Who'd have thought that the ninth anniversary of 9/11 would be so contentious? The tenth, I could understand, but the past eight years involved solemn remembrance and mourning. No more of that: Sept. 11 is political all over again.It's not as if it has no reason to be. The "victory mosque" proponents, those self-styled Constitutionalists, will be displaying American flags and reading off every name of those killed in the 2001 attack. Good for them, but it's not going to win me over to their side. Emperor Hirohito could have raised an American flag at Pearl Harbor in 1951. Would it honestly have mattered? A slap in the face is still an insult, even if you wore thickly padded gloves when delivering it.
However, I am relieved that the pastor in Gainesville called off the Koran-burning. It was a profoundly stupid idea. It doesn't exactly take much to inflame Muslim passions. This would have been catastrophic. Our troops would have been in danger like never before. Americans needed to denounce this.
Yes, they burn Bibles in Saudi Arabia regularly. But the Muslim world not taking their own hypocrisy into account is something we've had to live with. Primitive actions on our part do nothing to cancel out primitive actions on the part of another's.
I have no idea whether the Ground Zero mosque-builders are moderates or not. I think Imam Faisal has dark links he's not telling us about. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Saudi Arabian money started furnishing the place. But I do know that there are Islamic moderates out there. And burning their holy book is as insensitive to them as the Ground Zero mosque is to most Americans.
I was in Morocco last year. The Moroccans pride themselves on a liberal interpretation of the Koran. They welcome tourists and allow churches and synogogues; there is even a Jewish cemetary in Marrakech that is well looked-after. It's an Islamic society but I didn't feel that I had to watch my step. I would not want to offend these people. Your average Moroccan cannot be compared to an Al-Qaeda terrorist. There are even plenty of Iranians that love America and Americans. We cannot afford to lose them as friends by supporting the torching of the one book they hold in reverance.
And do we really want to borrow a tactic from the Nazis?
The pastor is not exactly the best example of a Christian. His views on women don't seem any more enlightened than those of extremist Islamists.
Grieve for the memory of the crime committed against us nine years ago. Don't stand for being told that you're un-American if you oppose the Ground Zero Islamic cultural center. But leave the Koran alone. That tome is not our enemy; it's the brainwashed extremists who interpret it far too radically, and the pride they take in their unyielding position, who threaten us.
And with that said, I'm going to listen to some pure, unadulterated rock'n'roll from a band that's as American as they come:
3 comments:
Well said,
I may have contention with the Koran but not with those who would have a peaceful reverence for it.
The guy organizing the burning is a nut case and not worth the press he recieved.
I have contentions with any religious tome. Things written thousands of years ago, but people still take absolutely literally and try to apply to today's world ... the cause of a lot of problems. People just don't want to accept that they were written by certain groups of men, more primitive in their society than ours, trying to figure out and interpret the world around them.
But, like flags, I don't think they should be burnt.
Ah, the Ramones. Great group.
We do not need to sink to the level of the Islamic extremists. Seriously; what will burning their book do? (Besides ignite their hatred.) As a Christian myself, I dare say that this guy is not a Christian.
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