Terry Jones, the radical pastor of a small congregation in Florida, finally made good last month on his threat to burn a copy of the Quran to send a message to Muslims that they must submit to U.S. law. The act has reportedly led to the deaths of American soldiers –– and many civilians –– overseas after Afghan troops stormed a United Nations outpost in Afghanistan and protests turned violent. So far, Jones has received around 400 death threats.
The media and Congress, among others, have placed blame for the Afghan riots on Jones. But, might the blame game as it stands be too narrow? One mistaken pastor’s actions should not be fuel enough to disrupt an entire nation. If Muslims in Afghanistan were to burn a Bible, how would the U.S. respond? It’s unlikely that we would react so strongly. Moreover, if Jones’ actions were so fundamentally abhorrent, why have other nations not responded in a similar manner?
In a poll by the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper, readers responded to the question of whether “the Florida pastor who burnt the Quran [is] morally responsible for the deaths of U.N. staff in protests in Afghanistan.” Only 45 percent blamed Jones, while 55 percent blamed the Islamic protesters.
Some have ventured to say that perhaps the Quran burning was used as an excuse for Afghans to react against the U.S. It’s a fair guess. The Christian Science Monitor has speculated that Afghani president Hamid Karzai exploited the burnings to stir up riots against the U.N. One pastor of a dwindling church shouldn’t hold that much sway on the stability of an entire country.
If Jones were a high-up official in the U.S. government, this would be a different story. If he spoke for all American religious leaders, this would be a different story. But he is simply one extreme individual who happens to pastor a very small church in the state of Florida (the property of which happens to be up for sale). Though the attention he has received is great, his level of authority is not.
What Jones has done is extreme, unacceptable and a poor use of our First Amendment freedom. The Middle East already perceives that the U.S. is at war with Islam instead of with a few terrorists and their ideology of violence. And Jones is exhibiting heavily prejudiced, caustic behavior that would be offensive to Muslims at any time, let alone in this unstable wartime situation. His poor choice has doubtless caused plenty of damage and further exacerbated America’s Middle East relations, not to mention those between Christians and Muslims. Certainly not what we would expect from a pastor of the same Bible that says to love one’s enemies.
