Skateboarder Stops Wingnut Christian Extremist from Burning Quran at Protest in Amarillo Texas
Well here's a feel good story for once with all the hatred and craziness going on being pushed by the right wing with their race-baiting and hatred towards Muslims. Jacob Isom is my hero for the day for doing this. It's nice to hear people are standing up against this kind of hatred.
From Think Progress: Texas Skateboarder Stops Christian Extremist From Burning The Qur’an:
As news that Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove Outreach Center planned to publicly burn a Qur’an — an operation which appears to have been called off, for now — raced around the world, many in the Muslim world reacted with angry protests, feeling that Jones’ actions were indicative of an America that was indifferent to the sensitivities of the Islamic faith.
Yet on Saturday, the day that Jones had dubbed “International Burn a Qur’an Day,” one American stepped forward to fight back against the rising tide of Islamophobia among the far-right.
And from Amarillo Globe-News linked to the Think Progress post here's more: Protester steals Quran, thwarts burning:
A planned Quran burning Saturday in Amarillo was thwarted by a 23-year-old carrying a skateboard and wearing a T-shirt with "I'm in Repent Amarillo No Joke" scrawled by hand on the back.
Jacob Isom, 23, grabbed David Grisham's Quran when he became distracted while arguing with several residents at Sam Houston Park about the merits of burning the Islamic holy book.
"You're just trying to start Holy Wars," Isom said of Grisham after he gave the book to a religious leader from the Islamic Center of Amarillo.
Grisham, director of Repent Amarillo, which aims to deter promiscuity, homosexuality and non-Christian worship practices through confrontation and prayer, said he was just trying to exercise his right to free speech.
He announced Friday evening the plan to burn copies of the Quran to show support for the Rev. Terry Jones, pastor of a small church in Gainesville, Fla., who planned, publicized, then canceled his own Quran burning event after a national uproar.
Jones told NBC Saturday "we feel that God is telling us to stop" the Quran burning, which had stirred outrage among millions of Muslims and others worldwide. Read on...
I believe I ran into our skater friend on 4chan not too long ago. Good job /b/rother!
The problem is that people threaten to riot and kill over a book. Such sentiments deserve contempt. ALWAYS.
This extremely important point was missed by all, it seems. I look forward to the day when all "holy" books are valued more for the BTUs they represent than the words they contain. No one protests when a Tom Clancy novel gets burned.
You know, I was going to comment here but I then realized that this level of idiocy defies response.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
He stopped the burning by stealing the burner's Koran.
By that same logic, I can stop Fred Phelps by stealing their signs.
The 1rst Amendment doesn't have any exceptions.
If that moron wanted to burn a Koran, he would have, and he still might.
We don't show an example by supressing the 1rst Amendment for speech we don't like.
You know nothing about the First Amendment. It protects people from being silenced by the government. It does not protect them from being shouted down or prevented to speak by the public, especially in a public environment. In fact, the police presence there ENSURED his First Amendment rights, and those of the people who stopped him.
Democracy is the road to socialism. ~ Karl Marx
The Ground Zero Mosque developer has a RIGHT to build it, as does a nut who wants to burn a Koran. I happen to oppose both!
It's not a mosque, but a community outreach center that has a prayer room
Like the Pentagon does...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Oh right...I forgot! BTW, I got some ocean front property to sell you in South Dakota...interested?
It's like a YMCA or the Jewish community center that already exist in Manhattan. They actually had one of the main backers on NPR, he's some two-bit realestate developer in Manhattan who was directly inspired by the Jewish community center. About as non-threatening and "American" as you can get without being Christian.
baaaaaad and scary and threatening, no matter how mundane and normal the presence of people from minority religions is! ;)
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
Shitspackle believes in mob rule...every problem in America is because of us minorities.
*
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9OO0S5w2k
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Hey, asshole. What do you say to the fact that the plans for that community center have been public knowledge for over a YEAR, and nobody objected? Only after some Repug politicians looking to whip up a frenzy in order to secure votes started yammering about it, did anybody even think of objecting to it.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
The First Amendment protects against CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE.
It says nothing about a private citizen stopping you from doing something hateful and stupid.
READ THE CONSTITUTION PLEASE, before you try to comment on the rights it guarantees.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Does that mean I have to stop hating skateboarders?
Is cowabungee when cows jump off overpasses with giant rubber bands around their waists?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The Ground Zero mosque event and others are designed to reinvigorate the manufactured Global War on Manufactured Terror.
http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/untangl...
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Rule #1 of WarLords -
Use wedge issues to divide your peasants and set them against each other.
Thus ensuring that your peasants do not revolt against you.
Rule #2 of WarLords -
Conspire with other warlords to rile up your peasants against theirs.
Thus ensuring that neither your peasants nor theirs revolt against you or the other warlords.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Yet somehow otherwise intelligent reporters and journalists and bloggers seem to fall for this trick over and over and over and over. I guess that is why the tactic is so effective. Wish I had a way to knock the blocks out from under this designed paradigm.
