As-Salāmu `Alaykum (السلام عليكم):
Petitions make people who are inactive feel they are actually participating in a cause.
Many Muslims are just too passive. Not that advocating violence would bring a positive result.
Just read the posts of forum members with the high reputations and power, etc that can't
even take five minutes to research who the Dove World Outreach Center Pastor that is promoting this
nonsense and the location.
Reveiwing the
Nightline segment it
appears the majority of Quran's are translations, Yusuf Ali, etc.
The arabic is the Quran which in still included in many translations.
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/
__________________________________________________ ________
Dove World Outreach Center is a small, 50 member
non-denominational charismatic Christian church in
Gainesville,
Florida led by Terry Jones and his wife, Sylvia. The church gained notoriety in the late 2000s for its displays of
anti-Islam and
anti-LGBT messages. The church received widespread national and international criticism in 2010 after it announced an "
International Burn a Koran Day", during which church members would hold
book burnings of the
Qu'ran, on the anniversary of the
September 11 attacks.
History of the church
The Dove World Outreach Center (DWOC) was founded in 1985 by Donald O. Northrup
[1] and Richard H. Wright who served as co-pastors in 1987.
[2] It became known for participating in charitable endeavors.[
citation needed] Wright led a subsidiary church in
Waldo, Florida in the 1980s.[
citation needed]
Northrup, who was affiliated with the now defunct
Maranatha Campus Ministries (MCM), headed the DWOC from its inception until he died in 1996.
[1] (He repudiated the MCM before his death.)[
citation needed] His wife, Dolores, continued to participate in various ministries of the DWOC as Woman's Pastor until 2004;
[1] she became estranged from the congregation in 2009 due to concerns about the church's future under the Jones family.[
citation needed]
Donald Northrup and Terry Jones first became involved with each other as operatives in the Maranatha Campus Ministries. Jones founded and led the
Christliche Gemeinde Köln, a church in
Cologne,
Germany from 1981 to 2008
[3][4] initially as a branch of the Maranatha Campus Ministries. Jones was released from the leadership of the Christliche Gemeinde Köln in 2008 due to untenable theological statements and craving for recognition.
[5] Following Jones' departure, the CGK closed,
[3] then reopened under new, independent, leadership.
Current organization of the church
In 2008, Jones a native of
Cape Girardeau, Missouri who was born in 1952 or 1953,
[6] and his second wife Sylvia became the current senior pastors of the DWOC, with Wayne Sapp serving as assistant pastor.
The DWOC also maintains a boarding school in Gainsville, called the Dove World Outreach Academy. According to the
Gainsville Sun, students of the academy are prohibited from outside and family contact including attendance at family weddings and funerals, and work without compensation selling, packing, and shipping furniture for TS and Company, a business owned by Sylvia Jones.
[3].
In 2010 Jones published
Islam is of the Devil, a polemic denouncing Islam as a violent faith.
[7] The church reportedly had fifty members in September 2010.
[8]
Political controversies
Anti-Islam lawn signs
In 2009, Dove World posted a sign on its lawn which stated in large red letters "Islam is of the Devil"
[9]. The signs drew protests by
CAIR and local activists, who picketed the church's front sidewalk. By July 31, however, the church posted another sign which paraphrased a portion of
At-Tawba (Surah 9:5), stating "Koran 9:5 Kill the disbelievers wherever you find them."
[10] The verse actually reads "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." This is the famous "
Sword verse" in the Quran.
Another sign was posted by October 29, showing a Muslim man hanging a Christian
[11]; according to one observer, the sign was later destroyed by angry passersby
[12].
Anti-Islam t-shirts
Also in 2009, members of the church sent their children to the new school year with t-shirts saying on the front "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." and on the back "Islam is of the Devil". The incident resulted in a 10-year-old being sent home from Talbot Elementary on August 24, and, on the 25, Eastside High students and one Gainesville High student being sent home and a student at Westwood Middle having to change clothes because of the shirt
[13].
