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Creepier Than Thou: Questions Raised About Koran Burning Church

The Dove World Outreach Center (DWOC), headed by Rev. Terry Jones has already triggered violence internationally with its promise this weekend to burn copies of the Koran (Qu’ran) and prompted our military commander in Iraq to speak out that such a hateful act would put the lives of U.S. soldiers in jeopardy. Jones, however, is unmoved and is willing to sacrifice someone’s son or daughter for his publicity stunt. Now, we are learning how really creepy this group is.

The 50-family Gainesville church is headed by Jones and his wife Sylvia. Its “Academy Rulebook” was written in November 2007 by Sylvia Jones. The rulebook restricts every part of the lives of students including cutting off contact with family members. They warn “[f]amily occasions like wedding, funerals or Birthdays are no exception to this rule . . . No phone calls. Exceptions can be made under certain circumstances but only after receiving permission.” Romantic relationships are barred: “there is no need to talk at all, or even flirt!” Students must be weighed repeatedly and are barred from “eating out in restaurants.” Students are told to “wash or shower at least once a day but not more then 2 a day,” and to be sure to cleanse “Mouth, sweat areas, hair, feet hands.”

For members have accused the Jones’ of abuse and using church funds for personal purposes. They appear to be in the furniture selling business, though allegations have been raised about the use of the church for this purpose (here).

Jones, 58, is the author of “Islam Is of the Devil” and models much of his lectures on the movie “Braveheart.”

Source: here.

176 thoughts on “Creepier Than Thou: Questions Raised About Koran Burning Church”

  4. The pastor at the centre of the Koran-burning row has given a New York imam two hours to contact him about plans to build an Islamic centre near Ground Zero.

    Watch the pastor’s statement live on Sky Player

    http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Koran-Burning-Pastor-Terry-Jones-Gives-Two-Hour-Ultimatum-To-New-York-Imam-Over-Ground-Zero-Mosque/Article/201009215724870?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15724870_Koran-Burning_Pastor_Terry_Jones_Gives_Two-Hour_Ultimatum_To_New_York_Imam_Over_Ground_Zero_Mosque

  6. Protester plans to burn Quran on Capitol steps

    By Becky Orr
    borr@wyomingnews.com

    CHEYENNE — The founder of the Wyoming Tyranny Response Team plans to burn a copy of the Quran on the steps of the State Capitol on Saturday.

    Duncan Philp said he will protest the location of a proposed Islamic Center near Ground Zero in New York City. He also will protest President Barack Obama’s support for the location.

    “I feel Obama is being disingenuous when he pretends he supports religious liberties,” Philp said. “(The Muslims) are not building that mosque out of love for my culture or love of the victims of 9-11 but for political reasons.”

    Meanwhile, members of Unitarian Universalist Church also plan to walk from their church to the Capitol on Saturday.

    They will gather in response to a Florida pastor who plans to burn more than 200 copies of the Quran, said the Rev. Dana Lightsey of the church.

    http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/09/09/news/18local_09-09-10.txt

  7. Westboro Baptist Church to burn Qurans if Dove doesn’t

    By Chad Smith
    Staff writer

    Published: Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 2:42 p.m.
    Last Modified: Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 5:20 p.m.

    Westboro Baptist Church, the small Topeka, Kan., church that pickets funerals of American soldiers to spread its message that God is punishing the country for being tolerant of homosexuals, has vowed to hold a Quran burning if Gainesville’s Dove World Outreach Center calls its off.

    “WBC burned the Koran once – and if you sissy brats of Doomed america bully Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center until they change their plans to burn that blasphemous tripe called the Koran, then WBC will burn it (again), to clearly show you some things,” the church announced in a news release this week.

    http://www.ocala.com/article/20100909/ARTICLES/100909743/1412?Title=Westboro-Baptish-Church-to-burn-Qurans-if-Dove-doesn-t

  8. SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. – Springfield Pastor Bob Old said his decision to burn the Islamic holy book on September 11 has nothing to do with the agenda of the pastor in Florida or the controversy surrounding the mosque in New York.

    He has his own reasons behind the demonstrations and no intentions of backing down.

    “My plans for Saturday are to take a copy of the Quran and burn it,” said Old.

    He’s planning to go forward with the demonstration on 9/11 to be able to make his point and have it heard.

