So. Burning the Qu'ran now, are we? (Or Koran. Whichever.)

I would like to start by saying that I don't mean to sound flippant... but that would be a lie. Yes, I do mean to sound flippant. I think the preacher who is doing this is simply trying to get attention for himself (which is why I won't be linking to anything about him or providing specific information); and that he didn't think ahead far enough to anticipate that real people somewhere else may pay the price for his attention whoring; and now suddenly his little scheme looks to be generating negative backlash by painting him as someone willing to sacrifice American soldiers (and maybe non-combatants) for his own agenda.


Still, my head-slapping annoyance at this joker (whom I have trouble saying anything polite and charitable about, or even thinking about without profanities) might be the result of some knee-jerk bias on my part against people who freaking burn books.

So, as teeth-grittingly as it makes me feel to do so, I decided to sit down and try to have a reasonable discussion with myself (and anyone else who wants to join in, I guess you're welcome, too... {wry g}) over the question of whether it might actually be a good thing to buy up copies of someone else's religious scriptures (especially when that religion has managed to contribute some positive things to world culture) and burn them.


And as much as I don't like to admit it, there might be grounds of some sort for doing so. Of some sort. Some.

Actually, the topic is rather deeper than my knee-jerk "NO!"

To give one example off the top of my head: some interviewer asked the preacher "WWJD?" Is this really what Jesus would do? He answered, "Absolutely, no doubt." Which was interesting because the preacher was much more reluctant to answer the more provocative question, "Do you not have even a twinge of conscience about doing this?" Yeah, he clearly did, because General Petraeus had made it clear that even the threat of doing this was inspiring pre-emptive hostile rallies in Afghanistan, and guess who was going to get the blame for that if it escalated?

(I will take a moment here to opine that if this fellow really wanted to impress anyone with his faithfulness in burning a bunch of Korans, he should take up money or convert his own finances into cash for the purpose, and ship himself to Afghanistan or someplace like that with his collected books, and burn them in a marketplace himself. And then stay there the rest of his life, in that village, without demanding troop protection, to deal with the results of his actions. I still wouldn't agree with his choice to do so, but I'd respect it infinitely more.)

Now, my immediate reply to the question WWJD in regard to burning a pile of Korans (or even one of them), is "NO!" That just isn't the sort of thing Jesus did in the canonical Gospels. It's more like the sort of thing He refused to do when tempted by Satan.

But then the logical nit-picky corner of my mind pipes up with, 'Hey, remember when you ranked Keith Parsons a solid edge of a win in his debate back in the 90s with William Lane Craig, because among other things WLC flagrantly schismed the Persons of the Trinity by denying that Jesus would do something KP correctly attributed to God in the OT? WELCOME TO IRONY THEATER!'

Yep; sauce for WLC's goose is sauce for my gander. Because, while book burning per se wasn't something done in the Old Testament, the Lord--which for an orthodox trinitarian theist like myself means Jesus--did in fact instruct people to destroy the religious elements of other people. Bust idols. Burn groves. Etc.

Granted, this was done in the context of cleaning out their own house; although that also includes the context of invading where someone else was living and taking that land over. (That's apparently What Jesus Would Do, too, or at least order done.) But still, yeah, that could be said to apply to burning copies of the Qu'ran in a Christian country (or at least a Christian community).

So why am I so against such a thing?

Because I also remember things Jesus said (and which were said in the OT, too) about living in peace with one's neighbors, and loving your neighbor (including your enemy) as yourself, and doing unto others as I would have them do to me, and not judging or condemning lest I be condemned (insert irony again here as applicable!), and about being harsh on myself first and foremost and the logs in my own eye rather than burning the mote in the other guy's eye (or... well, words to that effect anyway...)

Also, book burning (and things of that sort) strikes me as being spiritually weak, rather than spiritually strong. Allowances might have to be made for that weakness, but it doesn't reflect well on the weak one. (Though naturally the weak one would think of such an action as being strong--that's part of his weakness.) I was taught justice and fair-play, including from the scriptures; and I was taught (also from the scriptures) that justice and fair-play are not ultimately optional, even if they result in painful short-term losses.

Book burning does not seem to me to be fair-play. At best it's a concession to the weakness of the one doing the burning. Fair play would be moving to Afghanistan or Iran or anywhere like that, and being a missionary there, winning hearts to Christ--and living, or dying (or wishing for death), with the consequences. That's what spiritually strong people do, people spiritually stronger than myself, in my experience as a Christian. Burning books, safely in Florida no less, is what spiritually weak people do, because they aren't worth anything better (or not yet anyway).


I could write a bunch more on this topic, pro and con. But I'd rather open up the floor for comments on this topic from other Cadrists and guests.