Buy or read a Quran this Saturday!!
That is the proper response to the Florida book burner!
This suggestion from NPR could have millions of people doing that as a contrast to a tiny group of book burners.
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10 hours ago
Well I see that Rev. Jones has agreed not to burn the Qurans so this issue is not as acute as it would be otherwise.
ReplyDeleteAs for buying a Quran as a proper response to Jones’ proposed Quran burning I have to disagree. That would imply that we infidels have to make an extraordinary response to any proposed insult to the Muslim religion – we don’t. The respect that a group gets always comes from inside the group. That applies to Christians and Muslims. The proper response from Christians is to denounce the act – nothing more. The proper and most important response here would be for the Muslims to admit (as they most certainly know) that Jones is the leader of a fringe groups of kooks and ignore (be tolerant of) the event.
Speaking of buying a Quran, I wonder what effect this event had on Quran sales. Surely, anyone that already owned a Quran wouldn't be willing to burn it, so I would think the would-be book burners had to go buy the Qurans they intended to burn.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree it certainly isn't necessary to buy a Quar'an, I think reading one is a really appropriate statement (not necessary, but appropriate). Most of us, even those who have no dislike of Islam, assume we know things about the religion and Holy Book without ever having read the Word.
ReplyDeleteWish I knew Arabic, because this is the coolest version: http://www.quranflash.com/en/quranflash.html
But one of these is probably more practical:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/koran/browse.html
or
http://www.jannah.org/qurantrans/quran1.html
The opening includes:
Show us the straight way,
The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.
The true way of Islam is not wrath, and I sure hope the way of humanity everywhere can strive also to not act on wrath.
I agree with Tom (see ‘a worry point’ on 9-7) that we need to be careful about giving special consideration and exempting one religion from the consequences of free speech. A delightful part of the Quran reading proposal is that it would not be a government action.
ReplyDeleteWe are fighting two wars against terrorists who are in that religion and the leaders of those terrorists would just love to sell the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world on the idea that America is fighting, not against terrorists, but against Islam itself. Their goal is to incite a religious war. Now comes an American wingnut who can be represented by those leaders as proof that America is at war with Islam. I think that if the topic were put on the program of an American debate society, then perhaps the advocate of no balancing action by the nation as a whole might carry the day. But it will not be a debate and it will not be held at a local university. It is a campaign that will be conducted inside Islamic countries and only one side will be presented.
I think that we all agree that religious toleration is a major American value. A national Quran reading day would be a dramatic reaffirmation of that value and it would be hard to misrepresent either in Islamic countries or here.
To build on Wayne’s point that media coverage is not exactly even – During the news cycle on Friday I heard countless calls for Jones to act with restraint. I heard NO calls for Muslims to act with restraint to Jones proposed actions.
ReplyDeleteA national Quran reading day would indeed be a reaffirmation of a major American value and it could be followed by a Bible reading day in the Islamic countries. What are you guys smoking?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, the only groups of any significant size willing to actually read the Quran or the Bible with an open mind are those individuals that do not take their religion too seriously in the first place. Perhaps my perspective on this issue has been warped from growing up in the bible-belt, but I can assure you that in most cases you are not going to get a Southern Baptist to even entertain the thought of reading a Quran.
This from Michael:
ReplyDeleteI recently got a Kindle 3 for my mother, who lives with me, and read about its transformative potential in researching it before I bought it. Very nice weight, size and screen for reading, but lousy interface for the mouse and touch screen generation.
But when I got your note on the correct response to the book burners it got me to thinking about the analogous protest act for the green/kindle generation: a church protests the Moslem attempt to build a NYC mosque by holding a publicized meeting at which a large number of church members are going to bring their kindles/ebook readers to the meeting and all simultaneously delete their copies of the Koran from their kindle/ebook readers. Would that bring on violent demonstrations in the Islamic world? Or would threats to delete copies of Mormon religious texts from ebook readers ignite protests in Salt Lake City?
Its really a question about the religious version of drm, does the fact that a computer or ebook reader contains a copy of a 'sacred' religious text make that content no longer something that can be destroyed? A theocratic government might think it proper, but should western/secular governments honor that version of copy protection? I would, of course, say "nonsense!" but recollection of "Fahrenheit 451" does remind me that government destruction of text content would be viewed as unacceptable in the intellectual community.
And then there is the Kindle version of corporate censorship in which Amazon deleted copies of some books from users Kindles without informing the owners of those devices. The Brave New World is going to be complicated. Where is my soma?
The kindle analogy is brilliant. To take the lunacy to yet another level would it spark protests if we simply sent the Koran to the Recycle Bin?
ReplyDeleteIn this thread on 9/10 Wayne warned against exempting one religion from the consequences of free speech. Well, he is a consequence that I am quite sure Pastor Terry Jones did not expect. “The city of Gainesville, Florida, plans to send a bill estimated at more than $180,000 to Pastor Terry Jones for security costs surrounding his controversial threat to burn Qurans”.
ReplyDeleteHere is the story http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/17/florida.quran.pastor/?hpt=Sbin
So, do you think he will conduct an internet fundraiser. I'll bet he could get it.
ReplyDeleteThe fairness question here would be - How much is NY charging Rauf for extraordinary expenditures due to his stance on the Mosque?
ReplyDeleteWith regard to Tom's Sept. 11 note about participation, I think that you could get some ecumenical types who would participate. Then us infidels might find it appealing. Probably not many fundamentalists though.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible reading might happen because isn't that also a holy book for the Muslims?