Oh My Gawd! or at least somebody's god

I sit and read the paper this morning and saw one article of national importance. Important only because it shows the zeitgeist of some of the population and it is worrisome to me. A pastor (you know, man of God) is planning to burn Qurans on 9/11. Huh? A representative of Christ on earth, you know, Christ, the one who preached love and turn the other cheek, is planning on burning anothers' holy book., Let who is without sin, cast the first stone, or something like that. This guy must really be holy! His Dove Outreach must really have love and be good at it.

And of course the act is so holy, they need an armed militia to support it.-
"Despite the city’s fire protection ordinances, the poorly-named Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL is committed to hosting “International Burn a Quran Day” on September 11. The radical church, which boasts an “Islam Is Of The Devil” message on a sign outside the church and as the title of its pastor’s book, insists “we will still burn Korans” on the church grounds despite being denied a permit. While the church may be fined for openly burning the holy texts, one “armed Christian conservative group” aptly named Right Wing Extreme vowed Sunday to protect the church from any other harassment during the burning:

The Christian conservative organization Right Wing Extreme has offered its support and protection for the International Burn a Quran day.

Right Wing Extreme was founded in April of 2009 after the Department of Homeland Security’s report titled Right Wing Extremism.[...]

“We fully support Dove World Outreach Center and its efforts to put an end to the notion that Islam is a peaceful religion. Islam is a violent cult with the goal of world domination.” Says Right Wing Extreme founder Shannon Carson.

Right Wing Extreme insists that “President Obama is a Muslim who is intentionally destroying America’s economy, constitution, and has a socialist agenda aimed at bringing about a New World Order.” The group measures its “state of alert” through a “Defcon system.” Currently set at level 3, the “Defcon system” warns that the group’s “moral and ethical code are under moderate attack” and that the U.S. Constitution is only “partially intact.” According to their ethical code, members swear to defend the Constitution and recognize “that freedom comes by the shedding of blood and sacrifice.”

While Right Wing Extreme is supporting the church’s “protest” of Islam by militaristic means, one non-profit Muslim group, the Book of Signs, is countering the protest by “distributing 50 free Qurans for every Quran burned” and by urging bookstores to refuse to sell Qurans to those involved." (source, Think Progress.com)

And today in the NY Times, the righteous reverend is portrayed as fearless because he carries a 40 caliber pistol in his holster. Funny, I never saw Christ--you know the Son of God, carry a spear, a sword, or a semi-automatic. Some churches forget there was a NEW Testament that supersedes the Old.

This anger, this self-righteous blindness scares the hell out of me. I am truly frightened by gun-toting self-righteous angry people. I have been instructed that if everyone carries a gun, it would level the playing field. I doubt it. Some people just have faster reactions with which to dispense death. It also saddens me, particularly in the wake of a cabbie being stabbed yesterday when he answered that he was a Muslim.
"I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never feel this hopeless and insecure before," he said. Since when does a practitioner of a gospel of Love need to invoke fear?

Yet, this is what we get day after day fed to us. Fear and hate. Fox news was creating a stir quoting a Muslim cleric that the US has more Muslim blood on their hands than those who performed the 9/11 atrocities. They castigated him for those comments. Sorry folks, but conservative estimates of dead Muslims who were not combatants in Iraq exceed 75,000 dead. Last year alone the total was over 4,000.

I am tired of hate, of anger. It is easy to knock down buildings, destroy an others character by lies. and people rabidly suck that shit up because they feel inadequate and it makes them feel better. It is not that much harder to be creative, to bless. When will people realize that hate and expressions of crazy anger makes you a minion of the devil, or a destructive power. For conservative Christians such as the above-mentioned minister, or Fred Phelps, they don't realize they express what they fear--Satan! And I always am amazed that gun rights are almost always brought into the equation quickly.

Even if you don't believe in God, Satan, evil and good--you have to admit that Love and Guns don't always go together. Illogical.

rojo