Muslim Crowd Burns Two Pakistan Churches

[Kenazo]

Text

LAHORE , Pakistan - Hundreds of Muslims attacked and burned two churches in Pakistan on Saturday after reports that a Christian man had desecrated Islam's holy book. No one was injured in the blazes.

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A school, student hostel and the home of a priest were also torched by the crowd of about 1,500 Muslims near the town of Sangla Hill, about 80 miles northeast of Lahore, said police official Ali Asghar Dogar.

The attacks were being investigated. About two dozen people had been arrested, Dogar said.

The fires came a day after a local Muslim resident accused a Christian of burning a one-room Islamic school along with copies of the Quran. Dogar said the allegations were apparently leveled by people who lost money while gambling with the Christian man on Friday, but police had detained him and were investigating.

Shahbaz Bhatti, head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance ? which promotes the rights of minorities in mainly Muslim Pakistan, denied the charges and condemned the attacks on the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.

"No Christian burned copies of the Quran," he told The Associated Press. "No Christian even can think of doing it. We have maximum regard and respect for the Quran and Islam's Prophet Muhammad."

Bhatti accused local Muslim leaders of using mosque public-address systems to urge Muslims to attack the churches.

Non-Muslims comprise just 3 percent of Pakistan's 150 million-plus population. The country's Christian minority generally coexists peacefully with the Muslim majority, but there have been occasional attacks on churches and Christian clergy by Islamic extremists railing against Western influence in Pakistan.

Thousands of Pakistanis joined angry street protests this spring over the alleged desecration of the Quran by interrogators at a U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba. Desecration of the holy book carries the death penalty in Pakistan.

 

[3chordcharlie]

And what do you think?

 

[Kenazo]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
And what do you think?

What, I have to have an opinion?

Although I believe that the majority of Muslims aren't quite as fanatical as these ones, it's disapointing to see the level of intolerance that appears to be inherant to this faith. I know in N. America the church has a bad rap for being intollerant, but it is on a completely different scale than the kind of crap that these Islamic nutjobs are doing. (of course there are Christian nutjobs that would act in the same way if given the opportunity).

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Kenazo

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
And what do you think?

What, I have to have an opinion?

Actually, in P&N, yes, you do.

Although I believe that the majority of Muslims aren't quite as fanatical as these ones, it's disapointing to see the level of intolerance that appears to be inherant to this faith. I know in N. America the church has a bad rap for being intollerant, but it is on a completely different scale than the kind of crap that these Islamic nutjobs are doing. (of course there are Christian nutjobs that would act in the same way if given the opportunity).

The west isn't very far removed from this sort of behaviour - I think you have to consider this event comparable to the lynchings and other racist offences that occured in western nations regularly until a few decades ago.

Edit - this isn't a defence of the behaviour, just a note that it is apparently very much 'human', and not 'muslim' in origin.

 

[Kenazo]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: Kenazo

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
And what do you think?

What, I have to have an opinion?

Actually, in P&N, yes, you do.

Although I believe that the majority of Muslims aren't quite as fanatical as these ones, it's disapointing to see the level of intolerance that appears to be inherant to this faith. I know in N. America the church has a bad rap for being intollerant, but it is on a completely different scale than the kind of crap that these Islamic nutjobs are doing. (of course there are Christian nutjobs that would act in the same way if given the opportunity).

The west isn't very far removed from this sort of behaviour - I think you have to consider this event comparable to the lynchings and other racist offences that occured in western nations regularly until a few decades ago.

Edit - this isn't a defence of the behaviour, just a note that it is apparently very much 'human', and not 'muslim' in origin.

I can agree with that. It's just too bad that we all can't learn from each other on this kind of thing.

 

[Moonbeam]

Hum? If this is carried to its logical conclusion there won't be a church, mosque synagogue or temple or any other place of worship left standing.

 

[mOeeOm]

lol everybody accusing everybody.

I don't think it has to do with the religion, it has to do with people being pissed off. Take for example, if I go to a Republican rally and start burning the american flag and pissing on it.....I'll get my ass handed to me by a crowd of angry people.

If people believe in one symbol, and you desecrate it....it doesn't matter what it is they will get angry.

 

[dahunan]

Originally posted by: mOeeOm
lol everybody accusing everybody.

I don't think it has to do with the religion, it has to do with people being pissed off. Take for example, if I go to a Republican rally and start burning the american flag and pissing on it.....I'll get my ass handed to me by a crowd of angry people.

If people believe in one symbol, and you desecrate it....it doesn't matter what it is they will get angry.

They accused him and never talked with authorities to find the proof... then they burned down TWO Churches (talk about lack of respect)

THEN

a school, student hostel and the home of a priest were also torched

They will go home and rest and wakup the next day and not ask for any forgiveness because something makes them think they are justtified...

 

[Kenazo]

Originally posted by: mOeeOm
lol everybody accusing everybody.

I don't think it has to do with the religion, it has to do with people being pissed off. Take for example, if I go to a Republican rally and start burning the american flag and pissing on it.....I'll get my ass handed to me by a crowd of angry people.

If people believe in one symbol, and you desecrate it....it doesn't matter what it is they will get angry.

This has everything to do with Religion. It's like the Church's justification of the Spanish Inquisition. It had everything to do with Religion and a misinterpretation of the Bible. This is no different.
Religion so infuses its followers that they really can not act outside of it and their worldview derived from their belief.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: mOeeOm
lol everybody accusing everybody.

I don't think it has to do with the religion, it has to do with people being pissed off. Take for example, if I go to a Republican rally and start burning the american flag and pissing on it.....I'll get my ass handed to me by a crowd of angry people.

If people believe in one symbol, and you desecrate it....it doesn't matter what it is they will get angry.

Yes, in this way they demonstrate that they are superficial and have no internalized understanding of the meaning of the symbol.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Hum? If this is carried to its logical conclusion there won't be a church, mosque synagogue or temple or any other place of worship left standing.

Sadly, it will not be carried to its logical conclusion..

 

[RabidMongoose]

The west isn't very far removed from this sort of behaviour - I think you have to consider this event comparable to the lynchings and other racist offences that occured in western nations regularly until a few decades ago.

But where were these types of countries 'a few decades ago'?

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose

The west isn't very far removed from this sort of behaviour - I think you have to consider this event comparable to the lynchings and other racist offences that occured in western nations regularly until a few decades ago.

But where were these types of countries 'a few decades ago'?

It doesn't matter - I'm just pre-emptively pointing out that you can't really assign to Islam the blame for behaviour that has always been practised, everywhere.

 

[beyoku]

Originally posted by: dahunan

Originally posted by: mOeeOm
lol everybody accusing everybody.

I don't think it has to do with the religion, it has to do with people being pissed off. Take for example, if I go to a Republican rally and start burning the american flag and pissing on it.....I'll get my ass handed to me by a crowd of angry people.

If people believe in one symbol, and you desecrate it....it doesn't matter what it is they will get angry.

They accused him and never talked with authorities to find the proof... then they burned down TWO Churches (talk about lack of respect)

THEN

a school, student hostel and the home of a priest were also torched

They will go home and rest and wakup the next day and not ask for any forgiveness because something makes them think they are justtified...

we have accused poeple sitting in Gitmo right now. Also we kill Suspected Terrorists in iraq on a daily basis.

 

[maddogchen]

I bet nothing happens to them.

edit: and what they did was inexcusable. Even if this Christian man did what they accuse him of, it doesn't justify burning down two churches, a school and a hostel.