Book Burning: The Nazis, the Clergies and the Ayatollahs
26 May, 2008
- The so-called "degenerate" books were burning on 10 May 1933, under Hitler's dictatorship. It started from the
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- Nazi book burning
- capital of the third Reich, Berlin, with 20,000 books and went on in other German cities; the ordered was called (Säuberung) or "cleansing". The Nazis burnt books with "non-German" ideas. Books written by Freud, Einstein, Thomas Mann, Jack London, H.G. Wells and many others go up in flames as they give the Nazi salute.
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The target of this historically symbolic action was the suppression of free thoughts and ideas. The action was a tactic of Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda with the target of brainwashing a whole nation. The works of leading German writer such as Berthold Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger, and Alfred Kerr were consigned to flames. The promotion of "Aryan" culture and the suppression of other forms of artistic production was yet another Nazi effort to "purify" Germany.
The Nazis were neither the first nor the last book-burners in history. Christianity has a longer history of defending an all-powerful deity by shielding the mind from strange ideas.
Like the Nazis, Islamic Republic of Iran's book burning and censorship are aimed at stamping out ideas of freedom and also a more nefarious purpose in a line with the early Muslim invaders: suppressing Persian ancient culture and civilisation. The “Dark Ages” of the Middle Ages in Europe is full of religious atrocity , many scientists were burnt with their ideas and books: Jean Calvin was probably the most efficient: in 1600, when he burned Michael Servetus at the stake for heresy, and around his waist were tied a large bundle of manuscript and a thick octavo printed book. Another notorious illustration of this was in July of 1562, when Bishop Diego de Landa burnet five thousand idols and many thousands of their written works.
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Scientific inquiry had virtually no support in Western society from the 7th to 15th centuries. Bigoted Ecclesiasticism dammed the flow of free thought, blocking the seepage of knowledge within Western societies. Book was branded as magic and treasonous, and the writer or reader was punishable by torture or death. Bruno was burned at the stake for the crime of claiming that the earth rotates about its axis.
Several decades after the event of Islam in Arabia, Muslim invaders galloped in new territories. They brutally destroyed great civilisations and of course libraries, the symbol of knowledge and wisdom of these culture. This early book-burning of primitive Muslims paved the way for 1400 years of darkness and backwardness in the Middle East.
Muslim invaders arrived with sword in one hand and the Koran in the other. Since they believed the Koran was a divine revelation, it became the starting point. The Koran instructed them to seek knowledge in all fields. It was in this perspective and under the shadow of Islamic influence that Muslim scientists, philosophers, poets and writers wrote their works. Even worse than the censorship, their works were influenced by their own self-alienation.
Centuries later, Muslim scientists, most of them Iranians, upheld the civilisation in the world when the West was in its lowest era of moral and intellectual obscurity. However, the Islamic civilisation appeared in a limited framework of progress due to its own religiosity too.
Today, the heritage of the Nazi's and early Muslims' book burning became the political Islam with its shocking results in the last three decades in the Islamic world, especially in Iran and Afghanistan.
Recalling not only the book-burning of 1933 by the Nazis, but also the early invasion of Islam in Iran, the regime launched in 1980 a cultural revolution to alienate Iranians from their pre-Islamic great civilisation by islamo-arbising the whole Iranian culture. Following the cultural revolution, bands of Hezbollahs and Islamists attacked, destroyed and burnt libraries in Iran. Millions of books were destroyed, and thousands of allegedly readers of such books were imprisoned or executed.
Not only the Islamic Republic of Iran's Ministry of Islamic guidance and Culture now censors some of Iran's best contemporary writers and researchers, such as Sadegh Hedayat, Sadegh Choobak, Ebrahim Golestan, Gholamhossein Sa’aedi, Ahmad Kasravi, Ali Dashti, Ebrahim Poordavoud, Zabih Behrouz, and others, but even in the recent years, they removed parts and whole pieces of works by well-known poets such as Souzani Samarghandi, Omar Khayam, Molana Jalaledin Rumi, Nezami Ganjavi, Abid Zakani, Iradj Mirza, and even some lexicons from Ali Akbar Dehkhoda and Farhang Mo’in as non-Islamic.
