Giving Thanks To Terry Jones – An Open Letter

Last updated on: July 1, 2014 at 3:08 pm by Mark Sandlin

Giving Thanks To Terry Jones – An Open Letter 2014-07-01T15:08:26-05:00 Mark Sandlin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

by: Mark Sandlin

Dear Terry Jones,

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written but, let’s face it, you’ve been a very busy man with all the Qurans and the burning and the getting arrested. You probably wouldn’t have had time for my letter and that’s okay, I understand. I do hope, however, you’ll make a little time for this one. Why? Because I want to thank you.

You probably don’t get much love from we progressive Christian minister types and I’m sorry about that. After all, God is love and we are called to love everyone, even our enemies (how crazy is that?). So, you can think of this as a love letter – an awkward spiritual bromance, if you’d like.

You see, the last time I wrote you was exactly three years ago. Time flies, huh?

I had just heard about your plans to burn Qurans and decided to write you a note about it (see picture below). After writing it, I thought I’d encourage other folks to do the same. So, I wrote a blog post about it, tweeted it out and shared it on Facebook. Much to my amazement, it took off like wildfire (my apologies for the pun).

As a matter of fact, that post was the first post EVER on TheGodArticle.com. Yes, YOU helped launch one of the most popular progressive Christian blogs online. Thanks.

You can only begin to imagine my surprise when, on the three-year anniversary of The God Article, I hear about your arrest and yet another attempt at burning Qurans. Your timing is impeccable. I have to give you that.

So, I want to thank you! And even though it’s the birthday of my blog, I want to give you a gift (and maybe some others will want to join in).

It is my hope, my prayer even, that in time you may see more clearly exactly how unloving of an act burning the sacred texts of our Abrahamic brothers and sisters (or any book for that matter) is. As I understand it, this time alone you’ve ruined almost 3000 Qurans by soaking them in kerosene. So, here’s my gift to you. In hopes of offsetting, to some small degree, the regret you will surely experience one day, I am purchasing Qurans on your behalf and making sure they get to those who’d like to read it!

Nice, huh? You. Are. Welcome. Can’t you just feel the love?!

If we are really lucky a lot of my friends will do the same and we can replace all 3000 of the ones that were lost this time and then some!

PEACE!

Rev. Mark Sandlin

If you would like help replace the Qurans that were destroyed, I encourage you to donate to The Qu’ran Project (or to a similar project of your choosing). Donations can be made here. Even a few dollars can help buy new Qurans — so don’t hesitate to give what you can. You could even buy them yourself and hand-deliver them to a local mosque! For that matter, if you attend church, ask your church to join in. The more the merrier! This really is a great way to thank Terry Jones and to apologize to our Abrahamic brothers and sisters for what one of our own have done to their holy text.If you do choose to help out, please write in the “Leave a message” section of the donation page, “Christians and friends replacing the Qurans lost because of Terry Jones. We are sorry and we love you.” (You can just cut and paste, if you’d like).Also, as away of tracking our success, if you give, would you tweet about this with the hashtag #Qurans4Terry or post on TGA’s Facebook page? Many thanks. Be the love people!

Previous Post

August 29, 2013

Criminalizing Christ: The Love Wins Incident and the Nationwide Targeting of Homeless

Next Post

October 2, 2013 Why Fundamentalist Christians Fear Intellectualism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Advent Afterlife agnostic America atheist Bible bourbon Brad Pitt Brokeness Christianity Christmas Church Civil Rights Confessions Congress Conservative Christianity Crucifixion Easter election Elections Equality Facebook Feminism Ferguson Fiction Following Jesus Foodie Gamers God GOP Gospels Gun Control Health Care Hell Heretic Heritic Holy Week Humanism immigration Inclusiveness Innovation Institutionalized Church Intellectualism Islam Jesus Job Justice Lectionary LGBT Life Love Matthew 11 Minister MLK Mother's Day Movie Review Movies Music Nones Obama peace Political Pope Francis Poverty Prayer Prison Progressive Christianity Prophetic Question Mark refugee Resistance sex shooting Sin Spirit Thanksgiving The 10% The Christian Left The Walking Dead Theology Trinity Trump Uncategorized unChristian Unemployment United States violence voting war Women's rights workers rights

Select a Month January 2017 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 October 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz