There is a mentally unbalanced Protestant Preacher and his congregation of some 50 people in Florida who have gleefully, malignantly and insultingly announced their intention to burn Qurans this Saturday, 9/11/10. They plan to exercise their First Amendment Rights within the relatively safe and tolerant bastion of the United States – a country that has a long history of protecting and balancing private religious beliefs, public speech, and personal freedom.
However many civic, military and political leaders across the U.S. of all ideological viewpoints have strenuously encouraged this group of nasty imbeciles to rethink their potential actions. Angrily and offensively burning the sacred religious text of over 1 billion Muslims might result in some extreme Islamists being inspired to retaliate against Americans around the globe.
The Qurans specifies that Christians and Jews are people of the “Book” and must be treated specially by Muslims as fellow followers of the one God (Allah) of Abraham since they are not infidels or non-believers. (When God blessed and promised Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore, he failed to mention that most of them would be Christians and Muslims.)
Most parts of the Torah and the four Gospels of the New Testaments are key foundations for the Quran. Muslims believe the Quran is a later sacred text based upon a series of direct oral communication between the Angel Gabriel and the Prophet Mohammed. Some independent commentators suggest that Islam is a serious attempt to link all three monotheistic religions.
Both Muslims and Christians believe the final days of human existence on this earth will be marked by the return of Jesus Christ as part of the final battles with the Anti-Christ and he will be part of the final Judgment Day for all Jews, Christians, Moslems and human beings. While disputing his divinity, Muslims believe Jesus (known as “Isa” in the Quran) was a special human being and the penultimate Prophet born of the Virgin Mary, endowed with special powers to perform Miracles, and that he will be an intrinsic part of the final salvation of humanity.
One Jewish friend suggested to me that Jesus was the first Reformed Jew and Christianity was founded by a group of inspired and “Meshugeneh” Jews liberally converting the Gentiles in the Roman World. Some of my Muslim friends remind me they believe that Jesus Christ was – and all good believers of God are – essential “Muslims” when they willingly and completely surrender themselves solely to God, which Jesus did during his life.
Many of the serious divisions between the 3 religions over the same universal God appeared over time during the first 8 centuries of the modern era as they each developed separate, parallel (and cross-influencing) theologies through distinct religions traditions, experiences and worldviews. If both Muslims and Christians believe that Jesus Christ will re-appear at the end of humanity’s existence, then their believers have far more in common than their exaggerated theological differences might imply.
If I would happen to witness a bunch of ignorant louts burning Qurans, Bibles, Torahs and other religious texts in a most sadistic, nasty, and disrespectful manner, I would sadly lower my head and say a prayer – as a good agnostic might try. I might tell the rabble to reconsider their actions and state to other onlookers that I do not support such odious and insulting actions. I probably would keep my distance and get away from the nasty spectacle as quickly as possible for concern that I would be linked with it by merely standing around watching for too long.
However, I would not advocate killing that bunch of ignorant louts in retaliation. Unfortunately, in my twisted ethics and morality, I might do nothing to stop a group of insulted people from beating the hell out of ignorant louts – but short of killing them or doing any permanent physical harm. I would immediately call 9-1-1 so the police could promptly break up the impending melee before someone might get killed or seriously injured.
My overall theory is that burning a book (sacred or otherwise) is just a crime against property. One cannot erase the religious message from a person’s mind if it has already been embraced – so no real “harm” has happened to a human being.
Unfortunately when humans begin fighting, it has always been hard to stop ourselves from going to sad and irreparable extremes. Some rare individuals with a keen understanding of their physical power and the corresponding physiological limitations of most humans would be able to land a few key punches and then stop so as to render the person immobilized for awhile. More importantly, they could impart just the right amount force to leave a lasting mental impression to never do such an abhorrent act again.
I am not one of those people who have such physical power and control so I would not venture into this type of instruction. However I recognize that some people actually need some physical punches to the face, slaps on the head or strong kicks in the butt (both physically or figuratively) to learn anything meaningful. They are simply just too ignorant, stubborn and foolish.
There might be an inexpensive and effective alternative for the U.S. to disavow itself from this impending insult to 1 billion people to protect its citizens from any unfortunate fallout from the proposed actions of about 50 moronic U.S. citizens. The U.S. Justice Department could immediately send this intolerant (and questionably “Christian”) Preacher and his small group of followers (free of charge via a private Chartered Airline) to a predominantly Muslim country with all the Qurans they can carry on board and in their checked luggage.
We would ask the local Muslim population to set up an open place in front of a prominent Mosque for this group to burn Qurans this Saturday. Our Federal government would also pay for the hotels and the chartered bus to deliver this group to the selected site. They would have the freedom to burn their Qurans and then experience the likely consequences first hand. (We would also recommend to the Preacher and his followers that they have good health and life insurance policies in effect.)
This proposal would at least permit the rest of us Americans, regardless of our religious beliefs, to be rendered relatively blameless. Even extreme Islamists would understand that in no way the U.S. and our citizens had anything to do with this group of imbeciles. They could concentrate their outrage and anger on the correct individuals – not just any Americans they happen to find.
I apologize that I simply don’t care what the hell happens to this Preacher and his group of moronic followers after they light up the first Quran in front of a crowd of believers in a Muslim country. I’m sure MSNBC, CNN and FOX will show the results live on Saturday. My overriding concern is for the welfare of my fellow Americans who do not support this idiocy.
There is a point in time when every person must face the consequences of their actions and not just cower behind the protection of fellow citizens and the laws the U.S. has established that have protected individual liberty and freedom around for over 200 years within a limited geographic area. In an interconnected global community with instant communications, each person has to consider the interests of a lot more people with different backgrounds and different legal systems. It’s also very important to listen to the advice of others with more intelligence and experience before one acts upon every stupid idea that pops up in one’s head.
It might be better on this Saturday, the 9th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, for Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others with strong or weak religions beliefs, to start an open-minded and serious reading of the various sacred texts of their fellow human beings. We have far too much ignorance of each other and that only inflames the fires of bigotry and anger. We share so many things in common not just as human beings on this unique living planet but also because we are all creations of a loving and merciful God.
Submitted by Marc Pascal from Phoenix, AZ.