To Burn Or Not To Burn
Posted: Thursday, September 09, 2010
by Dane Tyner
Home Improvement Ministry
The pastor of a small church in Florida has gained international attention. How? Did he raise someone back from the dead? One would think so. Even General Petraeus, the officer in charge of the war effort in Afghanistan, felt obliged to publicly object to the pastor's plan to burn several copies of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the that horrific act of terror on September 11th, 2001.
Now, we are inclined to think that such acts would be done by a minority of misguided religious zealots, and their actions would be detested by the majority of adherents to their religion. But this case was different. Remember the pictures on 9-11 from camera crews in the Middle East where the news of the Twin Towers was being celebrated in the streets by Muslims? Those pictures of cheering crowds were almost as shocking to me as watching the towers burn and collapse.
Our government, both the present administration and the previous one, have bent over backwards to pacify Muslims. President Bush talked about the terrorists "hijacking a perfectly good religion." President Obama, himself a professing Christian, has referred to the "Holy Koran" more than to the "Holy Bible" in his short term in office. This is altogether understandable. We are at war with terrorists who are exclusively people of the Muslim faith. Our war is not really with Muslims in general, but with certain extreme Muslims, ones who call America, "Big Satan" and Israel, "Little Satan." So, our national leaders try to make it clear that our beef is not with Islam in general, but with a certain element of Islam that hates us and intends to do us harm.
Indeed, most Muslims are peace-loving people. They are just like people of other religions. Most of us just want to live our lives peaceably, build our families and enjoy our friends. We don't desire to kill anyone. We wouldn't even like it if we had to kill someone else in self-defense. We certainly can't relate with men who would cut a live man's head off and proudly film it for the world to see. (Remember Daniel Pearl?)
We should not overlook some features of Islam that are quite clear if you are bold enough to see them and say them. Within Islam are, and always have been since Muhammad launched the movement, a very aggressive core element. Islam is dominated by aggressive men who are dangerous to those who get in their way or oppose them. Their ends justify their every means. Now, you can live peacefully in that system if you submit to that oppressive authority. Tolerance is not a value of Islam; world conquest is.
So, an American pastor announces plans to burn a bunch of Korans. Just listen to the Islamic vitriol. Everyone knows, from Obama, to Clinton, to Petraeus, to you and me that people are likely to die because Korans were burned on purpose in Florida. This pastor could die. Probably some totally innocent people will die, people who had nothing to do with burning Korans. Such is the practice, however, of the spiritual bullies that run Islam. Now, just for a second, consider all the peace-loving Muslims around the world. Are they devout Muslims because of a love of Allah or Muhammad? Or are they merely afraid NOT to be Muslims? The answer would not be the same for each Muslim, but I suspect many are afraid and rightly so. They keep in step to stay safe.
As a Bible-believing Christian, I certainly would not appreciate an atheist group, a Satanic group, or anyone burning Bibles. Still, I would have no inclination to kill someone who did so. I don't even know a Christian who would be so inclined. Would we be upset? Sure! Would we kill? No way!
I believe the Florida pastor is absolutely right to strongly oppose Islam. I believe he is completely misguided in his zeal, nonetheless. Burning Korans will not likely convert one Muslim; in fact, it will likely build and reinforce barriers instead. Still, it is unfortunate, in my view, that the predominant negative attention is on this Koran-burning pastor. What should really be viewed with contempt is people of any religion that would murder innocent people because someone destroyed their "holy book." People are not afraid to speak out against a Christian minister; putting down Christians has become a popular pastime. But most people seem to be afraid to tell the truth about Islam.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)You make a very interesting point, Dane, about people having no problem criticizing Christianity, but being afraid to criticize Islam.Thanks for reading, Jennifer, and leaving your comment.
When people criticize Christianity, they are not pelted with epithets from the media and demonized. They are also not physically threatened. There is no double-standard here, is there? Nicely done.Thanks for reading and words of encouragement, Michael.
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