Pastor Terry Jones

Religious Tolerance Or Unending War: The Reality Of Modern Times

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The horrible events in both Libya and Egypt, provoked by a internet video ridiculing and besmirching the prophet Mohammed, are a sign of what the future is, if religious tolerance is not promoted, and it can bring unending war and internal turmoil in nations around the world, including the United States.

While nothing can be done in America, because of the right to freedom of speech, to stop such internet videos, or such crazy people as Pastor Terry Jones in Gainesville, Florida, who encouraged the production and dissemination of this video, and already has been controversial for burning copies of the Koran in 2010, our nation’s leaders must promote the concept that we all have to live in a multi religious world, do not have to agree with other religions and their beliefs, but must do everything we can as a government and as individuals, to promote religious tolerance, so as to avoid provocations that lead to bloodshed, violence, and death.

Those who hate one religion or another must understand that religion is, to a great extent, emotionally based, and there is no way that anyone is going to make any religious belief disappear from the public domain, so the answer is to accept, to work to understand, and learn to co-exist, or else our world will face violence and war that will make the Cold War period between the US and the Soviet Union look like minor events!

Florida Pastor Terry Jones: Religion Gone Too Far! The “Lynching” Of Barack Obama At His Gainesville Church!

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Florida Pastor Terry Jones, who created an uproar over his plan to burn a Koran, causing widespread anti American riots in the Middle East, has now gone even further, and in a way that requires investigation by the Secret Service, the FBI, and the Justice Department for prosecution of a hate crime!

Outside his church in Gainesville, Florida, hangs an effigy of President Barack Obama being lynched, and this is NOT freedom of religion, and requires action, prosecution and prison time for this maniac pastor!

The lynching image of this effigy reminds us of the ugly past in Florida and other Southern, and even some Northern states, and we have passed the time when we can stand by and call it freedom of speech and freedom of religion!

This man needs to be put away because he incites hatred and bloodshed and violence, and is a very evil, sick man who needs psychiatric and psychological intervention, and a long stint in prison to take him off the streets, and stop poisoning congregants with his hate activity that advocates violence!

Louis J. Marinelli: The Ability To Grow And Change And Stop Hating: A Tribute To A Courageous Young Man!

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Louis J. Marinelli spent five years actively working against gay rights and gay marriage, spending his time promoting hate and division.

A conservative Republican, this young man joined the National Organization For Marriage, and spent time holding rallies and organizing support against civil marriage for gays and lesbians.

And then he actually met gay and lesbians who just wanted the same right as straight people, and realized that he had behaved in a reprehensible way that greatly embarrassed him, as he now felt guilt at his promotion of prejudice and narrow mindedness. He possessed the courage to speak out publicly and create a Facebook page to that effect, and the response has been very positive!

Louis should be saluted, and we can only wish that all religious groups–whether evangelical Christians, Protestant main line groups, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Muslims–would see it in their hearts to preach the concept of love in religion, rather than the concept of hate, war, prejudice, that all of them in varying amounts have been guilty of in the past or the present!

A big step forward would be for all religions and all decent human beings to condemn the Westboro Baptist Church of the Reverend Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas, and the small Gainesville, Florida church called Dove Church headed by the Pator Terry Jones, both involved in promotion of hate of gays as well as Muslims!

It is time for all who call themselves “religious” to promote the teachings of their faith with an open mind and generous heart!

Religious Leaders And Bigotry: The Hypocrisy Of Some Clergymen Of All Faiths! :(

Ronald 5 Comments

Whatever religion one professes to believe in, one of the basic tenets of religion is not only to save humanity from its sins, but also promote tolerance and open mindedness toward those who do not share your beliefs!

On that test, many clergymen have failed miserably, and the problem is not only that these are their personal shortcomings, but that it has such a dramatic impact on their congregants, and often on the society at large! 🙁

Hate and prejudice is unacceptable rhetoric from a clergyman of any faith, and yet it prospers in American society!

For example, we have Franklin Graham, son of the the famous evangelist Billy Graham; and we have Terry Jones, pastor in Gainesville, Florida, both of whom spew forth anti Islamic rhetoric, which poisons the body politic, including the threat before September 11 that Jones would burn Korans at his church! 🙁

Then we also have Jones; the Reverend Fred Phelps of Topeka, Kansas; Pastor Eddie Long of Atlanta; and Rabbi Yehuda Levine of Brooklyn, New York as examples of religious leaders who promote hate and prejudice against people who are gay in their sexual orientation! 🙁

We also have the Catholic Church promoting anti gay sentiment, at the same time that many of its priests are shown to have been involved in such activity! And of course, the Pastor Eddie Long has been accused of similar activity with young men in his congregation, and yet rails against gays with poisonous rhetoric! 🙁

Whether evangelical Christians, Catholics, Jews, or mainline Protestants, we see too many examples of hate for people of a religion or those of a different sexual orientation, and these people are committing the ultimate sin: not following the concept of tolerance and open mindedness!

