Posted on 01/17/2003 6:11:48 AM PST by chance33_98
Church's sign has Muslims outraged
Florida pastor says criticism of Islam is legal and fair
Associated Press Friday, January 17, 2003
Jacksonville --- The Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida is calling on state religious leaders to repudiate a Jacksonville Baptist church's roadside sign the group claims is anti-Muslim.
The sign outside the First Conservative Baptist Church in Jacksonville's Mandarin area reads: ''Jesus Forbade Murder. Matthew 26:52. Muhammad Approved Murder. Surah 8:65.''
Altaf Ali, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida, said his organization attempted to talk with the Baptist church's officials about the sign, but were rebuffed with belligerent language.
''All Americans must band together to condemn hate speech designed to divide our nation along religious and ethnic lines,'' Ali said. ''Any attempt to marginalize or vilify one religious community is an attack on all people of faith.''
The church's pastor, the Rev. Gene Youngblood, who also leads the Conservative Theological Society and Conservative Christian Academy, said he has been using the marquee-type sign to express the church's opinion for 15 years and has no plans to remove the message.
''First and foremost, are we not entitled to freedom of speech?'' Youngblood said.
Youngblood, who said he is an expert on world religions, said he had been threatened and his property vandalized. He said he has filed 13 police reports since July.
Youngblood said his church would issue a formal statement later.
Iman Zaid Malik, spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, said some Christian friends brought the offensive sign to his attention.
''Misinformation must be rejected by all people of conscience,'' Malik said. ''This shows that the vast majority of Americans reject hate and seek a society where good overcomes the evil.''
Malik said the Quran verse indicates that those who believe and are steadfast in battle will overcome much larger armies. It is not an endorsement of murder, he said.
The verse reads: ''O Prophet [Muhammad]! Inspire the believers to conquer all fear of death when fighting, [so that] if there be twenty of you who are patient in adversity, they might overcome two hundred; and if there be one hundred of you, they might overcome one-thousand of those bent on denying the truth, because they are people who cannot grasp it.''
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the Quran also states, ''whoever murders a person . . . it will be as if he killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life, shall be regarded as if he saved all mankind.''
ON THE WEB: Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida: www.cair-florida.org
First Conservative Baptist Church: www.conservative.edu/main.htm
Yes, he is entitled to free speech, but there is also the issue of slander. The bible has more than one reference to genocide, in which a race was obliterated with God's blessing. If selected verses were taken out of context in the bible (murder, incest, genocide) and contrasted against 'good' verses in any other religon, Christianity would look bad.
Jesus said "by their FRUITS you shall know them." These Muslems just do not want the TRUTH to get out about what their "scriptures" teach.
My prayers go out to the pastor and the church, may they continue to shine as couragious lights in the darkness, in the name of Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, amen.
But ....
The sign refers to Jesus' sayings.
Where, in the Bible, did Jesus support genocide?
Freegards,
Geist Krieger (Ephesians 6:12)
I thought the 10 Commandments was the foundation that Christitantity was built on. That is in the OT, unless I am sorely mistaken.
The OT admonitions to kill the Amelekites were for then and only them.
And the limitation and conditions for this are all contained in a single verse? Or may a Muslum plaster a single incriminating verse on a billboard as this pastor did?
Hey good ole boy, the feces just drop from your putrid mouth. If you truly think you are Christian, you better get a check up before you meet your maker.
The sign outside the First Conservative Baptist Church in Jacksonville's Mandarin area reads: ''Jesus Forbade Murder. Matthew 26:52. Muhammad Approved Murder. Surah 8:65.''
Truth hurts ... don't it ?
But what are our lives like, day-to-day?
Maybe, instead, the pastor should have mentioned that Muslims are told to follow the rule of "an eye for an eye," but Christ tells Christians to "turn the other cheek."
I think this comparison better illustrates the difference between Islam and Christianity as they apply to most of our daily lives.
Jesus encouraged forgiveness. Muhammed approved of retribution.
I'd hate to have to spend my day somehere that this rule is followed...
The Qura'n says: "If anyone transgresses against you requite him with an exactly like action and restrain yourself for Allah; and know that Allah is with those who so restrain themselves" (Surah 2:194).I often transgress against others. I'd hate to have to worry about "payback," all the time.
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