    “To the Muslim church I would say the reason I am doing on Saturday because I believe they worship a false god. They have a false text, a false prophet and a false scripture,” said Old.

    He said the other two reasons are to teach Americans about their constitutional rights and to make them better Christians.

    http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=13129871

  9. I will say that Brandenburg v. Ohio struck down an Ohio law which prohibited the advocating violence. The opinion went on to say that the freedom would not extend to “advocacy [which] is directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action. . . .” So, again, I don’t think it is clear or settled.

  10. James, I don’t think it is that clear. If one person says something which induces another to act violently, then the speaker should not escape criminal liability by saying he could not be held liable for the threatened response to what he said. I think that there has to be some intent to incite the violence. In this case, the pastor and someone (Mr. Sapp) speaking on behalf of the publicity stunt recognized that this would lead to violence. Of course they said that they prayed it would not happened but then Mr. Sapp said that the military and others had put themselves in harm’s way by being in the middle east. So I think a case could be argued that there is an intent to induce violence and this is not protected. Check out U.S. v White, 610 F.3d 956. In that case, White posted on the internet a jury’s contact info. White in other postings called for violence against the enemies of white supremacy. The Dist. Ct. dismissed the indictment finding it violated the defendants right to free speech. The Court of Appeals reversed finding the indictment for solicitation valid.

  11. jde,

    You’re arguing as if it is an inexorable law of nature that burning Korans leads to people being killed. As if it’s inherent in the act itself. That’s bullshit. Free speech has to be measured by the nature of the speech itself, not by the threatened response to the speech.

    Burning the Koran is no different from burning the Bible or whatever Oprah’s book of the month is. It can’t be treated differently because of what asshole terrorists will do in response, or we start a downward spiral in which any group willing to commit unprovoked acts of terrorism gets to set the limits of free speech.

  12. eniobob
    1, September 10, 2010 at 10:51 am
    “AnnoyedCanuck 6 hours ago (4:40 AM) 42 Fans

    If he wants to burn Korans, he ought to do it where his act would mean the most – on a street corner in Kabul or Baghdad”

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Is there still time to get him there?

    As always, illuminating cowardice is….illuminating.

  13. eniobob
    1, September 10, 2010 at 10:51 am
    “AnnoyedCanuck 6 hours ago (4:40 AM) 42 Fans

    If he wants to burn Korans, he ought to do it where his act would mean the most – on a street corner in Kabul or Baghdad”

    ==============================================================
    Love that one

    For anyone who hasn’t read lottakatz’s post at 2:05 am … go back and read it … the parameters are nicely set and the analysis is, in my opinion, sharp and on target

  14. I do not believe that Pastor Jones publicity stunt is protected speech. It is different than flag burning. It is different because it is likely to be a direct cause of the loss of life. To my knowledge, no one has ever been incited to kill or seriously injure someone else because a flag has been burned. There is a nice article written by Tanya Roth about this. She points out two cases where the Supreme Court struck down city ordinances banning cross burning. She pointed out, though, that in the Virginia case, the SCOTUS opinion said that a law prohibiting the cross burning as a threat would be constitutional but a law prohibiting cross burning as a message of shared ideology would not. Obviously the difference between the two would be the connection to violence in the one cross burning. There are too many people in the media and the blogsphere concluding, without much of an analysis, that the Quran burning is protected under the 1st amendment right to free speech and they point to flag burning being held as protected as the foundation for their argument. This fails to consider the incitement to violence that this will surely cause. Hopefully, Mr. Turley, or some other noted constitutional scholar, will weigh in on whether this is protected speech and address whether the incitement to violence takes this activity out of the protection.

  15. lottakatz,

    In my opinion there is nothing untoward about saying, ‘you have the right to pull this stupid, hateful stunt but it’s almost certainly going to get US soldiers (and possibly civilians) killed and we would really like you to call it off and limit the damage you’ve already done’.

  16. “AnnoyedCanuck 6 hours ago (4:40 AM) 42 Fans

    If he wants to burn Korans, he ought to do it where his act would mean the most – on a street corner in Kabul or Baghdad”

  19. eniobob

    Sounds more like a David Koresh moment to me. I don’t know about the Right Reverend, but his assistants claim to be armed. There are more hate/militia groups in Florida than almost any other state. Rally round the flag, boys.

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