arthra

Apparently some minister is planniing to burn a copy of the Qur'an in a few days as a demonstration of what? Some fanaticism..

For Baha'is anyway burning books is against our laws:

The unbelievers and the faithless have set their minds on four things: first, the shedding of blood; second, the burning of books; third, the shunning of the followers of other religions; fourth, the extermination of other communities and groups. Now however, through the strengthening grace and potency of the Word of God these four barriers have been demolished, these clear injunctions have been obliterated from the Tablet and brutal dispositions have been transmuted into spiritual attributes.

- Baha'u'llah LAWH-I-DUNYÁ (Tablet of the World)

but here's a list of bookburnings in history...



2.63 André Malraux's manuscript (by the Gestapo)
2.64 Załuski Library at Warsaw, Poland (during suppression of anti-Nazi uprising)
2.65 Books in Kurdish (in north Iran)
2.66 Comic book burnings, 1948
2.67 Judaica collection at Birobidzhan (by Stalin)
2.68 Communist and "fellow traveller" books (by Senator McCarthy)
2.69 Wilhelm Reich's publications (by U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
2.70 Chinese genealogy books (in the Cultural Revolution)
2.71 Burning of Jaffna library
2.72 Burning of New Testaments
2.73 The Satanic Verses (in the United Kingdom)
2.74 National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992)
2.75 Abkhazian Research Institute of History, Language and Literature & National Library of Abkhazia (by Georgian troops)
2.76 Books "contrary to the teachings of God" (at Grande Cache, Alberta)
2.77 The Nasir-i Khusraw Foundation in Kabul (by the Taliban regime)
2.78 Abu Nuwas poetry (by Egyptian Ministry of Culture)
2.79 Books of Falun Dafa teachings
2.80 Harry Potter books (in various American cities)
2.81 Cuba book burning
2.82 Iraq's national library, Baghdad 2003
2.83 Inventory of Prospero's Books (by proprietors Tom Wayne and W.E. Leathem)
2.84 New Testaments in city of Or Yehuda, Israel
2.85 Non-approved Bibles, books and music in Canton, North Carolina



Well the link may not be there but you can easily google it at

Book burning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

bwb

Does anyone know which Muslim countries ban the Bible? I tried searching Google and wikipedia but the only information was a few anecdotal and contradictory comments, nothing that seems scholarly or reliable, and no wikipedia article.

Here are 2 'Abdu'l-Baha quotations about Bible burning/banning:


"Praise be to God, you have been to Persia, and you have seen how the Persians, through the holy breezes of Bahá'u'lláh, have become benevolent toward humanity. Formerly, if they met anyone of another race, they tormented him and were filled with the utmost enmity, hatred and malevolence; they went so far as to throw dirt at him. They burned the Gospel and the Old Testament, and if their hands were polluted by touching these books, they washed them. Today the greater number of them recite and chant, as is suitable, the contents of these two Books in their reunions and assemblies, and they expound their esoteric teaching. They show hospitality to their enemies. They treat the bloodthirsty wolves with gentleness, like gazelles in the plains of the love of God."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 304)



"Fifty years ago no one would touch the Christian Bible in Persia. Bahá'u'lláh came and asked, "Why?" They said, "It is not the Word of God." He said, "You must read it with understanding of its meanings, not as those who merely recite its words." Now Bahá'ís all over the East read the Bible and understand its spiritual teaching. Bahá'u'lláh spread the Cause of Christ and opened the book of the Christians and Jews. He removed the barriers of names. He proved that all the divine Prophets taught the same reality and that to deny One is to deny the Others, for all are in perfect oneness with God."

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 212)

bwb

Bible banning is the exact opposite of what Muhammad taught. The behaviour of these Muslim and Christian clergy shows how far they have declined away from the true Islam and true Christianity and how great a need exists for the teachings of Baha'u'llah:

The first question which He (Muhammad) put to them (Arabs) was, "Why do you not accept the Pentateuch and the Gospel, and why do you not believe in Christ and in Moses?" This saying presented difficulties to them, and they argued, "Our forefathers did not believe in the Pentateuch and the Gospel; tell us, why was this?" He answered, "They were misled; you ought to reject those who do not believe in the Pentateuch and the Gospel, even though they are your fathers and your ancestors."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 22)


5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

(King James Bible, Matthew)

cire perdue

I think American Baha'is forget how some people are. Being around other Baha'is would tend to blind us to that. My eyes were opened when I Yahoo'd news on this. I don't watch TV at all, only discs or tapes. I started reading the comments and had to "pinch myself", I was shocked at the petty meanness and hatred expressed in comments. Baha'is try to live without reacting to anyone with hatred and committed to attempting to do even more than that, to love the unloveable. I think in America it is particularly easy to think things are better than they are in general. I think the best we can do is be detached with awareness and love and understanding. I know I am capable of being like these reactionaries, I am not better than then, I am able to comprehend them. I can't change them, but I can change myself. This is another example of how a few may make many pay the consequences for their folly.

bwb

I just typed 'quran burning' and 'koran burning' into google news and apparently a huge international controversy is happening over this pastors plan to have a 'burn a koran day' to commemorate the 9/11 attacks.

bwb

The Quran burning has been cancelled, according to CNN.