Are Americans Too Broken by Corporate Power to Resist? Take a look the forces in America that prevent people from being able to resist tyranny and dehumanization.
http://www.alternet.org/media/146128/are_amer...
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Most Americans are totally dependent on corporations for food, shelter, employment.
And "spreading democracy abroad" is simply spreading dependence on corporations.
Eliminate the family farm, institute agribusiness.
Crush local economies, in the US and abroad, and substitute corporate dependence.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
those fools that think the US is no longer a major player in the field of manufacturing don't know what they are talking about.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Skateistan - Afghanistan
If you don't shed a tear and laugh with joy when you watch this you don't have a heart!
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Thanks.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
so it is okay to swipe this guys koran to stop him from burning it?
geez, this gets really twisted really fast, here we have a c+l headline,
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/gay-sa...
i noticed most everybody tippy-toed around that one.
how do you take a principled stand against islam without being lumped in with the whackos from the other side? the fact of the matter is that islam suppresses a lot of people in a lot of places, and do various other systems, and systems of belief. the hardcore muslim men in saudi have the women walk like 15 feet behind them on the street; i find it puzzling that so many commenters here do not question this religion a whole lot more.
being a godless commie i find a whole lot of what americans do puzzling, especially when it comes to religion, but at least i don't have to qualify my statements.
I choose to take a principled stand against all religions. Anything that glorifies those who willingly suspend thier higher, critical faculties in service to some unprovable "truth" should in the least be thoroughly and fundementally questioned.
from the wars among religions you fellers will be on a spaceship to a new planet where they pride themselves on being founded on the principle of "Freedom From Religion."
In the meantime I will keep on tippy toeing around all Susie's headlines about gays, Saudi's and asylums.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
I don't harbor any illusions that a world without religion would be a world without war. All I t hink is that maybe, just maybe, without religion, we could be more honest about what wars are about ("we want your oil!" "You guys have more food than us!" "waterfront property is nice!"), and maybe, just maybe, we could resolve them quicker and stop all these stupid proxy fights about who has the best invisible friend that just obscure the real issues.
Yeah, because Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao Tse-Tung were so very honest and had such high integrity when they went about slaughtering and enslaving people. Yep, atheism is definitely the answer to the moral questions of our time!
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Given the ratio of atheist dictators to those that firmly entrenched themselves with religion, I'll take the chance. The fundamental difference you are missing, and by which I'm not surprised, is that a dictator is a dictator regardless of faith. What is important is that we establish a world where logic, reason, and scientific facts aren't questioned by the small minded believers because it's good for their con. Religion does nothing but serve the egos and wallets of the con artist with the funniest hat.
Democracy is the road to socialism. ~ Karl Marx
Orthodox Jews force women to sit in the back of the bus in Israel.
Here in the US fundamentalist Christians try to dictate how the rest of us should live.
All three of the Abrahamic religions have their wacko element who think THEY are the chosen ones and hence need make no effort to live a religious life but instead spend their time telling other people how to live their lives.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
-->the fact of the matter is that islam suppresses a lot of people in a lot of places, and do various other systems, and systems of belief. the hardcore muslim men in saudi have the women walk like 15 feet behind them on the street; i find it puzzling that so many commenters here do not question this religion a whole lot more."
Let's see, first America was founded on slaughter. Then they burned witches. Then came the slaves. Not long ago blacks sat in the back of the bus. Interracial marriage was illegal. Gays still get shafted and don't have equal rights. So what are we talking here, a few decades of US "enlightenment"?
far left loon >.<
Um, just so you know, Americans never burned any witches. People accused of witchcraft were hanged here (except for one guy who famously got pressed under a big pile of rocks). The Europeans were the ones with the fetish for burning.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
The Spanish Inquisition had the burning fetish. English law (and therefore the American colonies) required the hanging of a convicted witch and outright forbade burnings. The Germans had a smattering of burnings, as did the French, but nothing of significant numbers. You also left out the number of women (and many men) that died in prison, having refused to admit guilt, often enough during childbirth as to warrant actual counting. (Many of those babies were conceived in jail and were the product of rape.) Also, the witch craze in the colonies was pretty mild, as it was in England. At one point, English law stated that no such things as witches existed.
As an additional note, many confessed and were not hanged. Confession actually saved your life under the English legal system, although it resorted in total loss of property. The main problem with confession wasn't the loss of your land or home, but the social stigma. Given that the loss of property was a big deal, that stigma of confessing to witchcraft was a very big deal indeed.
Democracy is the road to socialism. ~ Karl Marx
Burning was used in Scotland up to about 1740.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
True, despite the popular notion, witches were not burned here in the States. But we didn't totally forsake burning as punishment. We just generally restricted it to rebellious slaves.
neither one of them was making a nuclear bomb.
