Burning Question
Pat Sajak ·
Sep 10, 2010 at 6:55am
Is it possible the media and the government are making just a teensy bit too much about this on-again, off-again book-burning stuff? If this preacher would just relent and burn a few American flags, everyone could relax.
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Jul '10
Re: Burning Question
Not only is there too much fuss over the possible burning but, and this is the really bad part, the West is playing by the Islamist rules. We are kowtowing to their sensibilities as to what we can do or say.
May '10
Re: Burning Question
It's ridiculous that the media brings something this trivial up in every meeting with every official for a week - they make it impossible for interviewees to remain silent without seeming callous.
Where the president and generals are concerned, though, it's disappointing that they aren't more deliberate in their speech, knowing whatever they say will be screamed on-screen and in print until some other "BIG NEWS ITEM" comes up. Say it's a bad idea, sure, but don't try to guilt-trip a guy who's clearly nuts while giving the appearance that Islamists aren't 100% to blame for their own violence.
Frank at IMAO.us is a great resource for farcical topics like this.
Aug '10
Re: Burning Question
Pat,
That might be the only card they have up their sleeve: racist islamophobes represent tea party at anti-obama rally and koran burning in front of ground zero mosque on anniversary of over-reaction to attacks we brought on ourselves. bring your crossburning kids, yore bibles, and your hateful messages of economic sanity !
Or, it's a slow news day.............
Looks like the muslims are clinging to their guns and their religion.
Aug '10
Re: Burning Question
But it's a huge existential crisis! If he doesn't go through with the burning, then we can't be labelled an Islamiphobe nation of racist gun-clingers!
Wouldn't it be horrible if we had to discuss Islam on its merits, instead of through a cloud of politically correct white guilt? The poor souls at Newsweek would have to throw out all their article templates and think about what they write for a change.
Aug '10
Re: Burning Question
Let me clearly state that burning the Quran is NOT a Christian response to Muslims. It is not loving one's enemies. However, I am glad this guy (and now perhaps others) have threatened to do this act because the reaction illustrates a profound problem with our culture which is that we wrongly equate "tolerance" with "acceptance." Just because I should tolerate my Muslim neighbor's religion does not mean I must accept his truth claims. Indeed, if I believe the Christian truth claims then I must reject all those contrary claims, including Islam. Our culture cannot abide someone making uncompromisable truth claims. Which, in essence is what this pastor has done.
Suppose this guy in Florida made an announcement in this vein: "Because I am a Christian and because I believe Islam to be a false religion whose adherents are misguided and doomed to damnation, I call on all fellow Christians to join me in fasting and PRAYER for the conversion of all Muslims to Christianity on the anniversary of 9/11."
Assuming he had received the same widespread airplay and coverage with that announcement, would not the reaction have been the same? I submit it would have...
May '10
Re: Burning Question
In contrast, there was absolutely no fuss back in March when Egyptian Muslims burned a young Christian man to death--and then stabbed to death his father.
Jun '10
Re: Burning Question
If you've lived your whole life in a place where every demonstration is government-approved--approved, or else it can't happen--it's hard to understand that an individual can just decide to stage a political or social demonstration by himself. "If the government disagreed with him, they'd lock him up, so they must agree." For a lot of people in this world, an individual being allowed to embarrass the government, with advance warning, is unthinkable. So in their narrow minds, the act of an American individual becomes America's act.
Jul '10
Re: Burning Question
Three Christians bringing aid to flood-stricken Pakistan murdered. Crickets.
Thousands of Pakistani Christians denied Western emergency food supplies by their Muslim neighbors. No story there.
Ten Western humanitarians executed by Taliban? Way less interesting than the Kardashians.
Scores of churches burned in Kosovo and thousands of Christians expelled from their homes. So yesterday.
Thousands of Nigerian Christians hacked and burned to death. Yawn.
An ongoing Muslim-on-Christian genocide in Darfur? Nothing to see here.
But crazy Reverend Davis threatens to burn a few Korans?
Whole world goes nuts.
Jun '10
Re: Burning Question
Why is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf building a mosque next to Manhattan's Ground Zero?
Because NYC building codes don't allow him to build a giant wooden horse.
Aug '10
Re: Burning Question
The other upside to this tentative book fry is that the world can see the reaction of the Muslim world. As Kenneth mentioned above, it ain't them hate-filled Christians what be rioting and threatening violence rampages every time some thing sacred to them is desecrated...
Jul '10
Re: Burning Question
Well, since neither of them were beheaded, it must have been the act of a moderate Muslim crowd.
Aug '10
Re: Burning Question
Take a quick gander at the website for Voice of the Martyrs to see the state of modern tolerance of Christians around the world.
Aug '10
Re: Burning Question
Even Robert Fisk has picked up on the Islamophobe groove.
It might be the newest dance craze !! Imagine gay discos partying to "The Wall" by Pink Floyd, rather under a wall, as prescribed in the Koran.
I can imagine the theme song " Everybody Must Get Stoned ".
Rock on !
Well, rocks of a certain size, not big enough to kill with one blow, also prescribed.
May '10
Re: Burning Question
My husband and I have worked out an easy way to keep up with the news on the Koran burning without having to discuss it. We're using the Clean/Dirty magnet on our dishwasher. Clean = No Burn; Dirty = Burn. I ate my english muffin off a plate with some traces of a day-old salmon on it but it's still better than talking about it.
Aug '10
Re: Burning Question
Some of my friends who are up in arms about this issue have pointed me to a proposed reading of the Qu'ran in an Episcopal Church in Michigan, inviting parishioners to take turns at the podium.
I wonder if any of the readers will feel a bit shaken in their self-satisfied tolerance when they find themselves reading from the pulpit of their church the Surahs that deny Christ?
Edited on Sep 10, 2010 at 8:49amMay '10
Re: Burning Question
Excellent point. Unfortunately, I don't see how we can put that knowledge to use.
It does highlight the importance of freeing Middle Eastern media from the control of their governments. In the age of satellites, the answer might be to encourage a black market of smartphones and such. But I'm not sure how to help citizens of those nations access satellite TV and radio without being detected by their governments while simultaneously protecting the rights and profits of the media providers.
Re: Burning Question
So an addled preacher who doesn't have both oars in the water threatens to burn the Koran, and whole divisions of screaming fanatics threaten death and destruction to retaliate for, ...a lack of tolerance. And how is that cathedral in Mecca coming along?
Jul '10
Re: Burning Question
Very well put. First of all, this guy is nuts. Second, the people who are apparently going to be backlashing against the Quran burning are not only hypocrites, but also nuts. If this is only a spat between wackos, what are us sane people doing worrying about it?
Edited on Sep 10, 2010 at 9:28amJul '10
Re: Burning Question
And as a Muslim, I do find it offensive that anyone would would burn Qurans. However, the Quran is not a book, it is the word of God. Desecrating the pages on which the book is written is nowhere near as blasphemous as distorting and perverting the word and meaning of the Quran to dastardly ends. Radical Islamists who pervert God's peaceful, divine guidance are infinitely more criminal in their actions than a Christian who would only burn physical things.
Re: Burning Question
What a powerful point. Thanks for making it.