomfortable for them, but apparently they have been moved to witness, and they should get much praise for doing so. We need a huge movement just like this all across the country.
Or how about Mein Kampf? Although I get your point. But then, I don’t really think of books as sacred. Just the ideas inside of (some) of them. And sorry if this offends anyone, but I’ve read the bible from cover to cover, and I didn’t see a lot in there that is worth saving.
I vigorously defend a person’s right to believe what they want, and that includes these doofuses right to burn books, or flags, or anything else they have legal claim to burn.
And as such, I have the right to burn a bible, too, if I want.
By the way, I probably won’t burn any bibles. Probably.
I’m with Ctuttle in that I’m opposed, generically, to the burning of any book; however, people in this country do (and should) have the right to burn the books they own, if they want. Or flags, as you mention, or posters of Justin Bieber.
(Actually, that last one might not be a bad idea.. and I do have a wood stove.)
Ahem. Back on topic. As an atheist I don’t hold, well, anything to be ‘sacred’. Some things have archeological value or rarity that makes them precious enough to protect, but I can’t see how that applies to a generic Koran, Bible, Richard Dawkins book, what not.
I’ll even go so far as to out myself here and state that I’ve destroyed a religious book, a ‘holy’ book if you like, in protest, myself. The world didn’t fly off its axis then, I doubt it will this time.
Bless you for that better choice. Thanks to Jim for sharing the videos with us.
I welcome the appearance of this material because I’ve needed a context from which to reflect on some of my personal pet peeves in the midst of the current insanities that are filling our air waves.
I have known and identified myself for several years as being an evangelical, charismatic, liberation theology, anglo-catholic Christian, with some theological/seminary training etc. Some FDL folks will understand something of these terms, others will not and most would probably make fun of them and me for espousing such theological positions.
Beck is so incredibly stupid in so many ways, but for him to say or imply that Obama is a proponent of “liberation theology,” I really have to laugh but also cry. If only that was his theological base. Were that to be so, he would NEVER have done some 95% of what he’s done in office, most currently today in the HP headlines saying he now wants to give business tax credits but no real help for the unemployed. I have no real content about the administration’s latest proposals to stimulate the economy. But certainly all his actions that have cowtowed to the rich and benefited their pocket books, would NEVER come from one espousing LT.
Then there was the WH idiot who said the other day that Obama obviously was a Christian because he prayed every day. Thank God outside the administration, someone finally said, well, so do most all other religiously devoted persons. I don’t know that Obama has a definable theology (much less a Christology!), but I think I “know” that he is something of a contemplative and knows that he and we are drowning in a boatload of shit and that he probably cries out to whatever he knows/experiences as God many times a day seeking wisdom and strength to deal with all that shit. I don’t know what he’s hearing from “God”, but I can guess what he’s hearing from the “devil” whose name is Rahm.
If I were a better Christian I would daily pray for him, but I don’t because I’m so enraged by his policies and actions and hypocrisy and because I/we thought he might be something of a —– ???? But in this context and my hopes, a liberation theology Christian. However so many of us were so very much duped still trying to come to terms with our failure to find our hoped-for constructions of “the hero” we thought he was or might still hope he can become.
Another thing that has pissed me off is the way that Olberman, Schultz (?) et. al. have made fun of Beck’s language. I know it’s there job to do that, but I also know that they probably have absolutely no way of comprehending the underlying mystical and spiritual realities that Beck, in his totally pathetic way, is trying to articulate. In the midst of wanting to throw up, I too laugh over Becks saying that he’ll only have some key points but no written speech as he wants to stay open to hear and speak the Spirit’s message. The “progressive commentator” write him off as crazy. My judgement, and I dare to make that judgement, is that Beck is not hearing the Spirit or speaking from/from the Spirit. The Spirit isn’t about hatred, division, being a scare mongerer, etc. etc. and etc. Nor is the Spirit about screwing people over with gold futures (or whatever his gold scam was). Nor would the Spirit point to the dominionists – only one of the many outrageous servants he is.
