Wednesday 10 April 2013

Pastor Terry Jones to lead burning of 2,998 copies of the Quran

In the end, burning the Quran is not much different from burning national flags and we are now accustomed to seeing British flags and American flags burnt all over the world.

Looking at the scenes of celebration in Gaza, the West Bank and elsewhere in the Muslim world when the attacks in America occurred on September 11th, 2001, I would say that burning books is a lot less serious than burning human beings by crushing airplanes.

While books can be reprinted and new flags can be made, those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 cannot be brought back to life.

It is better when people when people express their anger by burning books or flags rather that attacking and killing fellow human beings. 

Jones' organisation announced that on the 12th Anniversaty of September 11, 2001 attacks in the USA, members of the organisation will proceed to burn 2,998 copies of the Quran, with 2,998 representing the number of human biengs that were killed in the attacks.

I must also say that we opposed the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In Afghanistan, we could see the scenes of devastation caused by the carpet bombing strategy. We saw tons of bombs thrown from high altitude, killing anybody regardless of guilt or innocence. About twelve years later, the war goes on.

In Iraq, what replaced Saddam Hussein - if the idea was from the beginning to replace Saddam Hussein - is a human disaster of huge proportions with hundreds of thousands forced into exile or living in inhumane conditions. Since the official end of the war, we really don't know how many more died or will die because violence continues.

When we think about those who lost their lives both in Afghanistan and in Iraq, burning 2,998 copies of the Quran is not such a big thing.   


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