Or an Osprey.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
one shouldn't burn a book one has never read. That being said, there are legitimate reasons for burning holy scriptures, such as when no one remembered to bring the rolling papers. Thanks Gideons, btw.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
One religious delusional saving the magic fairy book of another delusional, IMAGINE.
What makes you think Isom is a "religious delusional"?
Oh, and by the way, calling others insane just because you disagree with them = real enlightened of you there, Sparky.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Stating that someone who believes in The Magic Sky Wizard is delusional isn't the same as calling them insane. First, insanity if a legal status and not a clinical one. It has no bearing what so ever on actual diagnosis. Secondly, if someone told me they believed they were a Jedi Knight and could harness the mystical powers of the Force (but only when you're not looking), I'd call them delusional. The only reason we bend over backwards for "religion" and not the other is because religious texts and beliefs are old and a lot of people buy into a shared delusion. We can't dare offend them, so all the crap that goes with religious thought and behavior has to be EXPLICITLY made exceptions in the DSM4. Just because a lot of people believe in the delusion doesn't make it any less nuts.
Democracy is the road to socialism. ~ Karl Marx
We are going into the 2nd GOP Great Depression, the country is in shambles, and millions of morons knowledge of the current political situation goes no deeper than this nonsense or Glenn Beck.
We are soooooooo screwed!
\
The corporate fascists must be laughing their a##es off in their country clubs, watching the same morons they are screwing, demand more abuse!
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
I still have copies of my Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Convenants, Pearl of Great Price, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
But I also have the Sepher Yetzirah, the Kabbala, the Qur'an,
And from there it gets progressively weirder
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
have the Book of Mormon, the Qur'an, the Kabbala, the Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishads, Dhammapada, and things do get weirder in my personal library, all the way to the Satanic Bible...
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
I have the Bhagavad-Gita and Upanishads, have to admit Dhammapada is a new one on me...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2017
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
I got it bookmarked
Now it's in along with all my porn.
I said I study religion
Not that it does me any good...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
*
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
why does south have more dumb asses per capita
I'm in the South...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
So, what's the answer then? (No one said you are dumb.)
far left loon >.<
Would he be regarded as a hero if he did the same thing to someone burning a Bible? Somehow I believe he would not be supported by most here!
Most of us wouldn't care one way or another
It's not like Christianity is an oppressed religion here,
It's what, 80% of the population, at least nominally?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
So...if you are a Minority Religion, there are a different set of rules??
Ask 1930's Jews.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
oppress women, the GLBT community, and minority religions! *sarcastic hand-wringing*
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
And here I thought it was my ears from all those years of listening to loud Led Zeppelin.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Actually, YES.
Burning any book is fucked up.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
is my hero for the day too. Intelligence prevails! And in Texas, for good measure...
NOBODY 2012
It is well past time to speak out and denounce anyone or group immediately the minute they start discussing religion and their belief in any sort of invisible, omnipresent, all knowing supernatural being or a human cum god savior.
As a freethinker who does not incite nor engage any other individual on any sort of matter of religion whatsoever if, this subject is broached I immediately go on the offensive with clear concise reasoning at bullet neck speed why their religion is dead wrong and belief in an absolute as simply a mental illness albeit, curable.
Only when we speak out against this psychosis will we be able to come to terms head-on with the disease. When I say this I don't mean that we ask those who are ill to 'keep it to themselves' or 'within the confines of their houses of worship'. As in the treatment of other mental illnesses one must be brutally frank and to the point.
If we allow this disease continued fester we as a species are headed to inhalation. Denounce and refute and don't back down. Radical eradication of all religions and belief systems based upon the myth of a superior being is the only way to preserve and advance humankind.
Frank Zappa - Make A Jazz Noise Here
It's about time someone stood up to these racists who wish to burn a holy book, whether it be the Koran, the bible or the Talmud.
I try my best to stand up to these right wing religious morons here in Tennessee, and it isn't easy, but I do my best to reason with those who are unreasonable. What's scary is how many of the younger generation they will influence to their line of thought.
The irresponsible pastor in Gainesville, FL admitted he had never read the Koran but publicly condemned its teachings as dangerous and murderous. Well, it is quite the contrary. The Koran talks admiringly about the Jews and Jesus. It teaches that GOD is merciful and kind. It mentions, the garden of Eden, Adam's fall, and the twelve tribes descended from Abraham especially those of Isaac, Jacob and Ismael.
The people of Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia etc....are mostly illiterate and ignorant. They get their information from "tribal leaders" and Koran preachers. So,they are not really able to distinguish the lies from the truth. But in America, the muslims who follow Islam are literate, educated and loyal americans. They have a right to choose their faith and their path to their God. The fight over the mosque is led by the ignorant, arrogant and stupid. It began with Islamic Hater Geller and was spread by the media. Arab americans can build their house of worship according to the law and should not be interfered with.
CarmanK
"Middle class societies don't emerge automatically as an economy matures, they have to be CREATED through political action." Paul Krugman.
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