Religion of Peace?

By: American Decency Staff

By Chris Johnson Question: What can coerce radical Muslims around the world to protest in the streets and call for beheadings and mass murder? Answer: Pretty much anything. What presently has the world’s touchiest demographic up in arms however, is one short-sighted pastors plan to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of Islamic terrorists mass murder of Americans on 9/11. As tempted as I am to cheer the instigative efforts of this pastor, Terry Jones (ironically enough, his title is outreach pastor), I am forced by my own conscience and somewhat sound mind to wonder WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING THROUGH HIS HEAD?This planned event has given a great opportunity to draw a clear difference between Islam and Christianity. People could burn the Bible all week long and get hardly a peep from most Christians. In fact, back in 2009, our military did just that with Bibles that were sent to Afghanistan. The Bibles were destroyed so that U.S. forces could not be accused of “proselytizing.â€Â (I am not saying that’s a good thing. Its not.) Yet General Petraeus has warned that “images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan and around the world to inflame public opinion and incite violence." Get that? Not just a few groups of undisclosed religion, MUSLIM EXTREMISTS ALL OVER THE WORLD. So, which religion is peaceful? It also gives us a chance to talk about the difference between liberal and conservative. There has been a lot of chatter lately about tolerance and racism and Islamophobia, and how anyone on the right wing is a bigot. But the dialogue surrounding this story about the Koran pretty much stands that argument (for lack of a better word) on its head. When it became clear that the majority of Americans were not in favor of an Islamic Center being built in the shadow of a place where thousands of our brothers and sisters were killed in the name of Islam, liberal heads of state, talking heads in the media, even mainstream musicians tripped over themselves to make it clear that Muslims have the right to do that and anyone who disagrees with them is a racist Islamaphobe. Of course, no one disagrees that they have the right; we simply maintain that it is not right. Just as we maintain that this pastor has the right to do whatever he wants with the Koran, but his plan is not right. It is not ethical. IT IS NOT CHRISTIAN.

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