Many people have commented about the ridiculousness that is Pastor Terry Jones and Dove World Outreach Center and their plan to have a Qur'an burning on Saturday. I have nothing to add to what's already been said so well in that regard.
Can we please look at this from another angle for a moment? I had this thought when reading this article. For just a moment, let's put Pastor Jones's actions aside as terrible as they are, and focus on what took place in response to his plan. While despicable, two wrongs don't make a right. What does it say about a group of people that, upon the announcement of of a book burning, engage in violent threats and acts that have not only local police but the FBI, Interpol, U.S. State Department, General Petraeus, even the White House and the Secretary of Defense getting involved? If some wacky cult-like preacher with a tiny little band of followers in Gainesville has the power to incite worldwide violence, what does this reveal about a "religion of peace?"
For this to have the power to affect international travel? To have every news agency in the world covering it? To get the attention of the President of the United States? To warrant a personal call from the Secretary of Defense? Really? Seriously?? As this article here states, how can such a tiny tail - an independent church with 50 followers - wag such a big dog?
Terry Jones has a miniscule following and is truly seen as a freak. He is not representative of Christians, however those responding to the threat of Qur'an burning must have significant representation as they evidently have the power to incite fear and affect international travel and command the attention of world leaders.
If a group burned or threatened to burn a truckload of Bibles we'd all think, "wow, that was stupid" but I doubt Christians would be killing anybody over it or even threatening it as much as we love the Word of God. We'd just consider ourselves blessed for being persecuted for our faith, pray for the perpetrators, buy twice as many Bibles, distribute them and keep right on going. Local churches would just come together to raise money for more Bibles while a group of intercessors prayed over the project.
Now, we don't have to totally imagine this scenario because actually in 2009, the U.S. Military burned a huge shipment of Bibles that were being sent to Afghanistan by a church. They did so because our government deemed it a a security risk due to Muslims getting angry about proselytizing. So, when our government actually went through with destroying these Bibles what happened? Did any Christian pastors or churches incite violence over this? Of course not.
In the media frenzy over Terry Jones, has a deeper message been lost about the violent response to his actions? The media have already shown clips of violent demonstrations that have already occurred overseas as a direct response to Jones' actions. This article states that "...Muslims around the world called for Barack Obama's death at protests to denounce a US church's plans to burn the Islamic holy book on the anniversary of 9/11." Seriously??? Some podunk preacher threatens to burn a book and you call for our president's death? Mighty peaceful of ya. Note, it did not say, "a few extremists called for..." Our government was gearing up for the possible response to the event Saturday because they know the historical response to anything like this. And, they see, what is currently happening as millions around the world have issued a call for violence in response.
In this news article, it is reported that hundreds of angry protesters were in Afghanistan and Pakistan burning U.S. flags and chanting "Death to the Christians." Here's another with a rather grim photo. And another example. It's not reported that these are fringe Islamic groups, but simply Muslims around the world who have been hurt by Pastor Jones actions. But wait, wait...I thought this was a peaceful religion.
This recent article came out about Imam Rauf stating the our national security depends on whether the mosque is built at Ground Zero. Seriously? Have you ever heard of something so manipulative? A threat of violence if plans to build this mosque are not carried out?
How much longer must we hear politically correct pundits refer to a religion of peace when it's clear that any time it is threatened the government gears up to defend against a violent backlash that could affect the safety of millions.








