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And the US Attorney General, Eric Holder, called the idea "idiotic and dangerous".

An interfaith group of evangelical, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim leaders meeting in Washington on Tuesday condemned the proposals as a violation of American values and the Bible.

event horizon wrote:Some other good prediction questions:

a) how many unruly mobs will form

b) how many effigies and flags burnt

c) how many calls for the death of the United States/West will be chanted

d) how death threats will be issued

most importantly, e) how many Muslim leaders will support this church's decision to practice free speech, pointing out that the Muslim reaction is infinitely more heinous than the burning of some private property

Vote now before it's too late !

International protests have begun -- with some demonstrators threatening jihad -- in advance of a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11.

Roughly 100 Indonesian Islamists protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on Friday, Agence France-Press reported, with some threatening holy war if the plan to burn Korans on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks comes to fruition at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla.

"No one will be able to control this reaction," Roni Ruslan, of Hizbut Tahrir, a radical organization than advocates Islamic law, told Agence France-Press. "We urge the U.S. government and Christian leaders to stop the crazy plan from this small sect. It's an insult to Islam and to 1.5 billion Muslims around the world."

Protesters at the U.S. Embassy shouted chants of "God is greater" while holding signs that read "Destroy Burners of the Koran," among others, according to AFP.

Meanwhile, Pastor Terry Jones has said he intends to proceed with plans to burn the holy text next month. The church's website even features a blog posting that provide visitors "Ten Reasons to Burn a Koran," including its teaching that Jesus Christ was "NOT the Son of God" and claims that Islam is "not compatible" with democracy and human rights.

"The attitude towards women in Islam as inferior possessions of men has led to countless cases of mistreatment and abuse for which Moslem men receive little or no punishment, and in many cases are encouraged to commit such acts, and are even praised for them," read another. "This is a direct fruit of the teachings of the Koran."

FBI, state and local law enforcement agencies are monitoring the threats of violence promised if the church follows through on the event, Gainesville Police Department Maj. Rick Hanna told the Gainesville Sun.

"We're on top of this, and we are taking it serious," Hanna told the paper, adding that agencies will have "all hands on deck."

Evan Kohlmann, who tracks radical militant websites for the New York-based firm Flashpoint Global Partners, told the Gainesville Sun a homicide bomber has threatened to drive a truck into the church. Others have discussed setting the building on fire, he said.

"It's hard to tell how serious the discussions are, but they're talking about it," he told the paper.

One posting on a jihadist website indicated a desire to bomb the church if Jones' plan comes to fruition, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

"Now, I wish to bomb myself in this church as revenge for the sake of Allah's talk," the posting by an individual identifying himself as Abu Dujanah read. "And here I register my name here that I want to be an intended martyr."

KABUL, Afghanistan – Hundreds of angry Afghans burned a U.S. flag and chanted "Death to the Christians" on Thursday to protest plans by a small American church to torch copies of the Muslim holy book on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Religious and political leaders across the Muslim world, as well as several U.S. officials, have asked the church to call off the plan, warning it would lead to violence against Americans. Iraq, worried that it will unleash a backlash against all Christians, has beefed up security near churches.

The Rev. Terry Jones, of the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has vowed to go ahead with the bonfire on Saturday, even though he has been denied the required permit.

Local officials in Mahmud Raqi, the capital of Afghanistan's Kapisa province, estimated that up to 4,000 people took part in Thursday's demonstration. But NATO spokesman James Judge said the protesters numbered between 500 to 700.

"The Afghan national police prevented the protest from overwhelming an Afghan military outpost," and dispersed the demonstration, he told The Associated Press.

A cleric in Afghanistan's largely peaceful Balkh province also warned Thursday that, if the burning goes ahead, a protest will be held in the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif next Monday. Protesters could hurl stones at NATO-led troops stationed in the city — one of the country's main centers of the Islamic teaching.

In the central Pakistani city of Multan, about 200 people marched and burned a U.S. flag.

"If Quran is burned it would be beginning of destruction of America," read one English-language banner held up by the protesters, who chanted "Down with America!"

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has denounced the planned burning and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has said it could lead to attacks on international troops.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also warned of repercussions, saying the burning would "face reactions by the world's Muslims as well as followers of other religions," according to the official IRNA news agency.

