If you have not heard of a Florida minister's plan to burn ~200 copies of the Muslim holy book, click here.
UPDATE: He apparently wasn't serious and our prayers were answered.
If you have, I would invite you to consider the impact of the proposed protest three different ways: pragmatically, theologically, and morally.
The Pragmatic:
Although I'm still fuzzy on exactly what Mr. Jones intends to accomplish through the demonstration, any reasoning followed through to the logistical end simply does not pan out.
Mr. Jones claims that the Quran "is evil because it espouses something other than Biblical truth and incites radical, violent behavior among Muslims." Has this man never read the Old Testament? Has he never heard of the Crusades? Not only has the Bible been cited as the authority for 'radical, violent' behavior by believers, it stands as a record of its own bloody past. In fact, it is difficult to find a religious text that has not been cited by a portion of its adherents as authority for what others saw as 'radical, violent' behavior--including the Book of Mormon. So if Mr. Jones means to burn all books that have allegedly incited radical, violent behavior, then he should burn a copy of every holy writ on the planet. Something tells me that he would not like that idea...which means he can't stand on this reason for staging the protest.
Mr. Jones also suggests that it is time for Americans to stand up and send a message to radical Islam about what we will and will not tolerate. While I think that reasoning may find empathetic acceptance among Americans, Mr. Jones methodology is ill suited to the task. By burning the Quran, he is picking a fight with all of Islam instead of just the fringe radicals who are actually causing the problems. I would compare it to trying to fight a whole football team when only one of its members did you wrong, but my comparison would be off numerically by orders of magnitude. And what message will really be sent? The burning of a holy book does not draw any clear message about what will or will not be accepted even if it could be targeted to those who hold those radical views and tend to violence. It is simply useless for the purpose of sending a message.
The final pragmatic element is the burning permit. The fire department refused a permit for the burn, but Mr. Jones says his attorneys tell him that he can do it anyway because the Constitution guarantees him the right. First, I disagree and I think a court would, too. The Supreme Court has consistently upheld reasonable "time, place and manner" restrictions on free speech especially when the safety of others is at issue. I hope that one of the protesters calls 911 to report a fire as soon as it is started and that the fire department douses the fire very quickly. The ensuing court battle (if Mr. Jones can afford it) would be a far better indicator to the Muslim world what we as Americans are all about.
The Theology:
It has been reported in several iterations of the news on this matter that Mr. Jones and his church members feel that God wants them to do this. While the God of the Old Testament, administering to a people under a lower law due to their own unwillingness to follow him, might have done something that many today would view as radical. However, when he did take action, he did not simply offend them and hope the message was sent as Mr. Jones is planning to do; the God of Israel sent troops and wiped out those who would not follow him. I find it highly suspect that God would as Mr. Jones and his church to engage in such a futile act.
From a scriptural standpoint, consulting only the Bible, 2 Timothy 2:24 admonishes servants of the Lord not to "strive" but to be gentle to all men, apt to teach and patient. In the New Testament, striving is identified with argument and contention. I do not see how burning any number of Qurans can be classified as anything but striving according to this verse. Indeed, LDS scripture specifically identifies contention as being of the Devil. How can a self-styled servant of God who believes in and preaches the Bible do something in such obvious contrast to the principles he ought to be living and teaching? It does not make sense.
If that isn't enough, it appears that condemnation from many (at least two dozen) religious groups, including the Vatican, Jewish authorities, and Muslim clerics, is insufficient to change Mr. Jones' mind. This is unfortunate. Peoples of various faiths combine in religious and non-religious settings all the time to work toward common good. Past experience has shown that despite disagreement on points of doctrine, true students of religion rarely disagree about what is and is not acceptable behavior.
The Moral:
Mr. Jones says, "Our burning of the Quran is to call attention to the fact that something is wrong." I hate to sound trite, but since when does two wrongs make a right? And beside that, who doesn't know that something is wrong? Everyone knows that we just disagree about how to fix it. Welcome to humanity, Mr. Jones.
Everyone knows that burning these books is nearly guaranteed to subject Americans to violence from the Muslim world. Everyone knows that doing this is wrong. It is a hate act at its core. If the whole of the Muslim world were presenting some kind of imminent threat to Americans, perhaps a similar action would be viewed as wartime propaganda. But that's not the case and Mr. Jones simply has no moral ground to stand on.
Summary:
The fallacy of all of Mr. Jones' professed reasons for staging this protest is clear. This leaves two possibilities: (1) He does not recognize the fallacy and honestly believes that he is doing the right thing or (2) he knows it is not right but is pushing forward anyway for some other reason (I will not speculate as to what ulterior motive he might have at this time). I hope it is the former, not the latter lest he be the cause of continued and elevated disputes between Americans and Muslims for vanity.
