MRFF To Donate a New Qur'an to Afghan Army for Every One Destroyed by Jones
Chris Rodda printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 01:12:42 PM EST
After being contacted by scores of its active duty military clients asking the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) to do something in response to Terry Jones's planned "Burn A Koran Day," MRFF has decided that the most appropriate response would not be to try to stop Jones, but to donate to the Afghan National Army, as a gesture of good will and a statement of opposition to this entirely un-American act of religious bigotry, a new Qur'an for each one destroyed by Jones and his followers.

The following will run as a full page ad in the Gainesville Sun on Friday.

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MRFF To Donate a New Qur'an to Afghan Army for Every One Destroyed by Jones | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 hidden)
Jones didn't go through with it. (5.00 / 1)
Why not (those who can afford it) get together and send some Korans to Afghanistan anyway?  (I also agree- none with commentary that would support fundamentalists in any way.)  The MRFF could work as the clearinghouse for this action.

This would be a nice- a GOOD action on the part of progressives in this country... and would help to offset the propaganda that can be found in the more fundamentalist-leaning Islamic countries.

by ArchaeoBob on Sun Sep 12, 2010 at 09:37:04 AM EST


Donations (none / 0)
Chris,
Can you let us know how we can donate to this cause!  Thanks!

by Rachel Tabachnick on Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 02:15:56 PM EST
Do it through our "Build the Wall" page (none / 0)
If you go to this link, you'll see how to buy a brick. Make the message on your brick something in support of this cause so we know why you donated.

http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/helpbuildthewall/

by Chris Rodda on Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 02:29:15 PM EST
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That is the most appropriate answer! (none / 0)
Knowing a bit more about the religion (from recent reading), I think that is the most appropriate response to their hate.  

I applaud this decision!!!


by ArchaeoBob on Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 03:26:41 PM EST

Make sure you donate non-Wahhabi Qur'ans (none / 0)
Wahhabi Qur'ans (mostly printed in Saudi Arabia) translated in English contain anti-Semitic interpretations within them (see pg.31 of this report: http://www.islamicpluralism.org/documents/black-america-prisons-r adical-islam.pdf) . I am not sure if Arabic Qur'ans published in Saudi Arabia also contain Wahhabist commentary on them. I hope that MRFF ships Qur'ans with no commentary to the Afghan National Army.

by zowie on Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 05:33:39 PM EST
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Them too? (none / 0)
That sounds just like the Scofield Study Guide Bible, the foundation of American fundamentalism. This book is the inerrant word of God - as long as you read our highly biased commentary!

by super390 on Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 11:29:21 PM EST
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Terry Jones -- why so much mass media attention? (none / 0)
Is it just me, or does anyone else see a big difference between Terry Jones's planned "Burn A Koran Day" and the panic-mongering against Park51?

Here's the big difference I see:

Even if the mass media were not paying any attention at all to the anti-Park51 crowd, their activities would still be harmful.  They would still be able to organize fairly large rallies, thanks to sympathetic coverage from right wing journals like Front Page magazine.  They would still be pressuring the New York City government to deny Park51's permit, and might even have been more successful without so much publicity.  Alas, there was a less-publicized but more-successful anti-Muslim crusade around here a few years ago, against Debbie Almontaser and the Khalil Gibran International Academy.

On the other hand, the only reason why Terry Jones's planned "Burn A Koran Day" event is a significant threat to anyone is because the mass media have been paying so much attention to it.  Terry Jones's group is apparently a bunch of isolated nuts, without much if any support from a larger right wing network.  (Even a militia group calling itself "Right Wing Extreme" backed out of supporting them.)  And, unlike the anti-Park51 panic-mongering, the Qur'an-burning event is not an attempt to interfere directly with the rights of Muslims.  General Petraeus says it's a threat to U.S. troops.  But it's a threat to U.S. troops only because Muslims overseas are hearing about it, via the mass media.  Of course, Terry Jones is one of many Christian preachers spreading nonsense about Islam, but the only intrinsically important story here is the nonsense being spread by all too many Christian preachers, not Terry Jones's Qur'an-burning event per se.

So it angers me that the the Qur'an-burning event is getting so much mass media attention, given that the mass media are ignoring much more significant things like the growing political influence of the "New Apostolic Reformation."


by Diane Vera on Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 09:08:13 AM EST

They're all the same (none / 0)
The only problem other conservatives have with Terry Jones is that he's prematurely revealing the ultimate right-wing agenda. So let's make him the face of the whole far right movement, just as the Scopes Monkey Trial became the face for backward conservatism in the '20s. If we don't scare people into researching the size of this fascist movement they will surely never find out from the mass media, which refuses to touch this site's documentation of Palin's ties to theocratic extremism. Let's roll Jones and the anti-Park 51 movement together so thoroughly that people make the perceptual breakthrough: treating Moslems differently is a slippery slope to total favoritism for Christians.

by super390 on Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 11:39:40 PM EST
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The anti-Park51 movement vs. Qur'an burning (none / 0)
Actually, Qur'an burning is far less scary (to me) than the movement against Park51.

