Yesterday afternoon, as I played basketball in the driveway with my son and daughter, an argument arose over who hit the ball out of bounds. My feisty 10-year-old daughter tried to settle the argument by launching the ball at the back of her 12-year-old brother's head. That made him so angry, he took the ball and kicked it into the woods. Game over.
Children have to be taught to settle disputes and express their opinions respectfully. Unfortunately, it's a lesson some adults never seem to have learned.
Take, for example, Terry Jones, the pistol-packing Florida pastor who threatened to burn a Quran on 9/11 last year. Well, a little over a week ago, he... you guessed it. He burned a Quran.
If you recall, Jones didn't go through with it last year because there was such an outcry from nearly everyone -- President Obama, Secretary of Defense Gates, politicians from both sides of the aisle, celebrities, religious leaders, regular folk and pretty much anyone with a lick of common sense -- that burning a Quran, and offending one and a half billion people, wasn't a good or sane idea.
But it may have been General David Petraeus whose argument was the most convincing -- at least for me. When I spoke with him last year, he boiled it down to a simple matter of life and death. General Petraeus said that there was nothing brave about burning the Quran over here while our soldiers pay the consequences over there -- in Afghanistan, Iraq and now, Libya.
When I interviewed Jones last year, I did my level best to hear him out. But all I could think of was how I would feel, as a Christian, if somebody desecrated my most sacred book, the Bible. His only defense was to say that the Quran wasn't sacred to him.
The leader of the Dove World Outreach Center -- the irony in the name shouldn't be lost on anyone -- began this year's campaign of hate with a new angle. Instead of a simple book burning, Jones decided to first put the holy book of Islam on "trial." He dubbed it, "International Judge the Quran Day." The thinking must have been that if the book were "guilty," then it deserved to get burned.
About 30 people attended, 12 of whom formed the "jury." For good measure, the mock trial featured a prosecuting attorney and defense lawyer. However, in case you have any doubts, it was Jones who was not only the "judge" in this kangaroo court but also the jury and executioner. I think you can guess the verdict. With the outcome certain, it's a wonder Jones had it go on for more than six hours. After soaking a Quran in kerosene for an hour, Jones oversaw the torching of the book.
Fresh off last year's circus as well as last week's circus trial, Jones wants another 15 minutes of fame. So he's now decided to fly to Dearborn, Michigan, on April 22 where he'll protest outside the Islamic Center of America, the country's largest mosque. Jones says he's not protesting against Muslims, but that he's protesting against Islamic law. He says he wants Muslims to "honor, obey and submit to the Constitution of the United States."
Last I checked, I haven't seen any lobbying efforts by Muslim Americans to have the U.S. Constitution overturned.
Ignoring Jones and hoping he disappears into obscurity doesn't seem to work. If anything, he seems to have the survivability of a cockroach. Jones has to be confronted head-on, and that is exactly what an interfaith group of 35 pastors and imams from the Detroit-metro area is doing.
On Monday, the group spoke out against Jones' visit and announced they were planning a prayer vigil in response. Reverend Charles Williams II of the King Solomon Baptist Church said, "As a Christian minister, silence for me would be consent."
As much as I dislike giving Jones any more attention and a 16th minute of fame, silence and inaction in the face of bigotry don't work. Worse, they can unfortunately -- and incorrectly -- signal approval or at the very least acceptance. Jones needs to realize that his words and actions make him the very thing he despises: He is no better than the fringe of Muslims who hate.
Hate masquerading as political protest is still hate, which is why Jones must be repudiated so he realizes that his actions are not only offensive, but also dangerous -- especially to our troops.
We teach our children that they can disagree without being disagreeable. That lesson evolves as we grow older. As adults, we learn that we can protest peacefully and that we can oppose something without being offensive.
Like Terry Jones, my daughter tried to explain to me why she was right to throw the ball at her brother. I explained to her why she was wrong and sent her to her room, much to my son's delight. But that was short-lived because he too was sent packing to his room with what we in the South call a "talking to."
Terry Jones needs to be taught the same lesson, but his is not a game. His actions can have dire consequences for all of us. The lesson he needs to learn is that he has every right to express his opinion about Islam or to disagree with Muslims, but he doesn't have to spit in their faces to do it. He didn't need to desecrate a book that one and a half billion people hold sacred in order to make a point. He shouldn't needlessly put the lives of our armed forces at greater risk.
Terry Jones lives in the South, so he'll understand this idiom as well as anybody: Terry Jones needs a "talking to." Here's how you can talk to Jones.
Follow Rick Sanchez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@RickSanchezTV
Michelle Chen: Anti-Muslim Bias Examined on the Hill, Still Hidden in the Workplace
dailydish
In Defense Of Blasphemy: Andrew Exum has an moving post on Terry Jones and the Middle Eastern response to his K... http://bit.ly/ijvLaD
5 hours ago from twitterfeed
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abumuqawama
Thanks! RT @PoliNewsInt: @abumuqawama congrats, very good comment on Terry Jones!