Like the Nazis in 1933, the Islamic Republic of Iran had also it's own version of book burning and censorship, as thousandsof titles of books are banned from publishing, as hundreds of thousands of books are destroyed by unfortunate publishers who have not been authorised of distributing the books.
The ruling ayatollahs are not solely aimed at stamping out ideas of freedom but for a more nefarious purpose and in a line with the early Muslim invaders: suppressing Persian ancient culture and civilisation.
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Born in Iran, Jahanshah Rashidian studied psychology in France. He is currently a German national, where he work and lives with his wife, Christa. He is a freelancer and writes on democracy, secularism, and human rights issues in several languages.
Name: Islam is against free Thinking
Date: Monday May 26, 2008
Time: 08:08:13 -0700
Comment
Muslims are afraid of free thoughts because it may destroy all their funny dreams. That they are superior to others, that they will pimp 72 big boobed Virgins in heaven, and that all the infidels will go to hell. Islam seems to be so easy: Just pray every day, memorize quran, never ask questions and beat your wife whenever you want. Wait and see. In a few decades muslims all over the world will grovel for peace and a slice of bread.
Name: Ibn Kammuna
Date: Monday May 26, 2008
Time: 08:23:33 -0700
Comment
That's what happens when a group of idiots want to force their way as the only way. Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, the idiot, ordered the burning of Alexandria library when the Muslim thugs invaded Egypt. Back then, that library contained all of ancient science and literature. Peace everyone, especially you Muslims out there.
Name: muslims only burn your filth the porn mags, which you flood the world with!
Date: Monday May 26, 2008
Time: 09:29:58 -0700
Comment
Book Burning: A True Christian® Tradition The burning of books is nothing new to True Christians®. We invented the practice over two-thousand years ago as a way to promote our faith in the Lord Jesus. In the early days of Christianity, when new believers in Christ were converted, they were naturally moved by the Holy Spirit to grab as many books as they could and pitch them into a fire. Unlike the sissy "Jesus is Love" fake-Christians (whom both the Lord Jesus and we loathe) we have running around today, the early followers of Christ were never ashamed to burn books. In fact, if you ever find yourself being grateful for the destruction of most of the works of pagan nincompoops like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, you have a Christian to thank! In the Book of Acts we learn that anyone who wants to follow Jesus, should get ready to start burning books at the drop of a hat. The Book of Acts teaches us that burning someone's books is a great way spread God's word. "Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men and they counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." Acts 19:19-20 In the aftermath of September 11th, a spiritual awakening is sweeping across the United States of America. One of the great signs that the Holy Spirit is moving in the hearts and souls of Americans is our glorious and sacred return to the practice of book burning. Secular humanists and Atheists have spent hundreds of years trying to make "book burners" look bad. Oftentimes the media paints a terrible image of book burners. "They make us out to look like fanatics or Germans," said one Christian. Did you know that a militant homosexual named Ray Bradbury, even wrote a popular book called Farenheight 451 about book burning? He made Christians out to look like fools! Well, Mr. Bradbury, if you are still alive, and God hasn't sent you to Hell yet, we'd like you to know that Farenheight 451 is also a book that can be burned. And nobody would miss it! Related Action Alerts: Click on the links for Godly details! Download our Free Invitation to a Book Burning banner. Who is the More Inventive Author? God or J.K. Rowling? Is Harry Potter Driving Children To the Edge of Insanity? Betty Bowers Reviews Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone Has Satan Hired a Better Ad Agency Than God? Suffer Not a Witch to Live! WICCA: Intoxicated by Christian Blood! Click Here To Check For The Latest Alerts! The truth is, burning a book is one of the most loving things a Christian could do for a person they really care about. The Landover Baptist Church is proud to be sponsoring America's Largest Book Burning on Satan's Birthday, October 31st. This will be the third consecutive year we have held the event. Last October, we had 152,800 American Christians show up for the event. We burned over 3.4 million books! That's right! Don't let the numbers dissuade you from holding a book burning at your local church this