Seven months after the international uproar surrounding a Florida extremist who was threatening to burn the Koran, the pastor made good on his threat, sending Muslims into fits of violence in Afghanistan which have left at least 24 people dead.
This is not the first time a single hate-crime against a religion has caused massive violence, and it most likely will not be the last.
For example, there was the situation in Denmark in September 2005 when Jyllands-Posten published 12 satirical drawings of the prophet Muhammed. Rioting followed, especially after the cartoons were reprinted.
By the following February, angry mobs had stormed embassies in a number of European and Middle Eastern countries, setting them ablaze. Hundreds of people died in the resulting violence, which continued for years.
What Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida did was wrong. Putting the Koran on trial, finding it guilty and setting it on fire was an act of insanity at best, murder at worst.
His justification that the Koran has caused murder and violence is hypocritical. Since when did Christianity not have blood on its hands?
The pages of the Bible are spattered in blood, rape, murder, torture. It’s all there in immense supplies.
And it doesn’t end there, as Christianity still has its religious fanatics just like every other religion.
In 2009, anti-abortionist Scott Roeder murdered Wichita doctor George Toller for religious reasons.
In 2010, nine members of Hutaree, a Christian group based in Michigan allegedly preparing for what they believed would be an apocalyptic battle with the forces of the Antichrist, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of seditious conspiracy to use improvised explosive devices, teaching the use of explosive materials, and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.
Is religion, or anything for that matter, worth killing another over?
The people at the United Nations compound in Mazar-e-Sharif who were killed by the raging mobs in Afghanistan did absolutely nothing to provoke the raging violence that was thrust upon them. They were there to help. They had nothing to do with the burning of a religious book half a world away.
Moderate Muslims had been ignoring the news that Jones had burned the Koran, choosing not to bother giving him any reaction, which would only serve to fuel his publicity.
Two weeks later, Jones is still the root cause of violence. The Globe and Mail reports at least two-dozen innocent people are dead, and in all likelihood the number will be much larger.
The blood of these killings lies on many hands. Those in the mob are obviously directly responsible, but Jones is, too. He knew it would incite hate and violence, and to simply say that the violence proves him right and justifies the burning is to shrug off the responsibility of an action so big it impacted directly through the loss of many lives.
There are Muslims who hate Westerners; there are Westerners who hate Muslims. Identifying an entire religion by a handful of fanatics is grossly stereotypical. It often leads to murder and it just enforces the stereotypes already imprinted.
Do I agree with what Rev. Terry Jones did? No.
But was Rev. Terry Jones in any way responsible for the deaths of the UN members? Of Course Not!!!
You foolishly say “Jones is still the root cause of violence.” Of course not, the people who committed that violence are the root cause of that violence.
The fault does not lie with Jones, Islam, or anything but those murderers.
It really makes me sick when I see Canadians that don’t support freedom of speech unless it’s consistent with their view.
If the rioters had to riot, then Jones had to burn the Koran. If Jones caused them to kill, then they caused Jones to burn the Koran.
People make the choices they make and personal accountability is everything! The bottom line is, “…the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” Matthew 16:27.
Doesn’t matter who you are or what religion you call yourself. There is one God and He will judge EVERY man. Christian, Moslem, Buddhist, New Ager, Hindu, whatever. It is personal accountability both in your actions toward fellow human beings and toward the One True and Living God.