Of Legality and Propriety II

In a move that can only be described as a Here's Your Sign moment, Dove World Outreach Center has decided to have a "Burn a Quran Day" on September 11, 2010. I'm not sure how this could be characterized as outreach in any way. I'm also not sure how this characterizes Christian principles like this bit in Matthew chapter 5:

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

So we have a group professing Christian principles and suggesting through their name that they want to peacefully reach out to everyone doing something that can only be characterized as hateful and inciting. While they may be within their First Amendment rights to do this, it is another really poorly conceived idea.

On the one hand it goes against pretty much everything that you profess to believe. It is provoking. It is confrontational. It was planned for September 11 I'm sure as retaliation.

On the other hand it is just giving the "bad guys" ammunition in their propaganda war. There are elements in the Muslim world that hate America. This should come as no surprise given the events of September 11, 2001 (among others). There is a notion in those circles that all the military actions of the last 9 years are a de facto war against Islam. That notion has some tenuous footing in mainstream Islam. Burning the Quran would be a blaring statement, in spite of countless statements to the contrary by our nation's leadership during that time, that they are correct in that notion. General Petraeus has correctly stated that burning copies of the Quran "could put the lives of American troops in danger and damage the war effort". The fringe that thinks we are at war with Islam is going to go a lot more mainstream if these clowns do this.

I just can't wrap my head around the idea of burning copies of the Quran period, let alone when we are fighting groups of people who will use this as recruiting material. About all I can really think is that the Dove World Outreach Center needs to be labelled a hate group. Now it would be ironic if the Westboro Baptist Church would protest the Quran burnings, but that seems unlikely unless they decide that it isn't going far enough.