Speak Out Against Hate

There is a part of me that hesitates to mention this because I'm reluctant to want to give theses people any more publicity than they have already garnered.  This reluctance however is overridden because of the insanity displayed by the actions of these few individuals and the degree to which their actions incite and foster misinformation and hatred in this country.  It would seem that we are not exactly in short supply of ignorance these days and I believe ignorance is a dangerous thing.

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. has called for a 'Burn the Koran Day.' It says the burnings will be held on church grounds "in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam.

It seems incredible that persons professing to be Christians would demonstrate such a hateful act considering:

• A fundamental precept of the Christian faith is to love not hate your neighbor.
• That there are 9-11 families that have openly asked that this day not be politicized.
• That there are Muslims that were also killed in 9-11. Both victims in the Twin Towers and first responders.
• They surely would not appreciate someone else hosting a massive Bible burning day.
• The the actions do not foster peace and understanding but rather hate and more ignorance and revenge.
• This is one more act that causes persons around the world to view Americans in a negative light.

I suspect the Church believes in what they are doing but there are perhaps other motives. They sell T-shirts at $20 a pop as wells as other items. The city of Gainsville has denied them a permit but they plan to go ahead.

These actions seeks to cloak all of the Islam religion in the actions of a few terrorists on 9-11.  This would be like saying all Catholics, Boy Scout leaders and Christians are child molesters because some of those connected with their organizations were.  Certainly the actions of  The Dove World Outreach Center have the potential to give others utilizing the same narrow view to think the same about all Christians or all Americans.

Americans of all faith and even non-believers need to speak up on this. Public Officials need to forcefully reject this notion that there is some righteous end in this kind of thinking and such actions.  To the extent we have already seen across this country violence and vandalism in isolated instances associated with this kind of behavior it is clear that there are those among us that can easily be persuaded to such actions, and the likes of Pastor Terry Jones are simply a can of gasoline looking for a fire.