The Quran-burning fiasco
By Thomas Lee Seng Hock, MySinchew
It certainly is a big relief that the insane threat by the loony American charismatic Pastor Terry Jones of the obscure Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, to burn 200 copies of the Quran on Saturday 11 September 2010 has been aborted.
The worldwide widespread consequence of such a dastardly act is certainly inconceivable if it is actually carried out by the fanatical pastor and his 50-member strong congregation.
Jones, 58, is the infamous author of the anti-Islam bookIslam is of the Devil, a polemic published in 2010, denouncing Islam as a violent religion.
He and his wife Sylvia have been teaching that Islam promotes violence and that Muslims want to impose sharia laws in the United States.
In 2009, Jones posted a signboard outside his church, stating that “Islam is of the Devil”. His church members have also sent their children to the school started by the church wearing T-shirts with words stating “Jesus answered: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except through me. I stand in trust with Dove Outreach Center” on front of the T-shirt, and “Islam is of the Devil” on the back.
In 2002, Jones was fined US$3,800 by a Cologne court for using a fake doctorate title, one of the very common practices even among some Malaysian pastors, especially those with no tertiary qualifications.
The “International Burn Quran Day” promoted by Jones has received widespread condemnations, from US President Barack Obama to our own Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. The leading world Christian organizations, such as the Vatican and the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), and prominent Christian leaders have also denounced the lunatic action of Jones and his church.
In Malaysia, among the first to voice its reproof and condemnation of the matter is the Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM), the coordinating umbrella body of the major denominations such as the Methodist, Anglican, Presbyetrian, Luthuran, etc.
The Rev Dr Thomas Philips, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) has also expressed reprehension with the Jones fiasco, saying that “this kind of action is not in the teachings of any religion.”
The most deafening silence on the very grave implication of this crazy action is perhaps the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) of Malaysia, which has not said a word on the whole thing!
I hope the NECF, the umbrella body of almost all the conservative and evangelical churches in the country, is not keeping quiet because there may be some of its leaders or member churches who are supportive of such types of unchristian action by Jones and his church. Some pastors unilaterally support anything American.
The church Jones pastors is known for its support of the Israeli cause, and is said to be associated with the Christian Zionist movement which wants to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem on the Temple Mount site where the sacred Muslim Dome of the Rock and the El-Aksa Mosque are located.
Any attempt to reclaim the land and rebuild the temple will definitely cause a worldwide uprising of the Muslims, as to the Muslims, the Dome of the Rock is sacred as it the venue where the Prophet Mohammad is said to have ascended to heaven.
The Christian Zionist movement, basically a fundamentalist anti-Islam movement, is gaining support from many conservative Christians, especially those biblically illiterate who do not know and understand what the Bible actually teaches. And we have many such pastors and church leaders in Malaysia who literally venerate anything Israel or American. Some are even adopting worship styles ala the Jewish temple ceremonies.
The misguided theological stance of such conservative churches, led especially by those with no or little solid biblical and theological education, and influenced by the deceptive American missionaries and teachers, is the basic cause of such gullibility and naïf among many simple guileless Christians.
