You may have seen this in the news lately. A Florida pastor, Terry Jones, and his congregation are planning to burn Qur'ans to protest the September 11, 2001 attack, and also because they are uninformed simpletons. The U.S. Embassy had to issue a statement separating the rest of the country from this heinous act. The congregation has even been warned that their actions could endanger troops stationed in Afghanistan because of the retaliations this could cause. Even after being shunned by the rest of their country they are still willing to go through with their plan.
I fail to see the fascination religious fanatics have with burning things. If there is anything they perceive to be the slightest bit contrary to their interpretation of the Bible, or if there is something they simply do not understand, the only option seems to be to burn it. These people have no idea what the Qur'an contains. The majority of the congregation probably didn't even know it was the religious text of Islam until their attention starved pastor told them it needed destroying. Jones even admits to having not read the Qur'an. If I was head of a congregation and felt it was my duty to spread my views to the world, I think I would certainly want to read everything I could to know what I was up against.
The thing that really makes me mad is that this United States of America is supposed to be a harbor for religious tolerance and acceptance, no matter how you choose to worship. Yet we still have imbeciles like this who abuse the freedoms provided by this country to peddle their hate and slander and attempt to deny others the right to worship as they see fit. Jones has the gall to say that the burning of the Qu'ran is "not a message of hate". How is the burning of something that millions of people hold dear and sacred anything but a message of hate? He says it is only targeted toward the "radical element of Islam". How can he justify that? If a Bible was burned, would the whole of Christianity not be enraged? In addition, Jones has no right to place Christianity on such a high pedestal, and pass judgment on what sects of a religion have a right to exist. The Ku Klux Klan practiced Christianity after all.
Terry Jones interprets the Bible as he sees fit. Sadly there are many people out there who are quick to manipulate their own religions to help validate their actions. Perhaps Jones should spend a little more time studying his own religious book. The Bible does say the world will be destroyed by fire after all. Perhaps this is the first step.
How can one possibly think that this is a good way of protesting an attack brought forth by a terrorist organization? It wasn't the Qur'an's fault that it happened. It was the ideas of the insane leaders that planted the seed of destruction.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the members of this church are simply closed-minded fools that won't accept the slightest idea of something different. Is this guy any relation to Jim Jones, because he sure has his congregation drinking the kool-aid.