How will you mark the 9th anniversary of September 11th? Unfortunately, we already know the answer of Florida Pastor Terry Jones. He and members of his congregation plan a public burning of Qurans, the Islamic Holy book. Enter the Commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus. He’s not a fan of the plan, nor am I.
Though they have a right to express themselves, Constitutionally protected 1st Amendment right, what good can come from burning a Quran? If as General Petraeus suggests the Pastor’s actions will only inflame the Taliban, aid them in their recruiting efforts and further “endanger” our troops, why would anyone take such an action? Why place our troops in greater danger just to make a point? Their job isn’t tough enough? We need to give the Taliban yet another reason to step up their attacks against us?
Burning books is never a good idea yet this plan tops the list.
I have an idea. Why not let Pastor Jones and his Dove World Outreach Center take their “outreach” to Kabul or Kandahar? Why not commit his arson on the streets of Afghanistan? Perhaps his boldness, bravery and bravado would be better utilized in country? Instead of Gainesville, take the show on the road to Ghanzi. Why not try his publicity stunt in Bagdad, even sell a few copies of his own book? I’m sure the Taliban would love to return the favor in person.
Mr. Jones. You want a propaganda war? Go put your ass on the front lines, go light your match in Mazar-e-Sharif, and stop making our troops pay for your ignorance and cowardice.
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Comments
Hey David, Thanks so much for your well detailed reply. I see your point. I truly do. Thanks again!
Great blog Brian. Keep up the great work. But I’m going to put forth another viewpoint on this isue. The story here isn’t the pastor. It’s the barbaric response from the muslim world to any and everything they might deem “offensive.” No matter what we do, millions of muslims worldwide take offense and commit acts of violence. Examples?
How about the time the Nigerian Muslims were offended by the Miss World Beauty Pageant. They ruined the contest and newspapers that supported the event had to print retractions and apologies. A fatwa was issued against a journalist.
Or how about when British muslims freaked when a Burger King ice cream container had a design that they thought resembled Arabic script for “Allah.” It inspired Jihadi’s who threatened to bring the country down.
And let’s not forget the offense Nike committed when a shoe design graphic looked a little bit too much like the word “Allah” in Arabic script. Nike had to recall 800,000 pairs of shoes.
Then there was the time in Sudan where an elementary school teacher named a classroom teddy bear “mohammed.” Only international protest saved her from 40 lashes and a firing squad.
And let’s not ignore what happens worldwide (including in the US) when someone draws a picture of Mohammed, or tries to publish a book or a cartoon (Southpark) (Danish cartoons) with an image of Mohammed, or with a different interpretation of what the Quran means. Worldwide threats, intimidation and violence. Real violence.
Or what happens if you make a movie about Islam, merely quoting verses straight from the Quran? You could ask film director Theo van Gogh, except that he’s dead. Killed by an “offended” muslim.
Then there’s author Sherry Jones who wrote a book about Mohammed that caused the book’s publisher’s home in London to be firebombed and threatened him with death.
I could go on and on. The point is that the muslims who support jihad against and domination of non-muslims CANNOT be appeased. We cannot allow their threats and intimidation to undermine our hard won freedoms. After all, isn’t that what our troops are fighting for overseas?
As to the argument that the quran burning is endangering our troops. I just can’t buy into that. Did we hear arguments like that in WWII? “Let’s not put out any anti-German propaganda, it might offend the NAZI’s and endanger our troops.” “Let’s not bomb any German cities or factories, we might kill a German civilian and enrage the NAZI’s.” If we had taken that approach it is highly unlikely we’d have prevailed in that war.
What’s endangering our troops is sending them over there without the proper equipment and forcing them to abide by rules of engagement that give the enemy the upper hand. Or failing to root out the jihadi’s that are in our military right now (Fort Hood jihadist).
People complain that it is wrong and offensive to burn a holy book and are all up in arms about this little quran burning. But this does not stand up to scrutiny. Ever hear of the Halloween bible-burning event in North Carolina? No? I’m not surprised. It barely got mention in the media. No Christians rioted or threatened violence. No one died. Anderson Cooper didn’t do an hour special on it. And we all remember the “piss Christ” art exhibit that offended Christians everywhere. No violence there either. Just civilized debate.
Agreed that book burnings are not good. We should all be reading the quran, not burning it. That’s what I do.
But there are different kinds of book burnings. I would be very much against a national campaign by the US Government or by the Catholic Church to burn qurans to prevent people from reading them. That would be censorship. However, the burning of a handful of qurans in a symbolic gesture is not the same thing because it doesn’t prevent people from obtaining and reading the book.
In an odd way, this fringe pastor (who I know nothing else about) has probably done a good thing by bringing many more people into the discussion about how Islam is going to manifest itself in the west. This is surely going to be the major issue in the west over the next 100 years. Giving up our freedoms to avoid offense is not a good strategy.
Thanks for letting me take up space on your blog with a different opinion.
DON’T BACK DOWN HOW MANY TIMES HAVE THEY BURNED OUR FLAG IN THEIR STREETS? PLENTY THEY HAVE BURNED IMAGES OF OUR PRESIDENTS ,BOMBED OUR HOMELAND KILLED SO MANY AMERICANS & JEWS ANDSTILL PROCLAIMING TO WIPE OUT ALL JEWSTHEY BURN JEWISH FLAGS LETS BURN THEIR FLAG ALSO
DON’T BACK DOWN HOW MANY TIMES HAVE THEY BURNED OUR FLAG IN THEIR STREETS? PLENTY THEY HAVE BURNED IMAGES OF OUR PRESIDENTS ,BOMBED OUR HOMELAND KILLED SO MANY AMERICANS & JEWS ANDSTILL PROCLAIMING TO WIPE OUT ALL JEWSTHEY BURN JEWISH FLAGS LETS BURN THEIR FLAG ALSO
There is a different angle to this that I wonder how many people have thought of including the fire breathing pastor. How are they getting enough of the Quran to have a book burning? I would think they would have to buy some if not all of them.
If I was a published author I would want people to buy as many copies of my book as possible, and if they bought enough to have an actually book burning, wow, great and awesome. More money in my pocket so I could write a sequel and more publicity which would mean more people would hear about my book read it and they too might even be enraged enough to buy enough of my books to have their own book burning event.
Ching, ching again more money in my pocket so now I’m writing a whole series of books because they are so popular and my publisher asks me to go on the road to promote my series and get even more sales. Which again means even more people reading my book. We sure this guy isn’t secretly working for the publisher of the Quran?
Thank you very much Pastor of the First Community Church of Book Burners.