How can someone call himself or herself “religious” and then promote hate, prejudice, and discrimination in their sermons and public activities? And how can someone claiming to be “religious” be a parent and disown his or her own children over what is natural to them, as much as someone who naturally is heterosexual? 🙁

These leaders, and others like them, and ordinary citizens who are parents and reject their children because of being different, are not truly “religious”, but instead are hypocrites who are dividing families and society by their hate! 🙁

What is being truly “religious”? It is being a person who treats others who are different, with dignity and respect, and accepting diversity in this world with equanimity! It is how you deal with people every day of your life, not whether you attend church or synagogue on the Sabbath, as many such people sin all week and then think going to religious services somehow makes up for their horrible behavior on a daily basis!

It is essential that such religious leaders be called out for their reprehensible behavior, and be repudiated as hate mongers who do not deserve a collar! 🙁

And it is time for parents to act like parents, and be there for their children through thick and thin, not rejecting them under the guise of being “religious”!

The Republican And Conservative Exploitation Of September 11 :(

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On the eve of the 9th anniversary of the most horrific day in American history since Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it is shocking to recognize how the Republican leadership and conservative talk show hosts have utilized September 11 to divide this country by promoting hate, hysteria, and panic on a level WORSE than Joseph McCarthy and his Republican and conservative backers stirred anti Communist “witch hunts” during the late 1940s and early 1950s!

There is nothing that these despicable public figures will not do to promote their agenda, including comparing Pastor Terry Jones’s threat to burn Korans with the Islamic interfaith center that is planned for two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City! The former is designed to promote hate and bloodshed, while the latter’s purpose is to promote interfaith understanding and dialogue!

It is not too much for Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, and Sarah Palin, among others, to exploit this comparison, but also Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck find no problem in exploiting September 11 for financial gain, by holding a gathering in Anchorage, Alaska with highly expensive tickets to be bought on Ticketmaster, and selling liquor as well, to commemorate that fateful day! Any such event should not have a ticket charge, and liquor being served is totally against the somber nature of the event!

But Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck have no shame and no limits to their hypocrisy, as also John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, and many others, including the many Republican leaders who chose to remain silent and avoid taking a stand for principle, on the evil of Pastor Terry Jones and the principle of religious freedom and diversity represented by the interfaith plans near Ground Zero!

Interesting Coincidence: Rush Limbaugh And Pastor Terry Jones Were Missouri High School Classmates And Graduates Of Class Of 1969!

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What an amazing occurrence to discover that talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, who has created a stir with his threat to burn Korans on September 11, are classmates and graduates of the same high school in Missouri in the year 1969!

Both are a menace to America, and in many ways, Limbaugh has, by his rhetoric, encouraged wing nuts like Pastor Jones, who has managed by his behavior to hold American foreign policy and its war effort as hostages in his insane need to draw attention to himself! 🙁

Anyone who is sane can see that Jones is a hateful, sick charlatan, the worst image possible of a Christian pastor! This man was involved in scandal and financial irregularity in a church in Germany that he headed in the 1980s!

Is it really a surprise that he is an obvious crook and certainly went into a career of being a pastor to avoid taxes, a favorite tactic of so called “religious” people who peddle hate and division by becoming pastors without any, or limited, religious training, gain ignorant followers, and meanwhile manage to gain a tax advantage because of their creation of churches, which are often just storefront businesses to raise money! 🙁

This man not only has no concern for the damage he is doing to America, but also peddles hate of gays, another favored method of some so called “pastors” who claim to be following Jesus Christ, but totally distort his message of peace and tolerance and harmony!

The right wing talk show hosts and Fox News Channel helped to create this monster by their hateful rhetoric against Muslims, and they have made our national security much more a problem for the President, because they preach a war against Islam, instead of against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, who are the enemy, not one billion Muslims around the world!

A Sad September 11 In America, And Particularly In Gainesville, Florida! :(

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Saturday is the 9th Anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and it should be a day of reflection and remembrance!

What it should not be is a day marred by burning of Korans or any other religious books or documents of any faith! 🙁

What it should not be is a day that we all have to worry about violence against our troops overseas in the war zone or anywhere else on earth! 🙁

What it should not be is a day that American civilians traveling and living all over the world have to be concerned about becoming victims of violence! 🙁

What it should not be is a day that Americans have to worry that the small cell of radical Muslims that is present in this country will be emboldened to strike back at innocent people, because of their anger at the provocative burning of the Koran by a Christian zealot who represents the same type of radicalism and extremism that he professes to despise! 🙁

What it should not be is a day that a great university town, the home of the University of Florida, one of the most outstanding universities in America both for sports and for academics, has its reputation besmirched because of the actions of a person who should be prevented from doing the dastardly deed that he plans to do, with no consideration of the effect on the community, the state of Florida, the nation at large, and American foreign and military interests! 🙁

September 11 is indeed a sad day for America, but not just for the past tragedy, but for the future tragedy that is unfolding as we sit idly by and seem unwilling to do anything to prevent! 🙁

The Gainesville Koran Burning: Arrest Preacher Terry Jones Under “Clear And Present Danger!”

