The Qu’ran Burning
Written on January 7, 2011 by Kaila Cauthorn
Filed Under: General Talk
This post wasn’t written by me, but by another member. It’s a little outdated but I’ll post it anyway because it’s still pretty useful insight.
About a month or so ago, I heard something that mad me quite angry as well as disturbed. A Christian pastor in Florida said that he was going to have a Qu’ran book burning. For those of you who don’t know what the Qu’ran is, it is the holy book for Muslims. In this pastor’s opinion, Islam is a violent religion. Even though I am a hardcore Atheist, I believe that what this pastor wanted to do was so hateful and embarrassing that I didn’t know what to say at first. Not only was it an insensitive decision but it is also completely impractical. For one thing, it would incite rage and hatred in the Middle East and endanger American military troops in that area. Why he would do something like this is beyond my comprehension.
How could somebody be so insensitive toward another religion like that? It really boggles my mind; isn’t this country supposed to have freedom of religion, a right that is supposed to be protected under the Constitution? It’s infuriating that people hate Islam when the majority of them hardly know anything about the religion in the first place. There is this mindset that Islam is anti-American, but in fact it is just our ignorance that makes us think this way. Most likely, the September 11th attack on America has skewed many people’s view of the Islamic religion and those who follow it. Islam, however, is no more violent than any other religion out there. Even this pastor’s own religion, Christianity, has a past tarnished by the violent Crusades and every instance thereafter of Christians trying to force their beliefs on “heathens.” Moreover, both of these religions only became as violent as they did because people interpreted and practiced them in ways that they were most likely not originally intended to be, so that those people might reap the benefit themselves.
and tattoos, if only slightly. Originally they were only viewed to be the brand of criminal life or the mark of a rebellious delinquent. While these stereotypes may still be maintained by much of the older demographic, however, piercings and tattoos have become more common among people we see every day. They seem to be sported in one area of the body or another by every person you see, from those that you pass on the sidewalk to colleagues in the workplace to fellow students. While it’s not very common for students to have piercings (other than in their ears) at the middle school stage, quite a few can be found among high school students, and even some tattoos as well.
