Thoughts On That Idiotic Koran Burning

There's some crazy church in Florida planning to burn Korans on September 11. I wish to state here that I absolutely condemn this inflammatory act.

In every way one looks at this event it must be concluded that this will only cause unwanted strife and heartache.

I have heard stories of Muslims becoming highly offended at such attacks upon their faith.

I remember reading in Princess Sultana's Circle how one women was tormented by unwanted mental images after seeing an irreverent portrait of Muhammad. She was traumatized. And the narrator, Sultana, commented that she was at least glad she did not have to endure that stress, even though she had been forced to endure various stressful situations discussed elsewhere in the book.

I remember reading how the first mass hunger strike in Guantanamo Prison was caused because a US soldier accidentally caused a Koran to fall on the floor.

I believe it was early February when, on Charlie Block, a Koran was thrown to the floor during a cell search. [It is later revealed that this was accidental.] This caused the whole camp to go in a massive uproar, screaming and yelling to the point all [military police officers] came out of the blocks....When the incident with the Koran happened, the whole camp pretty much went on a hunger strike that lasted a week or so.

Why are these people willing to do something like that and risk something similar occurring?

They are like little kids playing with fire.

This really is a heartless and foolish act. Do they think they will convert any Muslim by doing this? All this is doing is unnecessarily building another block of separation to hamper relations between Christians and Muslims.

I shudder to imagine that this may incite some professing Muslim terrorists somewhere in the dar al-Islam to persecute the Christians within their midst.

How can anyone still burn books considering the practice's negative association with Nazism? I am not calling these people Nazis, but it must be pointed out that whatever intellectual respectability book burning may have had before 1933 was completely lost because of its use by the Nazis. Again I am not calling them Nazis, that would be inappropriate and inaccurate, but it must be asked why they would use such a disreputable act with such a negative association.

There are countless, more sensible things they could do instead.

Why don't they burn Osama bin Laden's books? They could burn Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden. That would be far more sensible, it would make it clear they are directing this act against this specific movement, and it would not offend a billion people, the vast majority of whom had nothing to do with al Qaeda, at least not as much.

Or why not stage a protest at some embassy respectfully asking them to address an issue in that country?

Or why not hold a service discussing persecution of Christians in various parts of the world? Get in a speaker from Voice of the Martyrs or some such organization and educate people about these things, show them a movie about it and tell them how they can help persecuted Christians. This book burning will certainly not help the persecuted Christians. It may worsen their plight.

Furthermore there are Muslims living among us. How does this event help them feel safe and respected living with us? They are here and they are going to stay here and we all have to live together in peace and harmony as much as possible. This event does not help us to live together well but will only unnecessarily cause strife.

For all these reasons this deed must be judged as most reprehensible and mischievous.

It is a heartless and foolish act.

I condemn it completely.