Burned texts left at Islamic Center

Roanoke Times ^

[AppyPappy]

Burned texts left at Islamic Center

Blacksburg police have not determined if the Qurans were burned as a hate crime.

By Joe Eaton 381-1665 The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG - Members of the Islamic Center of Blacksburg were stunned when they arrived at the building for prayers Saturday afternoon.

Outside the building, a plastic shopping bag filled with burned copies of the Quran sat in front of the door. Blacksburg police say they do not have any leads on who left the burned religious books, but they are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

On Tuesday afternoon, as a group of men gathered at the center, 20-year-old Idris Adjerid said he was disgusted about what happened to the sacred books.

[AppyPappy]

Gee, I wonder where someone got the idea to do this.

Oh yeah, NEWSWEEK.

[Bahbah]

Tsk tsk.

[metesky]

Probably did it themselves, Pappy.

[Piquaboy]

It is all right to burn the Bible but you better not burn the queeron.

[avital2]

burning someone's holy book is wrong, wrong, wrong.

[NavVet]

Burn a flag it's free speach. Burn a Koran and it is a hate crime.

On another note, if you burn a book filled with hate, can that actually be a hate crime? Discuss amongst yourselves. I'm verklempt.

[MinuteGal]

Wonder what precise law covers this book burning, and how could it be proved it was a "hate" crime.

I once threw a worn-out inexpensive bible into the garbage. Is that a "hate" crime?

Leni

[cloud8]

Cook that Koran up with some pork fat and drop it off at the mosk.

[csvset]

Well, at least they weren't left with a burned center.

Rotterdam mosque gutted in latest anti-Muslim arson

[VeniVidiVici]

Investigating this as a possible hate crime? A bunch of burned books left on the doorstep? In Blacksburg?

[bill1952]

Actually, I am pretty ticked off at the hypocrisy.

HATE CRIME? What on earth has the ACLU and the courts been doing for the last 20 years?

Calling it a hate crime is an insult, and to use the ACLU flag burning precedent, it is a violation of my rights of free speech to label it as such.

I think that we all need to start publicly burning the damn book.

[NavVet]

"Al-Qatami said the best way police can help stop hate crimes against Muslims is to treat all religions equally. "I think if someone burned pages from the Bible there would be a certain reaction. This should be the same across the board." "

Yeah, if someone burned a bible and left it on the doorstep of First Babtist, the left would be praising the freedom of speach and suggesting the Christinas inside think about what they did to provoke such an act.

[SlowBoat407]

Why does the phrase "Reichstag fire" come to mind?

[bill1952]

Exactly.

BTW you might change that tag to "few remember him for that."
I remember. 8^)

[happinesswithoutpeace]

"Wonder what precise law covers this book burning, and how could it be proved it was a "hate" crime."

Call the Blacksburg police and ask them.

[L98Fiero]

Beat me to it.

[FreedomPoster]

Hate crime? Looks like protected speech to me.

[bill1952]

Because you have a brain, and know how to use it.

[AppyPappy]

Ethnic Intimidation, the most common Hate Crime.

[NavVet]

Well the fact that the perpetrators actually understood the significance of a book would rule out any VPI students as likely suspects.

I wonder if it was an inside job by someone that wanted to be able to cry victim. After all if the terrorists are coached to make false claims of abuse and we know what kind of hate literature the mosques routinely distribute. They are probably not above burning a few Korans to score points.