I’m sad that the progressive commentators have no knowledge of (in my terms)the Lord or experienced God’s love and healing grace, etc. and can only mock Beck in childish terms that essentially just reflect Beck’s childish and pathetic gibberish.
I know there are some FDL folks who might understand and perhaps even appreciate some of the things I’m struggling to articulate. I know that most of the time, FDL is very secular and that’s OK. I know that every now and then, I have encountered very deep spirituality, compassion, grace and resurrection hope in some of the comments.
As an evangelical, chsrismatic, liberation theology, anglo-catholic Christian, I am in despair over most of everything I see in this world
that is controlled and manipulated by the principalities and powers that destroy the poor’s hope (well, we all know that Obama and company only cares about the middle class — do we really think that’s true? I sure don’t buy that lie anymore) But they certainly don’t care about los pobres. I look to my church and it could care less about much of anything and I have chosen to leave with absolutely no knowledge of an alternative that could in any way fulfill my ECLTACC hopes. So, I come to FDL to be given more causes for despair, but sometimes some reasons to stay alive and do a tiny bit here and there through my disabilities, seeking the means to be silent to hear the world of the Lord as Elijah did.
There was a HP headline with picture of Beck saying he has a big mouth. Yea, Beck, and your sick egomania never lets you shut up long enough to possibly hear the Spirit.
Well, Lord, have mercy on all of us,
Blessings
Me, neither, but that’s not the point, is it? You, personally, can do whatever you want with your personal property: roast marshmallows in your backyard over the holy books of every religion and all I’ll have to say is, “Don’t forget the chocolate and graham crackers!”
Book burning en masse is quite different, and a very, very dangerous precedent to set. Years later, I’m still uneasy about my suggestion.
Remember the furor over a Gitmo guard allegedly flushing a Koran? It wasn’t so much that the book was sacred (though many Muslims consider it so) but that the act disrespected the Islamic faith. What would a public book burning of “The Elders of Zion” disrespect? Anti-Semiticism.
Is that really enough? No, but these were very special circumstances. It wasn’t intended to prevent the ideas in the book from reaching people, which is the traditional purpose: it was a gesture showing the people’s rejection of those ideas. Given any reasonable person’s instinctive (or conditioned?) anathema to the concept of book burning, it would have been a gesture worthy of notice and respect. Honestly, what do you think the Israelis would have thought had crowds of the progressive elements of Iranian society done such a thing? I think all the speeches in the world wouldn’t achieve a tenth the rapprochement.
As for Mein Kampf, saying that makes me doubt you really did get my point. I’m wasn’t talking about burning books because I didn’t like their message. If there’s a nation of 70+ million people somewhere (call it Targetatonia) looking at a nuclear-armed enemy who hates them because they mistakenly feel all Targetatonians are Nazis, then yeah: burn Mein Kampf. It won’t be lost to the world, and it will make a pretty emphatic statement that I don’t buy into this shit.
Jim: I apologize for the long off-topic digression. I realized a bit ago that I’m still trying to sort out conflicted feelings about what I said back then.
50 out of 100,000? Gainesville folk sound pretty cool. Unless, of course, there’re 19,950 other haters hiding in the shadows, as statistics suggest.
Hatred of any religion is a very good thing, and when we grow up enough to hate them all as we hate nazism, poverty, cruelty, injustice (all for the same reasons), we will be a bit more mature.
Yes, hate sounds very mature…
Except in the case of the THC Ministry, some of our holy materials are meant to burned.
ROFLMAO!!!!
When I first read your post I thought something like, “THC Ministry? Don’t know that one.” I didn’t get it until the second time around, which obviously means I haven’t been sufficiently devoted.
Thank you for leading this stray lamb back home, kindGSL! I’m heading to a prayer meeting at the Grease OG Chapel right now.