Koran Burner Terry Jones Is Not Evil, Just Wrong

on April 5, 2011 at 10:10 AM

koran A Florida pastor caused a ruckus late last summer when he declared that he would be burning a pile of Korans to mark the ninth anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2001. The controversial Terry Jones backed down on his plan ... for several months at least.

Last month the preacher set fire to the religious book of Islam, which went remarkably unnoticed by the U.S. press. Thank goodness for that -- the last thing attention-seekers need is more attention to fuel the craziness.

Unfortunately, word got out in Afghanistan, and the incident supposedly sparked a terrorist attack that resulted in the death of at least 11 people, seven of whom were U.N. staffers and guards.

Being quite the argumentative bunch (democracy rocks!), we Americans hopped on this story to decide whether or not Terry Jones has blood on his hands for the deaths in Afghanistan. He may be a jerk, but he’s not a murderer. The radical Islamic terrorists are murderers.

Terry Jones and his colleague Wayne Sapp showed poor judgment with their mock trial over another religion’s holy book and its subsequent death by kerosene fire, and I understand why followers of that religion would be grievously upset over the incident. However, this is not cause to go kill anyone, let alone people that had nothing to do with the incident or even the country in which the act occurred. (The U.N. workers killed were from Norway, Nepal, Romania, and Sweden.)

Religion is mocked all the time and for a variety of reasons. Would the American Atheists have blood on their hands if a group of Christians had murdered innocent people in protest over their offensive ‘Christmas is a Myth’ billboard? No! Just because Group A offends Group B, Group B does not have any reason or excuse to blame Group A when it blows up Group C.

We humans have control over our own actions. Terrorists aren’t less capable of managing their thoughts, words, and deeds than anyone else on the planet -- they just happen to choose evil. Placing any blame whatsoever on one nutty man in Florida is insulting to terrorists who act on their own free will to murder ‘infidels’ because they believe they’ll be rewarded with 72 virgins in the afterlife.

Terry Jones made a bad decision and a book got burned. Some terrorists in Afghanistan made a bad decision and innocent people died. It hardly seems fair to compare the two.

Image via Maks Karochin/flickr

Filed Under: crime, death, in the news, islam, media, religion

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Comments (15)

Nonmember comment from anon

on Apr 5, 2011 at 11:03 AM

When a President and a General tell you not to do something because people will die... and then you do it - I think that is a bit worse than "bad judgement." I find it even more offensive that a religious figure, a pastor, would disregard such a warning. I agree that he isn't a murder but I think he's a pretty terrible person.

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hoticedcoffee

on Apr 5, 2011 at 11:34 AM

Totally agree with this article. Religious extremists are to blame for their own behavior, not the reactions of other religious extremists. My bad behvavior in response to some perceived disrespect will still be my bad behavior, and my responsibility.

PonyChaser

on Apr 5, 2011 at 11:54 AM

I heard a guy on the radio yesterday, talking about this. He was a self-proclaimed "reformed bible banger", an ex-fundamentalist Christian who used to believe the way that the Terry Jones/Fred Phelps people in the world do. That they are on a mission from God, and anyone who tries to thwart them, advise them otherwise, etc., are sent by the Devil to stand in their way. So going from that point of view, and considering that he is probably very anti-Obama in the first place, having the President ask Jones not to do something... well, to him, that's just Lucifer trying to turn him away from God.

I know, it's a twisted way of looking at the world, and not unlike those that he opposes.

I don't know the answer here. I wholeheartedly agree with Jenny, that those terrorists are responsible for their own actions. I wonder and worry when a United States Multi-Star General says that the actions of one lunatic in Florida are going to put entire platoons at risk. I worry when this causes members of Congress to publicly state that Freedom of Speech is "a nice idea", and our President to call Freedom of Religion a "notion".

Things are so incredibly screwed up. If they knew that this was likely to cause a problem in Afghanistan, why didn't they just stop those who were going to kill, rather than someone who was going to burn a sheaf of papers?

Nonmember comment from Anon

on Apr 5, 2011 at 12:07 PM

I think the guy was a nut. But he had the right to burn that book. If it was a Muslim vowing to burn a Bible in the USA or anywhere else, would anyone in government dare tell them not to? Like Ponychaser said, since we know of the threat posed by terrorists, why not go after the terrorists and leave a private US citizen alone to do what he pleases with his own personal property? I also think the liberals on the internet fueled this fire big-time. And I also think they should be ashamed for acting like Americans should be afraid to express their beliefs because Muslims don't like it. Should I be shaking in my boots right now because whatever I'm typing may not please someone halfway across the world, and they may get into an ill humor and go shoot someone who has nothing to do with me? Why don't we all just relinquish our freedoms and ship them over to the Middle East, where they'll probably get more international respect?

starrsitter

on Apr 5, 2011 at 12:26 PM

What I find most interesting in the general opinions about this (not just here) is that some of the same people who think that 11-year-old girls who dress a certain way are in some way to blame for their rapes also think that a religious extremist whose sole purpose in acting in this way was to illicit a reaction is utterly free of responsibility for said reaction.

butterflymkm

on Apr 5, 2011 at 12:46 PM

I heart you starsitter lol we tend to think alike

cmarie452

on Apr 5, 2011 at 12:57 PM

The terrorists are def responsible for the deaths, but if you yell "fire" in a crowded room and someone get stomped to death aren't you somewhat responsible? The terrorists are responsible for the own actions and they deserve to be punished but that doesn't mean that Terry Jones is completely innocent of guilt. If some tells you not to do something because innocent people will be hurt in reaction and you go and do it anyways and lo and behold, innocent people die. You may not be the one that pulled the trigger but you're the one that yelled "fire".

on Apr 5, 2011 at 1:09 PM

Starrsitter, I saw nobody saying the 11-year-old girl was at fault, but some said her parents were not doing their job of protecting her. And cmarie, yelling fire in a theater means making people believe they are in imminent physical danger. Burning one's own book halfway around the world is hardly comparable. Stop giving these people excuses.

on Apr 5, 2011 at 1:30 PM

@Anon...You're kidding, right? Did you read any coverage or commentary on the story? All anyone could talk about was how she supposedly dressed? As though that were relevant.

This man did what he did with the intent of sparking outrage. He streamed it live on the internet with Arabic subtitles. He may have had the legal right to do so, but that isn't precisely the same as being totally free from culpability in the broader sense.

on Apr 5, 2011 at 3:45 PM

I still think that bloggers who imply that Muslims have a right to feel murderously angry after this act have more blood on their hands than the book burner. Talk about intentionally sparking outrage.