Florida pastor calls off Quran burning - CNN.com

Orthodox

To burn books is a terrible practice. Books are a source of knowledge and something that should be kept, even if they are wrong, false, heretical, promote something outside of your understanding. For instance I wouldn't burn Mein Kampf if I had it, simply because it is a work which lets us look into the mindset of a man who killed millions of jews, Gypsies and others.

To burn a book is like what Hitler did to the jewish literature. I wouldn't burn a Quran, but I wouldn't hold it in esteem either. I would use it when I debate with Muslims, if I burn it I wouldn't have one and they could quote and I wouldn't be able to check it out.

bwb

The planned quran burning may still go ahead. We'll know by tomorrow, I guess.

Florida pastor 'rethinking' calling off Koran-burning event

bwb

Here's a good article, showing how the teachings of the Quran are very similar to the Bible's teachings.

Why You Can't Burn the Qur'an without Burning the Bible. Category: Reader Commentaries from The Berkeley Daily Planet

"There are many surprising similarities between the Bible and the Qur’an. Here are some revelations:

The Qur’an includes 50 of the same personalities featured in the Bible, including: Adam and Even (Adam and Hawwaa), Abraham (Ibrahim), Joseph (Yusuf), Moses (Musa), David, Job, Enoch, Ishmael, Saul, Gideon, Miriam, Zechariah, Cain and Abel (Qabil and Habil), Noah (Nuh), Mary (Maryam) and even Jesus (Isa), who is mentioned in Sura 3, 4, 5, 19, 43 and 61.

The Qur’an also contains the story of David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, and Sodom and Gomorrah. The Qur’an recounts the Exodus from Egypt, the parting of the sea, the drowning of the Pharaoh’s armies and the false worship of the Golden Calf. The Qur’an recalls how God called on Abraham to sacrifice his son. The Qur’an recounts how Joseph survived the attack of his jealous brothers and found a new live in Egypt.

There are some differences. In the Qur’an’s version Lot’s wife is not turned to salt when she dares to glance back at Sodom. In the Qur’an, she remains behind. In the Bible, Abraham is prepared to sacrifice Isaac on God’s altar. The Qur’an does not name Abraham’s son. (Many Muslims believe the sacrifice was to have been Ishmael, Abraham’s oldest son.)

The similarities continue. The Qur’an and the Bible both celebrate the Creation and the Garden of Eden. In both books, God/Allah creates Adam from clay and draws Eve from his body. In both books, there is a Sacred Tree, a warning not to eat its fruit, a temptation in the form of Satan/a serpent and an expulsion from Paradise.

Both books teach that humankind was created to follow the moral commands set out by the Creator. Both books call on the faithful to make a pilgrimage to the Holy City. Both require the regular reading and recitation of scripture. Both join the Torah in turning forks-down on pork.

The Qur’an and the Bible agree that there is only One God who created heaven and earth. (The Qur’an does not muddy these theosophical waters with a Trinity that includes a Son and Holy Ghost.) In both books, the greatest sin is idolatry.

In the Qur’an, Jesus is shown leading his disciples, healing the blind, and raising the dead. He is identified as the Messiah, a man filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking the word of God. (In this regard, the Qur’an is more “Christian” than the Torah.) In the Qur’an both Jesus and Mary insist that they not be worshipped, that it is God who should be venerated.

Much has been made of the “brutality of Sharia Law” following the Iranian government’s threat to condemn a married woman to a death by stoning. While the punishment certainly qualifies as “barbaric,” it’s important to remember that stoning was also practiced in Biblical times and is reported in the Bible. When Jesus famously said: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” he was not talking to a mob of Islamic zealots.

Finally, both the Qur’an and the Bible contain variants on the Lord’s Prayer (“Surah Fatehah” in the Qur’an) and both holy tomes contain the Ten Commandments — and they agree on every point. (The Qur’an actually offers 12 Commandments.) "