Posted on 01/17/2003 6:11:48 AM PST by chance33_98
Church's sign has Muslims outraged
Florida pastor says criticism of Islam is legal and fair
Associated Press Friday, January 17, 2003
Jacksonville --- The Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida is calling on state religious leaders to repudiate a Jacksonville Baptist church's roadside sign the group claims is anti-Muslim.
The sign outside the First Conservative Baptist Church in Jacksonville's Mandarin area reads: ''Jesus Forbade Murder. Matthew 26:52. Muhammad Approved Murder. Surah 8:65.''
Altaf Ali, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida, said his organization attempted to talk with the Baptist church's officials about the sign, but were rebuffed with belligerent language.
''All Americans must band together to condemn hate speech designed to divide our nation along religious and ethnic lines,'' Ali said. ''Any attempt to marginalize or vilify one religious community is an attack on all people of faith.''
The church's pastor, the Rev. Gene Youngblood, who also leads the Conservative Theological Society and Conservative Christian Academy, said he has been using the marquee-type sign to express the church's opinion for 15 years and has no plans to remove the message.
''First and foremost, are we not entitled to freedom of speech?'' Youngblood said.
Youngblood, who said he is an expert on world religions, said he had been threatened and his property vandalized. He said he has filed 13 police reports since July.
Youngblood said his church would issue a formal statement later.
Iman Zaid Malik, spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, said some Christian friends brought the offensive sign to his attention.
''Misinformation must be rejected by all people of conscience,'' Malik said. ''This shows that the vast majority of Americans reject hate and seek a society where good overcomes the evil.''
Malik said the Quran verse indicates that those who believe and are steadfast in battle will overcome much larger armies. It is not an endorsement of murder, he said.
The verse reads: ''O Prophet [Muhammad]! Inspire the believers to conquer all fear of death when fighting, [so that] if there be twenty of you who are patient in adversity, they might overcome two hundred; and if there be one hundred of you, they might overcome one-thousand of those bent on denying the truth, because they are people who cannot grasp it.''
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the Quran also states, ''whoever murders a person . . . it will be as if he killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life, shall be regarded as if he saved all mankind.''
ON THE WEB: Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida: www.cair-florida.org
First Conservative Baptist Church: www.conservative.edu/main.htm
I also do not speak french, swahili, nor know how to knit. What does that have to do with anything? Please attempt to analyze the topic, and not attack the person. I am at work, and cannot monitor this thread as often as I would like. I also do not have a bible handy. However, your single minded attack on me illustrates your inability to reason outside the confines of Christianity. My point is, and has consistently been "When you isolate a sigle verse from any religious book, you can make it say anything you want to say".
I was under the impression that Christ came to fulfill the prophicies, not to destroy them. Do the 10 commandments no longer apply? I don't recall Christ addressing the whole coveting issue, may I do so now? Christ came to fulfill his mission, that he may die that we may be saved. The NT is an extension to the OT, not a replacement of it. Judism rejects the NT, and accepts Christ as a prophet, not the saviour. But, the foundation of our beliefs are the same. And no, I wasn't asleep during sunday school, it only looked that way.
What is the ISBN?
My husband took a colege course in Islam around 1994 or 1995 and had to get a copy of the Koran. After 911, I saw some quotes on FR supposedly from the Koran and couldn't believe it. I looked up the quotes in the Koran and found that the Koran ABSOLUTELY DOES preach HATE and DEATH toward Jews and Christians!
Unfortunately, we let someone borrow our copy of the Koran after 911 and we're not sure where it is now. I'd like to get another one (but NOT a new one so I don't support their HATE-filled causes).
Are you trying to suggest this isn't true???
So where in the Ten Commandments is there a reference to genocide?
If anything, the Ten Commandments stand as a standard in which we are to respect the supremacy of relationships, with God, with parents, with neighbors.
And the only good Indian, is a dead Indian, right? < /sarcasm>
Its amazing how weak the faith of many on FR must be that they "cringe" at the idea that there is a competing faith out there. They cower so much that they disobey Christ's primary commandment.
The difference between Islam and Christianity is this...in in Christianity we believe that God sent His only begotten Son to die for us, in Islam they want you to send your sons to die for allah...
I may not have the exact quote but it's pretty close.
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