Halloween. Thousands of churches in America have collected millions of Harry Potter books to be burned that very night. As a Christian, you should be eager to participate in this Bible based tradition. Burning books just like the first Christians did in New Testament is a great way to say "no" to Satan and "yes" to Jesus. As most Christians already know, the Harry Potter book series is the most evil and dangerous set of books to be released this century. "The Potter series is worse than pornography. The books are even more dangerous than the Satanic Bible," reports Pastor Deacon Fred, "At least with the Satanic Bible, young people know that the book was written by Satan. The Devil just changed his name to J.K. Rowling this time." The release of the fifth book in the Harry Potter series has been delayed because Christians have been praying to God that he will send angels to scramble Satan's brain and force him to admit Rowling's spent body to a mental hospital so that the whole series will never be completed. To celebrate the delayed release of the fifth Harry Potter book and the post September 11th return to American Christian values, The Truly Saved® all across America are calling upon the name of Jesus this Halloween to decrease the number of Harry Potter books currently circulating in America by at least 70%. "We're giving True Christian® school children the Biblical authority to remove these evil books from their school libraries, bookstores, homes, grocery stores, and anywhere they find them," said Pastor Deacon Fred. "All they need to say is, Jesus wants me to take this book! Friends, let's help this great Country return to it's True Christian® roots. Wont' you please set up a Holy Ghost book fire at your local church on Satan's Birthday this Halloween? Thank you."
Name: count how many were burnt or banned by the muslims.
Date: Monday May 26, 2008
Time: 09:37:20 -0700
Comment
259–210 B.C.-Good old Shih Huang Ti, emperor of China, had a nice little BBQ. 460 Confucian scholars got to be the fuel for the fire. A.D. 8- Ovid wrote about love and got the heave ho from Rome. His book Ars Amatoria caused him to be exiled in Greece until he died. they burned all of his books in Florence. (oh and a nifty bit of more current news……his book was banned by U.S. Customs in 1928…..he must have had some wicked words) 35- Roman emperor Caligula decided that the ideas of Greek freedom of Homer’s The Odyssey were not a good idea. 640- There was a big bonfire in Egypt. Omar burned all the volumes at the library in Alexandria . “If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Book of God they are useless and need not be preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed.” The good news here, the books provided heat for the city’s baths for six months. 1497–98- The season of Florentine bonfires was given to us by Savonarola. He invited artists and authors to join in by contributing their works to the fire. Ironically, in May of 1498 another great bonfire was lit—this time under Savonarola who hung from a cross. With him were burned all his writings, sermons, essays, and pamphlets. 1525- Latin rules! William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament was printed 6,000 times and smuggled into England to light up the night. The church said the Bible had to be in Latin. 1597- Richard II that little play from Shakespeare had a scene that ticked off the Queen. Key word, had a scene. It was removed. 1614- The History of the World by Sir Walter Raleigh was deemed to saucy. Way to go Walt! 1624-The Pope ordered the burning of Martin Luther’s German translation. Gee whiz don’t those kids ever learn? 1616–42- Galileo had views not becoming the church about the solar system and his support of the discoveries of Copernicus. He got jailed at 70. 1720-Robinson Crusoe was banned by the Church. 1843- English plays started being censored by the Lord Chamberlain. That ended a few years later, 1968. 1859- The year of Darwinism! Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published. Anyone up for movie time? Inherit the Wind is on somewhere I bet. 1864–1959-The Vatican strikes again. This time Les Miserables gets the no no ruling. 1881-Walt Whitman gets the last laugh. When Boston’s district attorney threatened to ban Leaves of Grass the public went wild for it. the profits paid for Whitman’s house. 1885-Huckleberry Finn started getting booed. First by the library of Concord, Massachusetts. By 1907 it’s said the novel by Mark Twain had been banned at least once a year by some place in America. 1929–62- Papa Hemingway’s books have been banned worldwide. Heck the Nazi’s hated him so much they did that old bonfire thing with his works. 1931- Alice in Wonderland is banned in China. Why you ask? Because animals shouldn’t have human voice. 