I listened to Hannity on the radio for a little while today. He was/is opposed to the Koran burning. Anyways a solider who had spent some time serving in Iraq phoned up. He said when he was in Iraq him and others were sent some bibles in the Iraqi language. He didn't say but, I presume they would have been handed out to any Iraqi who showed an interest. In any case, the military confiscated the bibles and burnt them.
That got me thinking about an often repeated theme in this thread:The question of what I would do if someone held a Bible burning. Honestly not much. I'd probably exercise my free speech and express a negative opinion of the action. The fact that someone would have a constitutional right to do such a thing is self evident. Like the solider on Hannity I wouldn't hold any rallies or burn any flags. What is paper and ink anyways. It's the ideas and thoughts expressed on that paper that are what is sacred.
I realize that the Koran burning has been called off and hopefully it will remain that way. But as Devil's Advocate mentioned a few pages ago our societies response does raise some concerns. There was far too much talk about what the Islamic fundamentalists would do if there was a book burning. It almost appeared to trumped the better question which was: "Is it right or proper to burn someone elses Holy book for no better reason than to become an offence to them?".
If our society is going to remain free it will have to do it without fear. We can't cowtail to evil men who would control us with fear. This Imam who would build the Ground Zero tower said in an interview that if he had know in the beginning that building there would cause folks pain he would have moved it. Now he says that to move it would be impossible because it would be seen in the Islamic world as an attack against Islam which would inspire more violence. My question is: Where will it end? Will all our actions be governed by the notion that we must do everything we can to appease our enemies? If so, we have already lost the war.
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