Thursday, September 09, 2010

Quran Burning--not a good idea

Certainly no mature follower of Christ will do such things. There is no ambiguity in Jesus' teaching here. We are to love our enemies. It's Parable of the Good Samaritan stuff--modern Muslims are not unlike Samaritans in the story (although a Mormon might be closer). Of course to equate all Muslims with the Muslims of 9-11 is sheer ignorance on a grand scale anyway.

Only the unaware could burn a Quran today for fun (=not a mature follower) and anyone aware could not burn one in love (=not a mature follower). Thusly, no one who is a mature follower of Jesus Christ will do such things.

But that's not who this post is targeted toward. It is targeted toward non-Christians and the vast majority of nominal Christians in America who do not really know Jesus or follow him, despite their frequent and very vocal "Lord, Lords." It's just not a good idea to provoke people unless you want a fight.

Burning Qurans pushes people who might be our friends and makes them more likely enemies (=stupid). It takes those who already our enemies and inspires them to action (and what's the point there?).

So go ahead, you people who are no smarter than Hamas, the IRA, or any other group that can only function in a tit-for-tat mode. He hit me first. You're no more evolved than the next primate. Go make yourself feel better. Burn a Quran, imbecile.

10 comments:

Ken Schenck said...

Non-Christian imbecile primate #1. Any more out there?

The White Man said...

I assume you refer to public burnings of the Qur'an. What someone does in the privacy of their own fireplace should not be any concern.

Ken Schenck said...

So what you're saying is if a Quran burns in the forest and no one is there to see it, it doesn't make a riot?

The White Man said...

In America, committing a felony while in unlawful possession of a firearm constitutes ground for additional charges. Should additional charges of desecration apply for anyone who:

1) Illegally fires a bullet at someone which is stopped by a pocket Qur'an

2) Sets fire to a building containing any Qur'an which is subsequently charred

3) Uses a building which is subject to flooding to store Qur'ans

4) Puts press scraps through a shredder, or into a baler, which contain verses of the Qur'an

5) Collects newspapers for recycling which contain, either in a news item or an advertisement, quotations from the Qur'an

For lesser acts than any of these, Christians in Pakistan have been imprisoned and/or lynched for blasphemy. Welcome to sharia.

Ken Schenck said...

But these are diversions. I do not view the Quran as a holy book and believe we should do everything we can to impact the world away from sharia law and such things...

... but none of this is at issue here. This is about what we should do and what impact it has. Nor are all Muslims of this sort. It is the fallacy of composition (some Muslims are this way therefore all Muslims are) and the fallacy of diversion (I should burn a Quran because some Muslims persecute Christians). "Abuse is no excuse." "Two wrongs don't make a right." "I was justified in hitting Ahmed because Mohammed hit Christian." Yeah, pretty sharp thinking there!

"Two wrongs don't make a right."

::athada:: said...

I think the idiocy of the this stunt is pretty plain - everyone from Palin to Obama can see that. Muslims are already burning US flags, chanting "Death to America, Death to Christians." Sadly, man y of us demonstrate the same inability as they do to separate church from state.

The saddest argument I've seen is, "Well, you know what they do to Christians in X Muslim country?" Another way of saying: why should we have higher standards of freedom of religion than Saudi Arabia?

I went to a Bible study in high school where the leader would go to Goodwill and buy books of witchcraft to burn in his fireplace. Not a stunt, just wanting to remove them from circulation.

If there is *no* ambiguity in us loving our neighbors, shouldn't Christians all be pacifists? ;) I'm right there in the tension, too violent and angry to follow Jesus' plain & repeated exhortations.

Sorry so scattered.

::athada:: said...

Well, the show's off, maybe: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/09/quran-burning-church-dove_n_711159.html

Though it seems damage has already been done.

JohnM said...

I'd be just as happy if no one ever thought up the stunt, but Quran burning is at worst a pointless idea. If the reason for not wanting to see it happen is "golly, more Muslims might hate us more", well, what makes you think anything is going to make them love America, and why do you care? You can expect the world to hate Christians in any case, that concern shouldn't be the deciding factor in our response to anything. If you're worried about what the more radical Muslim factions might do, that's understandable - but it's still fear, not love . Why Ken, are you so sympathetic to the sensibilities of Muslim bullies? I'm talking about the ones who would react violently to any insult, real or preceived. The ones who cut off womens noses. Do you feel any compassion for their victims? Have you ever,in this forum, or any other, expressed contempt or outrage at their actions? Why does the Quran merit special treatment, apart from the fact that the world quakes in fear of Islam? Would you have reacted at all to the burning of Bibles, or any other books. Since you don't regard the would be Quran burners as real Christians (for all I know you may be right) you can't plead that it's because you're holding Christians to a higher standard.

Ken Schenck said...

John, you'll find no Taliban symphathizer here. Fundamentalist Islam sets me off even more than fundamentalist Christianity does. But I don't know any fundamentalist Muslims. Christians and non-Muslim Americans are my people. When professed Christians make it look like you have to have an IQ of 40 to be a Christian and when Americans justify all the world jokes about how stupid Americans are, it makes me look stupid too.

I don't like looking stupid.

New Life Concrete said...

Militant, fundamentalist, moderate, et al, Islam/Muslim: these are merely what Islamic exiles call, basically, Westernized micro-categories of Islam – period. To them (Wafa Sultan is one example) Western culture has dissected Islam the way it has with gender, ethnicity, class, etc. To the Muslim, practicing or exiled, there is no such thing as American Muslim or any example previously stated. When talking about Islam, they should be addressed as such: Islam – again, I cite Wafa Sultan as one example. Interesting topic.