I may not be an influential world figure, but I just want to go on record as condemning the “International Burn a Koran Day,” organized by Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida.
It saddens me in the deepest possible way to think that this pastor fervently believes such a hateful act is the right thing to do. The pastor’s idea is that Islam is “of the devil” and must be challenged in an aggressive way. By planning this for the anniversary of September 11, he is obviously equating Islam with terrorism, which is ill-informed and harmful.
Burning the Korans is a way to express condemnation and disrespect for Islam, which is what he wants. But I can’t understand how he thinks it will help to eradicate Islam, which is presumably his goal. On the contrary, his action could only have the effect of strengthening Muslims’ commitment to their religion. In addition, terrorists who are Muslim could point to this incident to prove their rightness in attacking the West—and that is the most dire outcome of this misguided action.
I pray that the pastor will change his mind and not go forward with his plans. However, he has already caused a lot of damage just by planning such an event. I hope that Muslims around the world recognize that he does not speak for most Americans, for most Christians, or for most of any other group.
I hope you'll join me in speaking up against these plans.
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It saddens me that this idiot has gotten so much attention. It's obviously what he wants. If he or any of his followers are harmed as a result of this hateful action, they will see it as a confirmation of their misguided views. If only we could have, somehow, SHUNNED this church entirely. Instead, he is getting lots and lots of attention, and he preens as he gets it, and he loves being in the limelight. The only effective counterdemonstration would be a peaceful one.
ReplyDeleteI'm writing this after hearing the plans have been cancelled, but I would have joined you in speaking out.
ReplyDeleteThese "christians" are not following the teachings of their Guru, Jesus Christ. He espoused love, kindness and compassion towards all. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." If people who believe as Pastor Terry does would do just a little bit of research (reading Wikipedia for instance, takes less than a minute) they would see that Islam is not all that different from other religions -- they are worshipping God, for goodness sake, how is that "of the devil?"
The part that concerns me the most is that people blindly accept (and then act upon) the hype without thinking for themselves.
Unfortunately the press gave that nasty little man quite a bit of attention. That didn't help either.
ReplyDeleteTi just helped to prove to the world that we have plenty of religious fanatics too. And I think most Muslims know that fringe nutcases are everywhere.
thanks for your comments. So glad it was cancelled, though a lot of damage was already done.
ReplyDeleteI saw the pastor speak and he didn’t really seem like he was doing it for publicity. He seemed like he really thought he was doing it for God, which is the scary part. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe he’ll be coming out with a book next.