Voltaire has been, possibly incorrectly, quoted as saying, “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death, your right to say it.” This speaks to the very crux of the 1st Amendment. As a matter of fact one of the only addendums to the 1st Amendment is in the case of when speech is used to incite violence. That’s the difference between protesting and starting a riot; one is the fundamental backbone of American culture and the other is a backlash. Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fl has decided that instead of turning the other cheek, as suggested in his holy book, or perhaps extending his hand in friendship to the Muslims in G-ville in order to help people understand and heal, it would be in his best interest to burn the Qur’an. Now, I may not be a religious person, but something certainly doesn‘t sit right with me about burning books, especially holy books. The last group to pull those shenanigans on such news worthy scale was the Nazi’s and we all know how that story ended up in the annuals of history. I don’t get where people get off pointing fingers and throwing stones where religion is concerned. I get that everyone believes that they’re right, but does that mean that you’re so nearsighted you can’t see when you’re being manipulated to become the worst of your kind? All major religions share the golden rule, there is no dispute about that, however to misconstrue teachings that are all based on the same premise to the point that everyone in that ideology is an extremist is so transparently wrong you do yourself a disservice by getting involved. Guess what? You have become what you hate.
You have transcended the teachings of your religion and corralled all people of a certain faith together, a faith that teaches that maybe Jesus wasn’t the savior but he was an extremely good and powerful profit of God, into Jihadist extremists. In America we have freedom of religion, it’s one of the perks, so your argument, though you have the right to make it, is invalid. Put a mosque on ground zero and let the healing begin, that's what I say. Don’t be so sure that your skewed opinion, Terry Jones, is the gospel, you may find yourself with no answers one day when you have to explain yourself. Not to mention, you are ruining it for the rest of us by picking a fight with people where ideology is the issue. There are no losers when everyone lays their life down for God, except for the rest of us that get caught in the crossfire. Hey, Hollywood, maybe it’s time for you to get involved! Something tells me that Terry Jones and all the other of his ilk might be interested in a new reality show that could take place on an island in the Pacific, someplace really nice. We’ll get a bunch of staunch “bible thumpers” from each religion that are willing to sacrifice us for themselves and their ego, we’ll give them sharp sticks and set them loose on the island, Lord of the Flies style. Whoever, has the most powerful god (a.k.a whoever’s right) will win! We’ll call it: Super God Fight! While all this shit is playing out on T.V. across the World, the rest of us will get on with living; which can be really hard enough to deal with without all this other crap.
Well written Tim. Many interesting points.
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