6 hours ago from TweetDeck
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abumuqawama
Thanks, man. RT @DaveedGR: This @abumuqawama post on Terry Jones and Mazar is worth your time: http://bit.ly/giqYT5
7 hours ago from TweetDeck
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MiamiNewTimes
Twenty-Two Now Dead in Afghan Protests over Florida Koran Burning, But is Terry Jones Directly to Blame? http://bit.ly/hr0mU5
7 hours ago from web
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Dallas_Observer
Why the Muslim Defense Attorney in Quran-Torching Church Says He "Admires" Terry Jones http://bit.ly/gOKobD
9 hours ago from TweetDeck
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abumuqawama
RT @jstrevino: Wow. @abumuqawama has won the Internet for the day, on liberty, Terry Jones, and inflammable Korans: http://bit.ly/eAGOxv
10 hours ago from TweetDeck
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BoldFaithType Terry Jones doesn't represent people of faith. http://ht.ly/4t2We | ||
ApocalypseHow
Florida Pastor Terry Jones Burns Part of Moby Dick, "Just the Crap About Whales And Navigation"
1 day ago from web
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ApocalypseHow
BREAKING: Florida Pastor Terry Jones Accidentally Burns All Mentions of "Love" in Bible
1 day ago from web
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washingtonpost Got a question? RT @onfaith: #WPChat: Ex-church member discusses life in Rev. Terry Jones' Florida church http://wapo.st/ihqlWG | ||
onfaith Live chat/ ASK A QUESTION: Ex-church member discusses life in Rev. Terry Jones' Florida church http://wapo.st/ihqlWG | ||
oreillyfactor Daily Briefing: Terry Jones Says Afghan U.N. Violence 'Proves My Point.' Read it here: http://goo.gl/jWJ2i | ||
HeraldSports
RT @gregcote: New blogpost @ http://blogs.herald.com/... Includes poll on Frank Haith's departure from UM, Terry Jones, ...
1 day ago from twitterfeed
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gregcote
New blogpost @ http://blogs.herald.com/... Includes poll on Frank Haith's departure from UM, Terry Jones, Florida Derby & more.
1 day ago from web
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allahpundit Hitchens on Terry Jones, Karzai, and the Afghan mob attack http://is.gd/aSbVbt | ||
allahpundit Terry Jones: "Basically all" of my congregants have left my church http://is.gd/t6NICk | ||
AdamSerwer
RT @steven_metz So it turns out Terry Jones is running a cult. http://t.co/BXlw8pc via @washingtonpost
1 day ago from Twitterrific
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ReligionUpdates
ReligionNewsBlog: Florida pastor Terry Jones’s Koran burning has far-reaching effect http://bit.ly/fiwDba Full http://bit.ly/e5vhXU
2 days ago from WebPartner
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religionnews
Pastor Terry Jones' hypocrisy: http://bit.ly/eSkIdI #religion
2 days ago from bitly
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This Week In Unnecessary Censorship: Obama, Terry Jones, And More! (VIDEO)
David Petraeus And The Koran Burnings | RedState
Quran Burning CANCELED: Dove World Outreach's Terry Jones Drops Offending 'Stunt'
Fla. minister determined to hold 9/11 Quran burn - Yahoo! News
Politics News, Analysis, and Opinion for the U.S. and the World
The Word - Mutually Assured Coercion - The Colbert Report - 9/14/10 - Video Clip | Comedy Central
US Church Cancels Quran Burning | News | English
Quran Burning: Westboro Baptist Church Burns Qurans and the American Flag - The Daily Beast
Share your Comment:
I gather that these are actions that you find objectiona
Surely we can agree that anyone who would take the life of another overseas for the actions of a single madman in the backwoods of FL, is a radical. Is the stated goal of the US military not to root out extremeism
Nope.
"www.google
http://www
Censorship is censorship
Religion is fear and superstiti
Far too much is based on "The All Powerful Guy in the Sky" who is apparently unable to deliver one clear message to us.
New Zealand is not perfect, but it shares with most developed western nations an understand
In Germany you may not print or display a Swastika. There is no issue of "Freedom of expression
To allow an ignorant and self-centr
Jones did not "incite" anyone to do anything. He did not call for riots, or for violence, or for murder. The blame for the rioting, violence and murder therefore rests only on those who rioted and murdered.
When something like an image, act of defiance(f
You don't see a problum with that?
Precedence in Germany, France, UK, NZ, or anywhere else does not make it right.
Sorry if it offends you, but our Constituti
This does not mean our people understand this- just read the comments here.
There will always be a tug-o-war as politician
our Constituti
http://www
Never give an inch to religious fanatics. They'll just keep demanding another inch. And another. And another... Until you find yourself in a burqa or burned at the stake.
It is the behaviour of the rioters, the thugs and the murderers that IS an event.
One, sadly, emblamatic of the odious conduct sanctioned by the burned-boo
Have ya thought this thru?
That paragraph seems to be the crux of the matter. Jones relented and didn't burn a copy of the Quran last year. In the intervenin
sheesh. what does it take?
If anyone is interested in a broader explanatio
http://www
The problem with the Left not recognizin
Nobody has said the Left, by nature, understand
The ACLU does understand
The ACLU will get involved when the pastors' rights are threatened by the government as Senators Reid and Lindsey said they will do on Sunday.
It is unpopular views that the first amendment protects.
Imagine, just for a second, that your country has been occupied by foreign powers for nearly a decade. Your religion is insulted, so you join a mass protest that essentiall
Blaming the current violence on Muslims irrational
"Really, would one be so naive to believe that this is the entire reason for the violence?"
So true, but the involvemen
This is an example of how our ideas of liberty and democracy just do not mesh with Islam, and are quite inconsiste
There is no need to censor ourselves with Muslims in general, just the ones with their necks under our boot.
However, the does not excuse you from the reponsibli
The ACLU will fight for the pastor dudes' rights as much as anybody whose views might be as unpopular as his are.
It is YOUR responsibi