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The oldest Muslim community in the United States has condemned a Texas congressional candidate’s videotaped burning of a Quran.

“Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA strongly condemns the burning of the Holy Quran by congressional candidate Valentina Gomez, as well as the wholly inaccurate and inflammatory remarks she has made about Islam,” the group said in a statement Aug. 28.

“Burning the Holy Quran — or any sacred Scripture — is an extremely ignorant and reprehensible act that achieves nothing except to divide communities and sow hatred. Such actions disrespect not only Muslims but also the principle of religious freedom that lies at the heart of our nation.”

Screenshot from a video of congressional candidate Valentina Gomez burning a Quran

The 26-year-old Gomez is among six Republicans and three Democrats seeking to oust current U.S. Rep. John Carter, a Republican who has held the seat since 2003. The district covers a portion of the Texas Hill Country north of Austin and west of Waco.

Gomez is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Colombia. This is not her first attention-getting stunt. In April she disrupted a Muslim civic engagement event at the Texas State Capitol. She wore a hijab before removing it and shouted anti-Islam messages. In December 2024, she released a video showing a mock execution of an immigrant and called for “public executions” of undocumented migrants. Earlier in 2024, she posted a video of herself burning LGBTQ literature in Missouri.

She previously lived in Missouri and ran for Missouri Secretary of State, finishing sixth in the Republican primary.

The new video shows Gomez burning a Quran with a flamethrower. She included the caption, “I will end Islam in Texas so help me God” in a now-deleted post on X.

In the video, she falsely claims that “America is a Christian nation” and refers to Muslims as “terrorists,” telling them to “go … to any of the 57 Muslim nations. There is only one true God, and that is the God of Israel.”

At the end of the video, Gomez says she is “powered by Jesus Christ.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned her actions as hateful and the video was banned from most major social media platforms, except X.

This is another example of extremists not understanding the Quran or the ideals of Islam, according to Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA.

“The Quran itself teaches respect for all faiths. Islam upholds the sanctity of all prophets and Scriptures and repeatedly instructs Muslims to live in peace with their neighbors and to protect freedom of conscience for every individual. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) declared that a true Muslim is one from whose words and actions others feel safe.

The group added: “To mischaracterize Islam as violent or incompatible with American values is simply false. On the contrary, Islam enjoins Muslims to be loyal to the country in which they live and to work tirelessly for the betterment of society.”

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, compared the Gomez video to equally hateful comments by Trump influencer Laura Loomer.

“The targeting of Muslims and attempts to incite violence by extremists like Laura Loomer and Valentina Gomez is grotesque and, quite simply, hateful,” he said. “These are un-American attacks, antithetical to the diverse democracy our founders intended, and assaults on the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. This isn’t a partisan issue — all faith and political leaders should condemn this hate in the strongest terms.”

source https://baptistnews.com/article/republican-congressional-candidate-burns-quran-with-flamethrower/