Rant on.

 

The hot news of the day–no pun intended–is that Reverend Terry Jones, a Florida minister, burned a copy of the Koran after promising he would not do so a year ago.  In response to this, a protest mob formed in Afghanistan.  This was a violent group; they attacked a U.N. compound and killed a number of staff members there.  In short, one extreme led to another.

 

The reverend’s actions were bigoted and hateful.  He put the Koran on trial and, with the aid of his congregation, convicted it for “crimes against humanity” such as promoting violence against people not of the Muslim faith.  The Bible could easily be convicted of the same.  Many if not most hate crimes against homosexuals in the U.S. (and elsewhere) are Bible-based, at least as far as those committing the crimes are concerned.  The five-and-a-half hour trial the pastor held had only one possible conclusion, as the sentence was already determined.  Reverend Jones ordered the Koran burned and another preacher carried out the sentence.

 

The simple fact of the matter is that not all Muslims are terrorists or murderers or anything like it.  I would guess many if not most don’t care for those who do not follow their faith, but that attitude is hardly unique to Islam.  I certainly recognize Reverend Jones’ right to his opinion and even his right to take the action he did.  However, just because one can do something doesn’t mean one should.

 

At the other end of this issue is the mob in Afghanistan.  Seven people were killed by the mob, seven folks who had nothing to do with the pastor or his actions.  Zip.  Zero.  Zilch.  But the mob went and killed them anyway and injured a number of others in “retaliation” for the reverend’s actions.  In a sense, they demonstrated Mr. Jones’ point, although the group was hardly representative of Muslims in general.

 

Still, it makes little sense.  Yes, I know, it’s terrorist violence which, as a rule, doesn’t make sense anyway.  However, this seems especially distressing:  Some whacko in a foreign country burns your holy book so you kill random people?  Sure, the pastor is out of reach for them, but it was just one copy of the Koran.  He didn’t injure anyone in the process.  And if burning that holy book is offensive to your god, well, shouldn’t your god take care of the problem?

 

This is why I don’t like extremes or generalizations.  Both sides are taking the attitude that the other side is evil and, quite frankly, I can see why they think this.  The actions they took are extreme, and have caused injury, either physical or emotional, to those around them or who at least learned of their actions.  The middle ground, the better route, is to carry on with one’s faith, believe what one believes, and leave it at that.  If Reverend Jones doesn’t like or hates Muslims, it is his right to do so, but there’s no reason for him or his congregation to go out of their way to offend people of that faith.  If a Muslim mob is upset with the actions of a whacko American preacher, that’s understandable, but it doesn’t justify killing anyone.

 

There is one tiny bright side in this mess:  Globalization.  Had this incident taken place fifty years ago, the mob in Afghanistan would never have learned of the Koran burning.  For that matter, most here in the U.S. would have been unaware.  If it got a mention in the local newspaper that would have been a big deal.  Thanks to the speed and breadth of news, the world is witness to this sequence of events.  People like myself can condemn both sides of the story, quietly vowing to not be so hateful and, hopefully, becoming a little closer together emotionally in the process.  Hatred and bigotry and violence from the same has been around for thousands of years.  It’s not going away soon, but at least its end may finally be in sight.

 

I have an extreme hope.

 

Rant off.