In central Baghdad, security was increased around the Church of the Virgin Mary, with military vehicles blocking the entrance to the church and Iraqi soldiers standing guard. At two other churches in the capital, police cars were parked outside and armed officers were deployed.

Canon Andrew White, the chaplain of an Anglican church in Baghdad, said the Iraqi military had warned him that his church had been threatened.

event horizon wrote:Who are the real fanatics ?

event horizon wrote:How many will be killed over the latest non-story ?

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) – One man was shot dead when protesters, angry over plans by a U.S. pastor to burn copies of the Koran, attacked a NATO base in Afghanistan's north on Friday, a provincial government spokesman said.

A crowd, estimated at 10,000 by a spokesman for the Badakhshan province governor, had earlier poured into the streets after special Eid prayers. Some later hurled stones at a NATO base run by Germans and a protester was shot when troops inside opened fire, spokesman Amin Sohail said.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said ISAF was aware of protests in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, and were investigating.

(Reporting by Ahmad Elham and Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Paul Tait and Nick Macfie)

event horizon wrote:http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/27 ... t-florida/

desertdudeshj wrote:

event horizon wrote:http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/08/27 ... t-florida/

Fox news ! Seriously ? I was getting bored out of my brains todays so flipping thru channels I don't watch ( news channels mainly ) I stopped on fox news. There was some debate going on about Imam rauf ( good timing or is that all they broadcast ? ) and after five minutes, I couldn't believe the mindless dribble going on, I was wholly expecting kutcher to jump inframe and go "you got punk'd".

Now I am starting to get what kind of mindset you have. If you follow stuff like Fox, Memri and Spencer

Oh BTW you do know that watching Fox your supporting the terrorists !

http://www.mediaite.com/online/jon-stew ... or-mosque/

KABUL (Reuters) – Two people were killed on Sunday in a third straight day of violent Afghan protests sparked by a U.S. pastor's threat to burn copies of the Koran.

Hundreds of Afghans kept up the angry demonstrations, some apparently unaware that pastor Terry Jones had dropped his plans. Two protesters were shot and killed in the eastern province of Logar, a district official said, taking the death toll since last Friday to three.

The furor over Jones's plan -- a grave insult to Muslims who believe the Koran to be the literal word of God -- overshadowed the lead-up to commemorations of the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks on the United States.

Other parts of the Muslim world saw protests last week but Sunday's violence was confined to Afghanistan, six days before a parliamentary election which the Taliban has vowed to disrupt.

The United Nations' top diplomat in Afghanistan has said the protests risk delaying the election and warned that the Taliban, which has vowed to continue fighting until nearly 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan have left, could try to exploit popular anger over the issue.

Their calls for the event to be cancelled came as reports emerged from Baghdad of an apparent revenge attack on Iraq's only operating Anglican church, St George's. According to two eyewitnesses, up to four people were killed after gunmen opened fire on guards outside the church, which lies in a compound just outside the comparative safety of the Green Zone.

It has been targeted by extremists before but Canon Andrew White, the British-born vicar of St George's, said he believed that yesterday's attack was directly related to events in Florida. Iraqi authorities had warned of the prospect of such an incident.

"Without a doubt it is linked to Florida," he said by telephone from Baghdad. "The book-burning is huge news in Iraq at the moment. Every newspaper, every television station and radio, they've all been covering it."

Alleged Quran burning

Monday's toll includes at least seven people killed in police clashes after thousands of Muslim protesters set fire to a Christian missionary school and government buildings in two Kashmiri districts to denounce reports on the Iranian state-run channel, Press TV, that copies of the Quran had been damaged in the US over the weekend.

Though a Florida pastor called off his plans to burn the Muslim holy book, the channel showed footage of a different man destroying a Quran.

The protesters chanted "Down with Quran desecrators,'' and protest leaders denounced the alleged desecration in speeches to the crowds.

The death toll was the highest since separatist protests broke out in June against Indian rule in the northern state.

Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, said India was searching for a peaceful resolution to the summer of conflict.

"We are willing to talk to every person or group which abjures violence, within the framework of our constitution,'' Singh said.

Singh's statement came hours ahead of a meeting of top cabinet ministers that is expected to decide whether to lift the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives sweeping powers to security forces in Kashmir, as a goodwill gesture in parts of the territory that have been relatively peaceful.