Terry Jones, small time minister from Florida finally made good on his threat from last fall. He burned the Quran. He is pressing his agenda presumably to combat the evil that is Islam. He is not alone. The controversial Westboro Baptist Church also has burned the Quran. The Topeka, Kan., church is best known for its anti-gay protests, often held at the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. These people believe they are on God’s side doing God’s will.
As a result of the Quran burning UN workers were killed in Afghanistan.
It is of course madness. A pastor of a church of thirty who is desperate for attention and a church group known for ignoring the depth of human suffering to make a point about their belief in correct sexual relations have brought us down to a very low common denominator: hate.
Self righteousness so easily gets confused with God’s will. It is as if these people have figured out exactly what God wants and can act it out with impunity. I wonder what they do with the words of Jesus “Love your enemies” ? It is perhaps the most challenging phrase in all the Bible but in there nonetheless. It has always mystified me as to why so many people wanted to use their beliefs to hate one another. It happens in every religion across every culture, I am afraid.
It is enough to make you un-religious but I believe it ought to make us more religious. It is time to quit using our religions to bludgeon each other. If all of us used our religions to move closer to God we would create a much happier world. I believe there is not a religion in the world that is not designed to bring you closer to God. So if we were more religious we might find more important things to do than burning Holy Books or upsetting funerals. Can you think of anything lower? More religion would help. More religion might get us to think not so much about our own needs and wants but Gods. It couldn’t hurt.
The world has gone mad but faith still makes sense.
