The Florida church Dove World Outreach Center is threatening to burn copies of the Muslim Koran (the proper spelling is Qur’an) on Saturday September 11th. With this story in all the headlines, I got into a short and quick debate with a Christian who supports the burning. As an atheist, this to me is just another example of Christians at their best. One of the arguments of this Christian were that Muslims burn the American flag “all the time”, which supposedly gives Americans the right to burn the Koran. The Christian bible says:
[27] "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. [29] If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.
- Luke 6:27-29
Does burning a flag or even the acts of terrorism that took place on 9/11 justify burning the Muslim holy book? Not one, but over 200 of them? This seems like revenge to me, not forgiving and loving your enemy.
The next argument in the debate was that the Koran teaches deceit, hatred and killing of Christians. I asked if they had ever actually read the Koran. I could not get an answer to that question, so I will assume the answer is no. How do you know what the Koran says if you have never read even a part of it? Because what you heard from someone, or some nutcase in the media or wherever you may have heard it, it must be true? The Koran does not teach, nor do “all Muslims believe” in hatred or killing. A handful of extremists may have these views, but that does not make all Muslims America-hating terrorists. Extremists can be found in any religion, be it Islam, Christianity or Atheism.
I tried the access the website for the church that is causing the mayhem, the Dove World Outreach Center, but the site is down. This quote I am taking from an article posted on the Fox News website, which claims the quote came from the church’s blog.
“We are using this act to warn about the teaching and ideology of Islam, which we do hate as it is hateful.”
So – they are warning who? Warning about the dangers of someone else's beliefs? Who gave Christians the right to “warn” anybody about someone else’s beliefs? Why do Christians feel the need to convert and push their beliefs along to someone else? What happened to “free will”? Is the next person not smart enough to think for themselves therefore they need the help of a Christian to tell them what to believe?
“We do not hate any people, however. We love, as God loves, all the people in the world and we want them to come to knowledge of the truth”.
So you are going against your own beliefs by taking revenge on your enemy in order to share your version of the truth? I don’t want to get into a religious debate because most Christians tend to be close-minded. I am simply saying that Christians should know the facts, stop the “all Muslims are evil” stereotyping and stop trying to force their views on others. If I decided to burn over 200 bibles, Christians would have a fit the same way the Muslims are. You are no better than the extremist committing terrorist acts. When will everyone grow up, believe what they want and leave others do the same? By provoking more terrorism, you are only putting American soldiers and possibly innocent civilians at risk.
Sources:The fox News article
Dove World Outreach Center website
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