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
The 9/11 guys did it in the name of Allah as do the terrorists in Israel and throughout the world. Christians don't massacre in the name of God.
Do you disavow the Old Testament? Or do you only accept the book of Daniel because it fits with fundementalist fantasies about the tribulation. Christ was a Jew and preached from the Torah. Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
Not cringing, ducking to avoid the incoming rounds.
In a sense, Jesus DID preach hatred, death and world domination, but from a purely spiriutal point of view.
My point is that many can look at the Scripture where Jesus says that we are to hate our parents and loved ones, take it out of context and paint Christ as an arbitor of hatred, which He obviously is not.
Mohammed was a wingnut for sure, but to condemn an entire populace on the basis of a selected verse is a litte unfair.
(And I am a pastor)
Just trying to make the point that muslims enjoy the same freedom of speech as Christians in the good old USA.
Your argument isn't logical. How do you know that God didn't instruct Muhammad to do his will? He created Muhammad too. Are you more omniscient than God? Isnt claiming that, a sin?
Did you catch where he pretty much said all Germans in 1940 were Nazis?
Its not hard to imagine many on this thread holding a gun to a non-christian's heads and demanding they renounce their religion or die. FR seems to be full of the most un-christian christians I have ever seen.
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.''
They are including YOU in their religion...They are talking about you...They want you and your family, DEAD...
And for those that think this "unGodly" pastor is a little harsh and that Jesus loves all religions, you need to do a little more study...For one thing, you would find out that the Bible says that if you can't win them with love, cut 'em with the Sword and cut 'em deep, til you see the Blood...And that's what this pastor is doing... >
The Word is good and right because it is, not because it is better in comparison to some other faith.
Of course we should because those are tactics that Christ abhors.
The difference is how many applauded 9/11, both here at home and abroad. Most who applauded were genuine muslims, while those who cheer the bombing of abortion clinics and gay bars are fraudulent "Christians."
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