Giving Religion a Bad Name

It is the ninth anniversary of the day when planes were deliberately rammed into two of New York's tallest buildings, and part of the Pentagon.  Collectively, more than three thousand people died.  Most of them were Christians, Jews and Muslims.

In the years since, we have somehow gotten the idea that, just because a few radical Islamists killed a few thousand people and turned an entire country upside down, a whole religion is now considered evil and needs to be stopped.  It has infected politicians, talk show hosts, and anyone else with half a brain who usually votes Republican.

In the past month alone, there has been controversy over a proposed Islamic cultural center in New York, to be built blocks from where those tall buildings once stood.  And polls have come out showing that a good chunk of the American population believes their President is a Muslim, even though he really isn't.

Now we have the reverend of a small church in Florida named Terry Jones, who intended to protest the barbarism committed by radical Islam by committing copies of the Koran to a bonfire on September 11.  Because he is exercising his First Amendment rights, there was nothing anyone could do about it.  And no amount of pleading from generals, presidents and popes was going to stop the pastor from doing what he was about to do.

Well, Pastor Jones was going to do this until he apparently decided to back off on Thursday.  He claimed to have made an agreement to cancel his Koran roast, in exchange for a promise to move the Islamic center to somewhere other than near Ground Zero.  The imam who runs the center said that there's no such deal, and that he has never talked to the pastor.  Now we hear  the burning has been "suspended".

Truth is, we never would have heard of Pastor Terry Jones if General David Petraeus hadn't brought it up.  From his perch in Afghanistan, where the war there nears a second decade, the General sounded the alarm about dire consequences befalling American soldiers if Jones persisted in his idea of free speech.

If the Koran-burning ever takes place, every news organization will be there to witness it, giving Pastor Jones the attention he doesn't really deserve.  But how many of those networks would actually show the holy books going up in smoke, knowing full well that any footage could set off riots around the world (if it hasn't already)?  Even if no network airs the footage, there will always be somebody with a camera phone taking pictures and downloading them to the Internet.

Though religion is responsible for most of the hurt and suffering in the world, it is heartening to see members of all faiths take a stand against the hatred and violence that might take place if Pastor Jones and his flock carries out the desecration of a symbol of Islam, just because he thinks he can.  But actions speak louder than words, and a picture can say so much.