As people of faith who respect and value the deep religious pluralism of the United States, we condemn in the strongest possible terms plans by a Florida church, the Dove World Outreach Center in the U.S.A., to hold what they are billing as ""Burn a Koran Day" on September 11th, the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City.
We concur with the National Council of Churches USA which has stated:
"Misguided or confused about the love of neighbor by which Christ calls us to live, leaders and members of this church and others are engaged in harassment of Muslims, and in the planning of an "International Burn the Qur'an Day," to be held on September 11th. Such open acts of hatred are not a witness to Christian faith, but a grave trespass against the ninth commandment, a bearing of false witness against our neighbor. They contradict the ministry of Christ and the witness of the church in the world."We also support the statement issued by the Union for Reform Judaism :
We can scarcely find words to express our revulsion at the Dove World Outreach Center's "Burn a Koran Day," scheduled for September 11. Only those whose minds have been tainted by evil and acrimony would undertake to organize a sacrilegious event such as this and to do so in the name of God and religious piety.
We reject attempts at dividing our nation along religious lines, and, together with the overwhelming majority of America's religious leaders, commit ourselves to standing up to those who wish to ostracize and intimidate our Muslim neighbors. Our fight is not with America's Muslims, but with all those whose extremist views lead them to hateful and dangerous actions. We will not compromise our principles of tolerance and understanding, and we will not defer to those who preach hatred while cloaking themselves in religious garb.Finally, we applaud the call made by the The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) for people to distribute and read the Qur'an so that we might learn about one another and in doing so build up our national community.
The Dove World Outreach Center's planned action stands opposed to all we believe to be true about the Almighty. We pray that they will reconsider.