1937- Quebec came up with the Padlock Act. The statute empowered the attorney general to close, for up to one year, any building that was used to disseminate “communism or bolshevism.” (These two terms were undefined.) In addition, the act empowered the attorney general to confiscate and destroy any publication propagating communism or bolshevism. Anyone caught publishing, printing, or distributing such literature faced imprisonment for up to one year without appeal. In 1957, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the Padlock Act in a case called Switzman vs. Elbling. 1954- That evil Mickey Mouse was banned from East Berlin. You know he’s an “anti-Red rebel.” 1980s- Beatrix Potter’s bunnies were banned in England. The novels The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny only showed middle class bunnies. How very non PC! 1983- Alabama’s textbook committee ruled that the diary of Anne Frank was too much of a downer for kids to deal with. Oops, I guess impending death is too big a subject for kids. 1987- If you close your eyes it doesn’t exist. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was removed by the Wake County, North Carolina reading lists. The reason? She described being raped at seven. 2001- The U.S.A. PATRIOT Act allows for the collection of information of every book an American checks out of a library. Hi Big Brother. additional resources: http://www.freedomtoread.ca/links_and_resources/bannings_and_burnings.asp http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/libraries/topic.aspx?topic=banned_books
Name: why pick on muslims only?
Date: Monday May 26, 2008
Time: 09:40:51 -0700
Comment
Last update - 18:04 20/05/2008 Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Or Yehuda By The Associated Press Tags: Jews For Jesus, Israel Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land. Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material. Advertisement After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it. "The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue," he said. The newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday that hundreds of yeshiva students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched. "Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were," he said. He said he regretted the burning of the books, but called it a commandment to burn materials that urge Jews to convert. "I certainly don't denounce the burning of the booklets, he said. I denounce those who distributed the booklets." Jews worship from the Old Testament, including the Five Books of Moses and the writings of the ancient prophets. Christians revere the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, which contains the ministry of Jesus. Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel. Police had no immediate comment. Israeli authorities and Orthodox Jews frown on missionary activity aimed at Jews, though in most cases it is not illegal. Still, the concept of a Jew burning books is abhorrent to many in Israel because of the association with Nazis torching piles of Jewish books during the Holocaust of World War II. Earlier this year, the teenage son of a prominent Christian missionary was seriously wounded when a package bomb delivered to the family's West Bank home went off in his hands. Last year, arsonists burst into a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews and set the building on fire, raising suspicions that Jewish extremists were behind the attack. No one claimed responsibility, but the same church was burned down 25 years ago by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists. Related Articles Evangelicals urge police to act on harassment of messianic Jews Recent incidents suggest rise in violence between Haredi, messianic Jews Loving Jesus, fearing the neighbors in Ariel
Name: ZuK
Date: Monday May 26, 2008
Time: 10:53:22 -0700
Comment
Hi, Jahashah. Great article.
Name: Book burning and more
Date: Tuesday May 27, 2008
Time: 01:29:55 -0700
Comment
Muslims are not only burning books, they are also ignoring them. Here are some interesting facts: "In Arab countries the book production achieves only 1/5th of the world average." "Many children don´t attend school. Many who did will never read anything again after leaving school." "When an Arab writer criticises his or her society, he or she is often accused of promoting the interests of foreign powers." "There is no accumulated traditionof Arab scholarship on the "Other". http://www.adbookfair.com/cms/uploads/arab_publishing_industry.pdf http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/4385/1/MPRA_paper_4385.pdf http://www.arab-hdr.org/contents/2003/ch3-e.pdf
Name: muslims are mental slaves
Date: Tuesday May 27, 2008
Time: 07:03:39 -0700
Comment
muslims are mental slaves. They can not think logically and rationally once they become muslims. This have proved in the history.
