Pastor (and I have a hard time suppressing a sneer) Terry Jones, head of the ironically named Dove World Outreach Center, recently followed through on his threat to burn a copy of the Koran. His original plan was to burn a thousand copies last year on September 11, but was dissuaded from doing so by General David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan who told him that he would be putting the lives of American soldiers at risk.
This year, Jones decided to up the stakes by dispelling with a simple burning and instead putting Islam’s holiest book on trial by declaring an “International Judge the Koran Day” complete with prosecutor and defender. Members of his church acted as jury, while Jones acted as judge and executioner. Unsurprisingly, the Koran was found “guilty”, soaked in kerosene, and burned in a ceremony not unlike a witch burning. To be sure it is one of Christianity’s oldest rites – and it extends to unauthorized editions or translations of the holy bible as well.
Predictably, Islamic extremists, inflamed by their Imam, went on a rampage, attacking and overrunning a United Nations compound and killing 11 people, two of whom were beheaded. The riots continue and the number of victims killed is now beyond 20.
The question is which is worse - the rabble rousing moron willing to offend one and a half billion people, from the safety of the protection of the first amendment guarantee of freedom of speech(although it is debatable whether or not his act constitutes fighting words), or the religious fanatics filled with self righteous frenzy and the visceral need to take offense.
Its enough to make any sane and reasonable human being throw up his hands in despair and say a pox on both your houses and be done with it.
Except that of course we actually have to live in the same world with these pious zealots – on the one hand a Christian extremist who should be a non entity, albeit a loud and obnoxious non entity, but for the power of the internet, and on the other, the zombie mobs of Islamic fundamentalists frothing at the mouth and only too willing to do the bidding of their mullahs, issuing fatwas as if they had a direct line to the Almighty.
If only I believed in a Deity, I would say God help us all.
Filed under: Current Affairs, World Events Tagged: | Christianity, Dove World Outreach, Fatwa, Islamic fundamentalism, Koran, Koran Burning, Terry Jones
Hello. Normally I would not have stopped by here, but as I was scrolling down the readomatic feature, I saw your blog title and it cracked me up. Senile delinquet…that’s funny.
The koran burning situation is a strange one that can be looked at from different angles. For me, it seems like showmanship at best and dangerous at its worst. As one who is born of the Spirit and knows of the age to come, I would never do something that would unnecessarily place lives in jeopardy.
Our actions will either gather unto Jesus or scatter. If we love our neighbor as ourselves (which we are commanded to do in scripture) that compassion will not allow us to engage in dangerous theatrics. This is not a defense of the koran, a defense of the pastor, or a defense of those who get so offended that they resort to saying “death to America” over the actions of a few. Rather, it stems from an understanding of what is at stake and the tactics which the devil employs to keep people in darkness until s point of no return has been reached.
A strange situation to be sure; this koran burning display. while it seems to be little more than a show, it’s a tragic event in that there several souls have been lost because of this.
Thanks for offering commentary on this event.
timbob
I guess that’s the reason why I am increasingly drawn to Buddhism: no one ever waged a war in the name of Buddha.