In
a way, Terry Jones, the Florida Pastor of a pitiful 50-member
congregation, has done a big favor to progressives everywhere: his
Quran-burning pledge has rooted out the hypocrites and reinforced our
views of the hardcore bigots. Many of the people who have made a
cottage industry out of demonizing Muslims and Islam are competing with
each other to see who can shout "tolerance" "brotherly love" "American
values" and "Christian" while vilifying Jones as "un-Christian"
"contemptible" "disgusting" and "brainless."
It
should come as no surprise that the loudest voices come from the most
bloviating bunch of bigots, the Southern Baptist Convention. Leading
the pack to give the affair a slight down-home ambience was Greg
Magruder, senior pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Gainesville. He
set the tone for the rest in giving the most whitewashed (pun intended)
portrait of Southern Baptists:
Magruder, whose church is aligned with both the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Southern Baptist Convention, said Baptists have historically stood for religious freedom for everyone.
"Therefore, I stand with my Muslim, Jewish and Christian friends here today and plead on the basis of all our sacred texts that the Gainesville community commit to love God, love your neighbor and promote religious liberty for all," Magruder said at the Sept. 2 press conference. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you."
Have you stopped laughing yet? Who can forget the famous statement made by then-president Bailey Smith: "God Almighty Does Not Hear The Prayers Of A Jew"!! And the anti-Muslim statements made by some of your top 10 favorites make any statement of brotherly love look as if it must be coming from Mars:
Jerry Falwell on 60 Minutes: "I think Muhammad was a terrorist."
Pat Robertson: "Islam wants to take over the world and is not a religion of peace."
Franklin Graham: "an evil and wicked religion."
And let's not forget Rod Parsley's famous statement that America was created "to destroy Islam.
***
Of course, that was then and this is now:
Chuck Colson: "I find Jones's plan to burn the Koran foolish and contemptible,"
Rev. Richard Cizik of New Evangelical Partnership: "I say, 'Shame on you,'"
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