Name: thnak you islamists for your looooooong mindless counters.
Date: Tuesday May 27, 2008
Time: 07:15:51 -0700
Comment
thank you islamists for your looooooong mindless counters. Islamists here are giving very long counters explanations just as their long beards of supersttion(which allah is more concerned about their beards and circumcision of their private parts )I request islamists to publicise this site more among your human fearing muslims. Remaining work is being done by us (i.e spreading truth in remaining faiths about islam absurdity)
Name: ha ha ha ....
Date: Wednesday May 28, 2008
Time: 00:55:09 -0700
Comment
Hitler was a devil in disguise, so all the Ayatollahs. God giveth knowledge to humankind, and Satan or Devil banned it. The burning of the books is the work of Satan in the form of Ayatollahs.
Name: pmk
Date: Sunday June 01, 2008
Time: 14:45:04 -0700
Comment
It's easier to burn books than to read them and understand them.
Name: TRUTH TELLER
Date: Friday June 06, 2008
Time: 01:30:48 -0700
Comment
Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Israel The Associated Press Tuesday, May 20, 2008 JERUSALEM: Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land. Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material. After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it. The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue, he said. The Israeli Maariv daily reported Tuesday that hundreds of Jewish religious school students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched. Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were, he said. He said he regretted the burning of the books, but called it a "commandment" to burn materials that urge Jews to convert. "I certainly don't denounce the burning of the booklets," he said. "I denounce those who distributed the booklets." Jews worship from the Old Testament, including the Five Books of Moses and the writings of the ancient prophets. Christians revere the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, which contains the ministry of Jesus. Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel. Police had no immediate comment. Israeli authorities and Orthodox Jews frown on missionary activity aimed at Jews, though in most cases it is not illegal. Still, the concept of a Jew burning books is abhorrent to many in Israel because of the association with Nazis torching piles of Jewish books during the Holocaust of World War II. Earlier this year, the teenage son of a prominent Christian missionary was seriously wounded when a package bomb delivered to the family's West Bank home went off in his hands. Last year, arsonists burst into a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews and set the building on fire, raising suspicions that Jewish extremists were behind the attack. No one claimed responsibility, but the same church was burned down 25 years ago by ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremists.
Name: Sean
Date: Friday June 13, 2008
Time: 16:02:00 -0700
Comment
This is a response to the guy with the following Name, date, and time; Name: muslims only burn your filth the porn mags, which you flood the world with! Date: Monday May 26, 2008 Time: 09:29:58 -0700 I read a portion of your response, the one where you attacked Christianity. Fair is fair, even though all you did is divert attention away from the crimes that Islam did yesterday, is doing today, and will do in the forseeable future, by drumming up something that happened approximatly 2,000 years ago, never mind the fact that you miss interpreted Acts 19,19 completly. But before I continue further I fell the need to remind you that it is a good thing you are in a nation that protects your right to criticize, becasue if you were under Muslim subjugation you could be killed very easily for having an opinion and voicing it like you recently did. Now I'm not sure why you decided to attack Christianity but I think it appropriate to point out to you that America, and Western Civilization are societies where many faiths currently reside next to each other in relative harmony,(though there have been some bloody cultural clashes) unlike the Islamic Middle East. I felt inclined to correct you on your Acts 19,19 comment, you know the one where attempted to associate Christianity with Nazi book burning. In Acts they did indeed burn books, but here is the actual event... "Many of the believers who had been practicing black magic confessed their deeds and broght their incantation books and charms and burned them at a public bonfire". They burned their own property, not so that they could deny these pagan arts to others but so they could seperate themselves from their past non-Christian beliefs. As far as the book burning by Christians today..we'll what can I say, the worldly institution of Christianity is flawed becasue it is governed by man. But the spirit, philosophy, and convictions of Jesus are without flaw because he is perfect. But ironically I think you and Jesus have something in common here, I do not think he would have approved of American book burning either. Now isn't it nice that Christianity allows free thought and individual interpretation unlike your buddy Mohammed?