Baptist Church says Koran "should be flushed"
News & Observer
North Carolina
By PAUL NOWELL, Associated Press Writer
The pastor of a small Baptist church has refused calls to take down a sign posted in front of his church reading "The Koran needs to be flushed," saying Tuesday he has nothing to apologize for.
"My creed is the Bible, which tells me I am supposed to stand up and defend my faith," said the Rev. Creighton Lovelace, pastor of the 55- member Danieltown Baptist Church in Forest City. "I don't hate Muslims, I just hate their false doctrines." But the Council on Americ an-Islamic Relations, based in Washington, D.C., called on Americans of all faiths to demand the message displayed outside the church be removed.
"Christians often ask themselves, 'What would Jesus do?'" said the group's spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper. "I don't think Jesus, who is loved by Muslims and mentioned frequently in the Quran, would use such hate-filled and divisive rhetoric." Earlier this month, Newsweek magazine apologized for errors in a story alleging that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, desecrated the Quran, including flushing one down a toilet. Following the story's publication, 15 people died and scores were injured in violence between protesters and security forces in Afghanistan, prompting U.S. promises to investigate the allegations. Charles Kimball, a religion professor at Wake Forest University, called the church's decision to put up the message "highly inappropriate and deliberately provocative."
"It also shows a great deal of ignorance and a lack of civility," he said Tuesday from his office in Winston-Salem. "What is most distressing is that this sort of self-righteous speech suggests a total disregard for the words of Jesus, who told us to love our neighbor." Lovelace said he knew before he put up the sign that some people would disagree with its message. "I expected some people would be offended, just as if someone put up a sign that said the Bible should be flushed," he said. "That would offend me as a Christian. "This is America and we have the freedom of the press, so I have the right to put up this sign."
Hooper said while he agreed the church's pastor has that right, the sign harms Christian-Muslim relations and does further damage to America's weakened international image. Richard Land, who heads the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, criticized the church's decision. "If we want other people to respect our religious symbols and documents we need to respect the symbols and documents that they believe are sacred," he said. "What positive purpose does this serve? None. It's not going to make it easier to evangelize Muslims or foster respect for our religious beliefs."
George Bullard, the associate executive director of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, called it "a local church autonomy issue." "It does not represent the sentiment of our convention," he said. "I can't speak for any particular church, but we are not in support of that."
Lovelace said he does not believe he is being intolerant. "We are all told to be tolerant," he said. "You can be tolerant of other people, but that doesn't mean you have to accept anything that teaches against what is in the Bible."
North Carolina
By PAUL NOWELL, Associated Press Writer
The pastor of a small Baptist church has refused calls to take down a sign posted in front of his church reading "The Koran needs to be flushed," saying Tuesday he has nothing to apologize for.
"My creed is the Bible, which tells me I am supposed to stand up and defend my faith," said the Rev. Creighton Lovelace, pastor of the 55- member Danieltown Baptist Church in Forest City. "I don't hate Muslims, I just hate their false doctrines." But the Council on Americ an-Islamic Relations, based in Washington, D.C., called on Americans of all faiths to demand the message displayed outside the church be removed.
"Christians often ask themselves, 'What would Jesus do?'" said the group's spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper. "I don't think Jesus, who is loved by Muslims and mentioned frequently in the Quran, would use such hate-filled and divisive rhetoric." Earlier this month, Newsweek magazine apologized for errors in a story alleging that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, desecrated the Quran, including flushing one down a toilet. Following the story's publication, 15 people died and scores were injured in violence between protesters and security forces in Afghanistan, prompting U.S. promises to investigate the allegations. Charles Kimball, a religion professor at Wake Forest University, called the church's decision to put up the message "highly inappropriate and deliberately provocative."
"It also shows a great deal of ignorance and a lack of civility," he said Tuesday from his office in Winston-Salem. "What is most distressing is that this sort of self-righteous speech suggests a total disregard for the words of Jesus, who told us to love our neighbor." Lovelace said he knew before he put up the sign that some people would disagree with its message. "I expected some people would be offended, just as if someone put up a sign that said the Bible should be flushed," he said. "That would offend me as a Christian. "This is America and we have the freedom of the press, so I have the right to put up this sign."
Hooper said while he agreed the church's pastor has that right, the sign harms Christian-Muslim relations and does further damage to America's weakened international image. Richard Land, who heads the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, criticized the church's decision. "If we want other people to respect our religious symbols and documents we need to respect the symbols and documents that they believe are sacred," he said. "What positive purpose does this serve? None. It's not going to make it easier to evangelize Muslims or foster respect for our religious beliefs."
George Bullard, the associate executive director of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, called it "a local church autonomy issue." "It does not represent the sentiment of our convention," he said. "I can't speak for any particular church, but we are not in support of that."
Lovelace said he does not believe he is being intolerant. "We are all told to be tolerant," he said. "You can be tolerant of other people, but that doesn't mean you have to accept anything that teaches against what is in the Bible."
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