As a Florida pastor faced pressure to call off his plans to burn Qur’ans, Facebook revoked a Portland minister’s posting rights to his page opposing the burning.

By late Thursday (Sept. 9), the Quran burning was on hold and the Rev. Chuck Currie was back on Facebook.

Currie’s page, “People of Faith Opposed to the Burning of the Quran,” had had more than 12,000 visitors who “liked” it—Facebook’s terminology for becoming a fan of a cause—when he received an e-mail Thursday morning from the social networking giant saying he could no longer use the page.

He had created the page on Sunday and had been posting news articles and official statements from religious leaders.

“Burning the holy scriptures of another faith stands in opposition to my own understanding of Christianity,” he said. In his own message to Dove World Outreach Center, he asked them to “prayerfully reconsider” their actions.
Currie, ordained in the United Church of Christ, said he wanted to inspire Facebook users to send “respectful notes” to the Florida church.

He worried that without anyone to monitor reader responses, the Facebook page itself might add to the angry debate. Currie said he had deleted two reader posts, one that included an anti-Islamic statement and another trying to incite anger against Dove World Outreach Center, the Gainesville, Fla., congregation that had threatened to burn the Quran.

The Thursday e-mail from Facebook said Currie had violated the site’s Terms of Use.

Read More: http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStoryPrinter=16667