Up in Flames

When the writers of our constitution included “freedom of speech” in the First Amendment, they probably were not anticipating Rev. Terry Jones.  Jones is currently experiencing his 15 minutes of fame—hopefully it won’t last longer—thanks to his plans to burn Qur’ans at his church in Gainesville, FL this September 11.  Although American citizens have the right to burn this holy text as an exercise of free speech, doing so would be egregiously hateful, as well as dangerous for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The plans simply should not be carried out.

Jones has made clear that he believes the Qur’an incites violent behavior among Muslims, and insists it is his mission to publicly denounce it.  Not only is this view and “Burn a Qur’an Day” grossly intolerant towards the millions of non-extremist, non-violent Muslims who worship the book, but it could also have an extremely destructive backlash.  As General David Petraeus said on Tuesday, “Images of burning a Qur’an would undoubtedly be used by extremists…to inflame public opinion and incite violence.” Instead of suppressing Islamic radicals, Jones is giving them more motivation to harm our troops.  The best thing he could do for our country is to “back down,” remain silent, and halt his upcoming events.

Unfortunately, Jones’ planned Qur’an burning has already attracted international attention. Sheikh Abdel-Muti Bayyoumi, a Sunni Muslim top official at Egypt’s Al-Azhair University, said the book burning “would ruin America’s relations with the Muslim world.”  Our best hope for damage control is for American public figures to speak up and show that the vast majority of American people does not support Jones’ actions.  Petraeus deserves commendation for expressing his opposition, and we hope that more people in the Obama administration follow his lead.

In the past, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have often been characterized as fights against religious extremism.  Jones’ actions are simply another form of such extremism that must be condemned, especially since it would do great harm to our international image just as we begin to diminish our military presence in Afghanistan and establish a new era of peaceful diplomacy with the Middle East. Only a small group of Muslims extract violent messages from the text, and thus Americans should not disrespect the central tome of a large population of peaceful worshippers.

While Rev. Jones remains within his constitutional rights if he goes through with “Burn a Qur’an Day,” he is completely wrong-headed in regards to the safety of our soldiers, the respect of other cultures, and our ultimate goal of forming peaceful ties with the world’s Muslim community.