Today I wish to discuss with my class the difference between a thing and what that thing represents. At this point in time, too many are flowing with the conventional wisdom, in one form or another and we are forgetting to see things as they really are, without all the cultural sensitivities.
Among many of the sites that I regularly read, most take the view that what the preacher did in Florida was wrong, and that he intentionally attempted to inflame the Muslim choler. Others feel that what he did was ok, since we have the freedom to burn everything in the country, including our Flag and the Holy Bible; so why not the Koran?
I feel that in many ways we are missing the bigger picture by overlooking the most basic of facts. The Koran is a book. An assembly of pages that are bound in a spine. The quality will vary depending on the manufacturer. I'm sure that it burns just as well as an edition of the NYT. It is a book. I doubt that every copy was physically written by the hand of Mohammed (while god whispered in his ear that he could marry a handful of women and rape young boys and girls and that this is not just fine, but a requirement). I might actually save that book as a historical artifact, but I digress.
What the Islamic world is angry about is the message that this book burning sends. It is a repudiation of the "religion" and everything it stands for. The pastor in Florida is telling the rest of us that Islam is no better than a cult and needs to be treated that way.
I happen to be one individual who agrees with Pastor Jones. It is not the book that he is burning, it is the message. A repudiation of this "peaceful" religion. This religion that calls one another brother and sister while raping children, farm animals, young men, and the textbook definition of "Peace" and "Harmony". Bile rises in my throat whenever I hear a Muslim, any Muslim, preach to me of love and brotherhood. The bald hypocrisy.
An artist anywhere in the world can soak a crucifix in urine after smearing it with elephant dung and the most he will get is some angry protesters that will boycott his work and demand that the taxpayer not be forced to pay for his "art". He will not be harmed, no matter how much fecal matter he smears on the Virgin Mary. I can not speak for the unhinged that exist in every society (unless the Islamic world is filled with the mentally unhinged...)
Muslims routinely burn the Bible. They routinely burn and behead Christians and everyone else who looks at them funny. I could care less that a Muslim burns the Bible. The messages are in my heart and my soul. I do not lose the message if the book is burned. Their rampages in the Middle East over what this pastor has done simply reinforces the message that they beam to the West every moment of every day: theirs is a barbaric, animist religion that worships a rock and the crescent moon. Like other primitive societies, they are allowed to marry more than one woman, and engage in primitive animalistic passions if a woman is not being escorted by a man and/or covered up from head to tippy-toe. If one draws a cartoon of Mohammed, his is to be killed. If they can not get to that man, then any Westerner will do. Any number of dead Westerners will do. If you disparage the pseudo-religion in any way, you die. No intellectual discourse is permitted. If they can't find that person, any number of others will die in their place.
Again, it is not the book burning that harms to Muslim honor, it is the repudiation of the message. It is an ugly, primitive, and savage message that degrades and chains the human soul. It is a corrupt and evil belief system that is incapable of reform without the violent death of millions.
I feel that Pastor Jones has done a service to many, by forcing you to think about what it is that he is trying to demonstrate to you. Pay attention and determine for yourself what you believe in. Let the facts speak for themselves. If a Mullah burns the Holy Bible on TV will there be riots in Dearborn, Michigan? The beheading Muslim aid workers trying to fee the starving Christian population? No, there will not.
Let the images that are coming out of the Middle East serve as a definitive record of just how peaceful Islam really is.
In my heart, I have repudiated the Muslim message since I was old enough to understand it. To me, that is the same as mentally burning the book along with all of its Mullahs. Is this peaceful "religion" going to come silence me, now? Silence my thoughts and my computer?
I shall now take my walking stick and depart the Stoa this morning. The sun is coming up spectacularly and I wish to enjoy the bounty of God's nature. Revel in His Word made manifest.
Live well,
--Zavost
No comments:
Post a Comment