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Opinion: Is it Christian to burn the Qu'ran?
By Frank Kaufmann
 Thursday, September 9, 2010
 Terry Jones, "pastor" of Dove World OutreachCenter in Gainesville, Florida plans to burnQu'rans in front of his “church” Saturday.Is that “Christian”? These questions “is that Christian?,” and “isthat Islamic,” are not simple. The standardsof any given faith are a living thing thatrequire knowledge, study, and wisdom.Generally speaking, Islam has feweruncontested centers of authority than doesChristianity. That's just a roll of the dice.Each religion has its own style andsignature. Authority in Islam, similar to Judaism tends to devolve from devotion and rigor in the blended arenas of theology and a "divine" sort of jurisprudence. It is harder to produce and promotedefinitive positions as “Islamic.”Christianity, on the other hand, even though divided thousands of times since theProtestant Reformation, somehow does have genuine centers of representationalauthority. If someone wants a sense or feel to know if something is “Christian” ornot, there are a few pretty sturdy places to look.Now “pastor” Jones is causing trouble. But a curious kind. There are ironies in theperverse passions of "pastor" Jones. A most interesting one is in the "hijacking areligion" category. For 10 years Muslims have had the immensely unpleasant taskof purveying the concept, "Militant violence and the willingness to kill innocents isnot Islam. Our religion has been "hijacked" by a small number whose behavior iscondemned by Islam." Now suddenly worldwide Christendom scrambles toaccomplish the same. "Burning sacred literature, and offending the beliefs of others is not Christian. Our religion is being "hijacked" by some militant whosebehavior is condemned by the Bible."Of the 2.2 billion Christians on earth, the Dove World Outreach Center boasts 50.Now, what if some random fellow of equally massive insignificance as "pastor" Jones situated in some Muslim village about the size of Gainesville Florida (pop.124,000), say 'Aṭbarah, Sudan (same population) managed to convince around 501
 
people, (about one or two families in his clan) to burn Christian Bibles this comingSaturday. How would things be going in that regard? My guess is that those Bibleswould come and go with nary a Christian on earth ever hearing a word about it.But even if Christians DID find out about some nut with matches in 'Aṭbarah, or Tanjung Pinang, Indonesia (same population) what would be the reaction of Christians worldwide? My guess is that the reactions would be physical,involuntary, from the chest up, would last on average 2 - 3 seconds, and lifewould go on. I am quite sure almost all 2.1 billion Christians would shrug theirshoulders, maybe scratch their heads, or a really passionate believer might go sofar as to actually SHAKE her head.Not so when "pastor" Jones," a former hotel manager, missionary and seller of used furniture on eBay, who often packs a pistol on his hip when he preaches tofewer than 30 parishioners, wants to burn Qu'rans.What happens when “pastor” Jones wants to burn Qu'rans? Is the “Christian”reaction, “Hey it's not our book, the guy's a provocateur, beliefs out in left field.Can't be bothered.”? Are Christians shrugging their shoulders? Scratching ourheads? Even going so far as to SHAKE our head?NO! That is NOT the Christian reaction to a massively insignificant individual whowants to burn books from somebody else's religion.What “Christians” then are bothering with Mr. Jones and his band of 50 people inGainesville? The Vatican. 
The Vatican on Wednesday denounced as "outrageous and grave" plansby a Christian minister in Florida to burn copies of the Koran to mark theSept. 11 anniversary.The Vatican office responsible for relations with Islam issued a sternstatement saying every religion has the right to expect that its sacred books, places of worship and symbols will be respected and protected 
. The US State Department and the US Secretary of State
"Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, led condemnation of the planned burning, describing it as a "disrespectful, disgraceful act". Astate department spokesman called the planned protest "un-American".
CNN 
Later in the segment, Chetry turned theologian and quoted Scripture toPastor Jones as she continued to question his planned action: "What about turn thy cheek? I mean, this is- you know, Christianity at its most- you know, refined. It's that you just don't act out in violence. You don't 
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act out in any manner of hate, that you turn thy cheek, that you don't rise to the nastiness or the level of payback that your perceived enemiesdo. I mean, isn't this the exact opposite of what Christ taught all of us tobe and to do?"
Andthe president of the United States.But this is not all.I am involved in an extensive network of Christian Clergy and Christian activistsnationally and locally, working literally around the clock (I got a missive to reviewlast night at 11:30 pm) to prevent this calamity.Here are how some of the private, behind the scenes efforts going on:
Hi Rory,We have a group of senior pastors going today to talk with him, a largenumber of believers planning on being in visible opposition on Saturday.The authorities are already restricting access to the neighborhood to people with proof of residence there. No outsiders allowed in the area at all. Hard to believe the hornet's nest stirred up by the media over 50small town bigots that should have been ignored altogether for the sakeof selling newspapers.The media have played right into the hands of Satan, fostering hatred,Intolerance and probably murder before it is all over. We are taking out full page ads in major newspapers with our viewpoint, because thechances of the media giving us a hearing or reporting another side of the issue is nonexistent.Blessings***Hi Carl,Thanks for your tireless networking and mobilizing. We all appreciatethat. And thanks to Martin for the article by Ayman Ibrahim.It seems to me that the Qur'an burning pastor issue is a much bigger one than people realize. Just today Gen. Petraeus said that it willendanger US troops. The truth is, it will lead to bloodshed of Muslimsand Christians everywhere.
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