The burning of the Holy Qur'an by an idiotic preacher in Gainesville, Florida should be vehemently and vociferously protested by Muslims around the world. It is an affront to Islam and to hundreds of millions of Muslims. Terry Jones, the minister who planned to burn the Qur'an last year in commemoration of the attacks of September 11, 2001, is no more than a small-minded thug with a paucity of followers. His church can count, more or less, 30 members. It is located outside the non-major city of Gainesville, down a poorly maintained road that cuts through Florida's subtropical foliage. The road is far from a superhighway and for good reason: it is rarely used. Given the clear insignificance of Jones and his followers, the deaths that have occurred at the hands of mobs in Afghanistan are puzzling and troubling. Jones is a complete idiot, albeit a very incendiary one who loves the media limelight and has discovered how best to manipulate it in order to put his unique brand of callowness on worldwide display. But must we stoop to his level? Those killed in Afghanistan were, by all accounts, there to help the very people who murdered them. How exactly do the deaths of UN peace keepers from Nepal avenge the terrible wrong committed by Jones? Such behavior serves only to bolster the foolish claims of Jones and his ilk, and only provokes problems for those of us who are acutely aware of the need to coexist with others in a disparate and divided world. This is the stuff that street violence and wars are far too often made of. One small-minded thug with a handful of allies is able to provoke others who harbor their own tendencies toward thuggery. The result is the tragic death and destruction of all-too-often innocent lives. Jones has been condemned by credible and respected religious and civic leaders across America and the rest of the world. He commands no respect beyond that of the lunatic fringe, those for whom “reason” and “understanding” are foreign concepts. We should not allow ourselves to sink into the dark morass of unfettered ignorance and stupidity that Jones and his very few followers inhabit. We are better than that. That is the face that we should show the world. __
