Quran Unites
OnIslam & Newspapers
Friday, 06 May 2011
The Presbyterian
Church continues to make headlines that no church should be ever accused of, ie Their acceptance of Homosexuality
among its members and its priests and now its welcoming in its doors the Koran
and Muslimism. Among denominations there
are only the Methodists, Presbyterians,
Anglicans, and the Baptists of America that have fallen so swiftly from any
semblance of biblical Christianity to the pig sty these now share.
Muslim women shared luncheon with
Presbyterians as a thank-you to the church board.
CAIRO
– Feeling grateful to their local church move to hand out free copies of
Qur’an, a group of Muslim women arranged a luncheon in Salt Lake city, hoping
to extend new bridges between the two faiths in the community, The Salt Lake
Tribune reported on Friday, May 6.
“You extended the first hand,” Angela
Young, a convert to Islam, told attendants at the luncheon.
Preparing falafel, biryani
rice, hummus and baklava, a group of eight women from the Muslim community
decided to share it with their local church.
On Thursday, they headed to Salt Lake City’s Wasatch Presbyterian Church
sharing their luncheon, personal stories and e-mails with Presbyterian women.
The luncheon was a thank-you from the
Muslim women, who were delighted by Wasatch’s
giveaway earlier this week of free copies of the Qur’an.
The move to distribute 70 copies of Qur’an
was first suggested two weeks ago by Wasatch’s new
pastor, the Rev. Scott Dalgarno.
It came as a response to plans by
anti-Qur’an pastor Terry Jones to protest against Islamic law and to burn the
Holy Qur’an.
Jones, a 58-year-old pastor and the head
of a small fringe church in Gainesville, Florida, burnt the Qur’an last month
in front of a crowd of about 50 people on March 20 in what he called
"International Judge the Qur’an Day".
Video posted on the website of his church
showed a kerosene-soaked book going up in bright flames, sending thousands of
angry Afghans into the streets in deadly protests that left scores of people
dead.
The church received 20 copies more of
Qur’an that were donated by a group called Muslims for Peace, to end up
distributing 90 copies.
Each Qur’an had a bookmark insert that
reads: "This book was donated by the leaders of Wasatch
Presbyterian Church who are not afraid of truth wherever it can be found."
Placing them on the shelf on Monday
morning, hours after declaring the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden,
the books were distributed in only 90 minutes.
“People were grateful and curious about it
and wanting to read it,” said Anne Holman, manager of the bookstore
“It was made even more immediate by what
had happened.”
Grateful
Facing a decade of suspicions, Muslim
women were grateful to their local church move to counter ugly anti-Islam
bigotry.
Young said she was “completely and
totally” moved when she heard that Wasatch planned to
distribute copies of her holy book.
“It’s great to see someone reach out to
counter something ugly,” she said, referring to the Qur’an burning.
Since 9/11, US Muslims, estimated between
six to seven million, have become sensitized to an erosion of their civil
rights, with a prevailing belief that
There have been 800 incidents of violence,
threats and vandalism against Muslims since 2001.
Estimates show that 14 percent of
religious discrimination is reported against Muslims.
A
Young, the Muslim convert, told her friend
Maysa Kergaye the story of Dalgarno suggestion to distribute Qur’an who came up with
the idea of thanking the Presbyterians for their kindness.
“You have helped to build a bridge in our
community,” Kergaye told the Wasatch
women, as well as Dalgarno and several other men.
“I hope we can continue this.” Kergaye added that Muslim women were ready to help
Presbyterian women in coming service projects.
“We are not as organized, but we do show
up.”