Ronald 2 Comments

It is shocking that we still have not heard a peep from any major Republican leader about Preacher Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, who has announced he will burn copies of the Koran this Saturday evening, September 11, despite pleas from General David Petraeus, and as seconded by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Retired General Russell Honore (who led the rescue effort in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina)!

It is even more amazing that it seems that no one is willing to assert, despite the well believed fear that the Koran burning will cause a danger to American soldiers and civilians in the war in Afghanistan as well as Muslim countries all over the world, that we simply must state it cannot be allowed, instead of begging this jerk not to do it! 🙁

There is a definite way to deal with this, and we need to see some courage and guts in our public officials, and not be concerned about protests from anyone! 🙁

That is, the local authorities in Gainesville have already made it clear that they are not going to give a permit to burn the Koran under city ordinances! The pastor Terry Jones needs to be reminded of this fact in a stern way!

Then he is to be informed that should he proceed to light a match on Saturday night, the police will be present and as soon as he makes that attempt, the fire is put out with the use of aggressive force, and the pastor is to be arrested and prosecuted under the law by the county, state and national government, utilizing the concept of “clear and present danger”, first enunciated in Schenck V. US in 1919. 🙁

Pastor Jones needs to understand that his action will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances as freedom of religion or freedom of speech! 🙁

This planned action is provocative, endangers the nation’s national security and safety, demonstrates total lack of responsibility, and is a mockery of freedom of religion and freedom of speech! No one has the right to “shout fire in a crowded theater” and call it freedom of speech, and no one has the right to invoke the concept of God and provoke bloodshed and violence when it endangers the whole nation! 🙁

We have had complaints that the government is too easy at utilizing the argument of “national security and safety”, but if this situation is not an effective reason for such assertion, then nothing is! 🙁

Why Are Not Republican Leaders Speaking Up Against The Koran Burning And Supporting General Petraeus?:(

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The threatened burning of copies of the Koran in Gainesville, Florida on September 11 by Pastor Terry Jones has alarmed our military leaders in Afghanistan, including General David Petraeus, concerned that such a dastardly act will provoke violence against military personnel and civilians throughout the Islamic world, and will undermine our ability to promote understanding among the vast majority of Muslims who are not radicals and not terrorists! 🙁

So under the circumstances, one would think that the Republican Party would wish to join in support of the military, since they have such strong belief and faith in General Petraeus!

Why is NOT former President George W. Bush speaking out? Why is former Vice President Dick Cheney remaining silent, when he has a problem since leaving office that he cannot keep his mouth shut? 🙁

Why is it Sarah Palin, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and all of the other numerous Republicans who are strong supporters of our troops, do not feel a responsibility to take a moral stand against this violent action? How would they feel if a Christian or Jewish Bible were burned in public? Would they remain silent if such occurred? It is obvious the answer is NO, so therefore, by NOT speaking up, does it not indicate that the Republican leadership is willing to risk alienation of the entire Islamic world by remaining silent, and therefore by omission, alienating a billion people around the world? 🙁

Is this not evidence of the total extremism and irresponsibility of all the leaders of the Republican Party? 🙁

Where is their conscience and their common sense? How could anyone feel that such leaders deserve national power and responsibility when they seem not to give a whit about the safety of Americans, both military and civilian, overseas, as well as in this country? 🙁

Do they wish to provoke more violence and bloodshed in this country by a small number of American Muslims who will be tipped over the edge by the irresponsible, despicable burning of the Koran by this whacko evangelical Christian sect? 🙁

When will the Republicans realize that they have a MORAL responsibility to speak up? 🙁

The Danger That Pastor Terry Jones Of Gainesville, Florida Represents: Planned Burning Of Koran On September 11 Denounced By General David Petraeus!

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It is amazing how a so called “Man of God” can be so intolerant, but as is well known, this is not all that unusual! 🙁

Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, a community that houses the renowned University of Florida, is about to besmirch that university town, the name of organized religion, and arouse world wide Muslim resentment, as he plans a burning of a copy of the Koran, the Islamic holy book, at his church on the ninth anniversary of September 11!

General David Petraeus, our renowned general in charge of the war in Afghanistan, has spoken up against this action, concerned that American soldiers will be more endangered by this action, and that it will sour our efforts to improve our relations with the Islamic world, which represents a billion people in the world!

This is as evil an act as Adolf Hitler ordering burning of books during the Nazi period in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, and should be seen as “a clear and present danger”, as the Supreme Court termed it in Schenck V. US in 1919!

The action should be prevented by local authorities by any means necessary, and if actually perpetrated, should lead to immediate arrest and prosecution of Pastor Terry Jones as undermining national security!

There is no room for this kind of action in the delicate world situation we face now! Pastor Jones will be responsible for possible death and harm, and all good Christians and Jews must immediately protest his planned action! 🙁