Protest in Columbus, Ohio
Dove World participated in a November 2009 rally in support of
Rifqa Bary; members wore "Islam is of the Devil" t-shirts to the event, although some other participants at the rally were troubled by the t-shirts' message
[14].
Endorsement of Westboro Baptist Church
In March 2010, Dove World posted a video which decried the possibility of an openly-gay mayor (in this case, current mayor Craig Lowe, who is the first openly gay mayor of Gainesville). It also posted a sign saying "No Homo Mayor"; after
Americans United requested the
Internal Revenue Service to investigate the sign as an undue participation of a non-political tax-exempt organization in the political process
[15], the church then changed the sign to simply read "No Homo"
[16].
On April 18, 2010, members of the church participated in a joint protest with the
Westboro Baptist Church against homosexuality
[17]; the protest took place in front of
Trinity United Methodist Church and the
University of Florida Hillel.
Later, on April 21, Dove World member Fran Ingram published a blog post proclaiming the church's endorsements of the Westboro Baptist Church's protests against homosexuality and homosexuals
[18].
"International Burn a Koran Day"
Main article:
International Burn a Koran Day
In July 2010, the church announced that it would hold an "International Burn a Koran Day", in which church members would hold book burnings of the Qu'ran, on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The initial announcement elicited condemnation by religious organizations. The
National Association of Evangelicals recommended that the event be canceled.
[19] The German Evangelical Alliance formally dissociated itself from the proposed Koran burning.
[5] The Al-Falluja jihadist web forum threatened a bloody war against America.
[20].
The announcement has also elicited comparisons of the church's actions with those of
Nazi Germany, which engaged in
burnings of books written by Jews, communists and others who did not conform to Nazi ideology, as well as the European Middle Ages/Renaissance-era
Roman Catholic Church, which participated in the
Inquisition against persons and works which did not conform with the church's teachings.
[21]
The Gainesville fire department refused to grant the church a burning permit, stating that open burning of books is not allowed in the city due to fire hazard.
[22] Regardless, the church plans to proceed with the event despite the potential of being fined if it proceeds with the event.
[23]
The event is being followed by thousands (fans, critics and others) on an eponymical
Facebook page.
[24] Worries have also emerged that the event could spark events of terrorism after a UK-based Islamic group has incorporated the Koran-burning event in a
YouTube video which makes a call to Muslims to "rise up and act". Terry Jones has however said that he hopes the event does not lead to violence. Jones says he regularly receives
death threats since the event was announced.
[24] Also since the announcement, the bank where the church has a $140,000 mortgage loan, has demanded immediate repayment of the balance and Jones has also had his property insurance cancelled.
[24]
Financial controversy
As a result of its controversies and the ties between the church and TS and Company, the Alachua County Property Appraiser commenced an investigation into the tax-exempt status of the church in March 2010
[25].
Response
Local response
The church has been strongly criticized by various local religious and political figures in Florida for its stances against Islam and homosexuality. In response, a Gainesville Interfaith Forum was established in November 2009 with participation from the
University of Florida Hillel, Congregation Bnai Israel
[26] and individual Muslim residents, and the forum's request for the declaration of
September 11 as "Interfaith Solidarity Day" was honored by current mayor Craig Lowe
[27]. The Forum scheduled a "Gathering for Peace, Understanding and Hope" at Trinity United Methodist Church on the day before the planned burning
[28].
In addition, Lowe has referred to Dove World as a "tiny fringe group and an embarrassment to our community"
[29].
Twenty local religious leaders gathered Thursday, September 2, 2010 to call for citizens to rally around Muslims “in a time when so much venom is directed toward them.”
[30].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_World_Outreach_Center
__________________________________________________ ________
Dove Outreach Center
5805 NW 37th St
Gainesville, FL 32653
(352) 371-2487
Pastor Terry Jones and Sylvia Jones