I'm going to take a moment to go off on a little rant. Before you are exposed to my venom, watch this:
One of my friends posted this on Facebook. He was, as I understand, a little bit shocked by the content of this video. I think I am even more horrified than he was.
In short, if this video disappears from youtube, it contains an obvious religious "Christian" zealot who is proposing an international burn a Koran day (because of September 11th). At the end of the video he actually does what he is proposing.
This is wrong in all kinds of ways. First of all, the very idea of burning books is anathema to me. Probably because I'm a writer and a student of literature, and a lover of the idea of the knowledge that books contain. But even more horrifying, is the very violation of the teachings of Christianity displayed by this man. Was it not Christ who taught us to turn the other cheek? To love thy neighbor. . .and thy enemy? When did Christ ever teach the religious zealism and hate displayed by this man? (Barring the event at the temple--when Christ drove out those violating the sanctity of the temple--Christ always taught humility and charity).
The sad thing is that some of the responses to this post on Facebook contained, not supportive statements, necessarily, but justification for this hatemongering on the grounds that the Koran contains commandments to kill heathens etc. . .that because the Koran contains such clearly "wicked" statements it is justifiable to burn another group's religious text.
Christians who adhere to this idea clearly haven't studied the Old Testament enough, or if they have, they blatantly ignore some of the things that the Lord has commanded in the past (I can find some references to all this, but it is late at night, so I'll do it later).
I don't care if you disagree with another people's religious ideals and texts, but never is it Ok to defile them in such a way. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) I think I am a little more tolerant of other religions because of all the hardships that the early Mormons went through at the hands of so called "Christians."
There is no room for hate in Christianity unless it is the hate of sin. This man is advocating hate. And it is people like this that will destroy the world, should the world ever be destroyed in a global war.