The anti-Park51 movement is a direct attempt to limit Muslims' First Amendment rights.  It is a massive organized attempt to intimidate Muslims into "respecting" stupid bigotry.

On the other hand, the Qur'an burning, if Jones had gone through with it and if everyone else had ignored it, would have been merely an exercise of Jones's own First Amendment rights.  As I said, burning a Qur'an is a purely symbolic act.  As long as he paid for the Qur'ans and didn't steal them, burning them wouldn't actually harm anyone, except insofar as attention is paid to it.  


by Diane Vera on Fri Sep 10, 2010 at 10:26:50 PM EST
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Yes, but it would have been a Nazi act (none / 0)
And this has become a game of who can smear whom with a swastika. It was always going to come down to that in America; the argument over whether fascism is essentially big government or whether it is essentially the belief that one race or religion has the right to total social, cultural and political supremacy. If Jones burns Korans, then we jump up and down and scream that it's just like the Nazis under the Weimar democracy - and we'd be right. The reason the Nazis got away with it is because powerful conservative interests shielded them, just as they shield teabaggers and dominionists today. We need to show the public over and over that the enemy is using democratic freedoms to lie and conspire as a prelude to tyranny. When their side put Hitler mustaches on Obama for desiring health care for all, the gloves came off. We must repeat ad nauseum, "first they came for the Moslems, and I did nothing..."

by super390 on Fri Sep 10, 2010 at 11:39:53 PM EST
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addendum (none / 0)
To put a finer point on it, burning books is always the act of eliminationists. We burn holy books to show intent to eliminate an entire religion. The anti-Park 51 movement is certainly engaging in Jim Crow, and oppression, but we have to show all these bastards are just disguising eliminationism under varying degrees of bourgeoise niceness to seem less threatening. The Nazis are the great historical example of this, aided by respectable conservatives, capitalists, and clergymen who thought they'd come out ahead if their enemies were exterminated.

by super390 on Fri Sep 10, 2010 at 11:47:25 PM EST
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Book-burning and eliminationism (none / 0)
I disagree that burning books is always the act of eliminationists, but indeed it is often an act of eliminationists.  And indeed you're probably correct that Jones's intent is elimination.

Counterexamples to your statement that  burning books is always the act of eliminationists:  (1) Thelemites routinely burn copies of their own holy text, Aleister Crowley's Book of the Law.  (2) A person de-converting from one of the more authoritarian and abusive forms of Christianity might burn a Bible as a personal ritual of self-liberation, without necessarily wanting to eliminate even the more liberal Christians.  A person de-converting from one of the more puritannical forms of Islam might conceivably burn a Qur'an for the same reason.

Of course, none of this is at all relevant to Jones and his own likely motives for Qur'an-burning.  I brought it up just to explain why I said that book-burning is often, but not always, an act of eliminationists.

Be that as it may, dominionists don't need to burn Qur'ans to show that they are eliminationist.  Their eliminationist intent is clear enough just from their words.  Nevertheless, their words, too, are protected speech under the First Amendment.  What should concern us, more than mere words (or symbolic gestures such as Qur'an-burning), is when they put their words into actions that impinge on the rights of others.  The latter is what the anti-Park51 movement is doing.


by Diane Vera on Sat Sep 11, 2010 at 10:17:37 PM EST
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you guys are the bomb (none / 0)
thanks

by lesh2000 on Fri Sep 10, 2010 at 07:12:53 PM EST
??? (curious and puzzled) (none / 0)
That sounds like it might be a funny commentary, but I don't understand what you're getting at.

Maybe you could elucidate a bit?


by ArchaeoBob on Sun Sep 12, 2010 at 09:39:17 AM EST
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bomb (none / 0)
Contemporary slang, meaning you guys are great.

by Vesica on Sun Sep 12, 2010 at 10:28:22 AM EST
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ROFLMAO! (none / 0)
Talk about inversion!!!

That's funny!!!

by ArchaeoBob on Sun Sep 12, 2010 at 02:37:14 PM EST
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hi (none / 0)
It is heartening to see the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) taking action to counter the actions of one individual. By donating a new Qur'an to the Afghan Army for every one destroyed by Jones,  real estate Archer MRFF is demonstrating its commitment to promoting respect for all faiths. This gesture of solidarity sends a strong message of unity, tolerance, and understanding that will hopefully be felt throughout the region. It is a reminder that we must all work together to create a more peaceful world.

by isabelladom on Sat Feb 25, 2023 at 02:41:27 PM EST

MRFF To Donate a New Qur'an to Afghan Army for Every One Destroyed by Jones | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 hidden)

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