Saturday, September 18, 2010

Burning the Koran

The advantage of commenting this far down the line is that I get to synthesize and remark on what has been said. 
1.     I want to ask what would have been communicated if a Koran had been burned. 
2.     And secondly, what has been communicated now that it wasn’t burned by Pastor?
It would have shown that Pastor and his congregation had a power over and a contempt for the Koran and the Muslim people.  In some circles this is called a “power encounter.”  In his mind this would have demonstrated the ascendancy of Christianity and the U.S. bill of rights and the inferiority of Sharia Law and Islam.  
The answer to the second question should now be evident.  Sharia Law and Islam have won the encounter and Christianity along with the bill of rights has been shown to be weak and morally inferior.
From the Western prospective this might not be obvious.  But Islam defined the confrontation in such a way that with either outcome they had a “recruiting tool.”  
  • If the Koran was burned it would be a tool to show that the “infidels” were waging war on Islam.  
  • When it wasn’t burned, it proved the divine favor of Allah and validated the call to “jihad.”

I am not able to comment on the mental acuity of Pastor, but I’m sure he had no idea that this would garner such attention.  I do think that he was used as a dupe.  My proof?  This past week in East Lansing, Michigan a Koran was burnt and thrown into the yard of an Islamic center.  Where is the worldwide Muslim outrage?  It doesn’t suit their purposes.  For the moment they have gained what they want.  They caused the “Great Satan” to back down.  This coup will be exploited, have no doubt.
In my years of living in a predominantly Islamic country in West Africa, I have seen that a “radical Islamist” is easily created from “nominal Muslims” through intimidation.  Even the most casual practitioner becomes violent when threatened in some way by the a radical Muslim extremists promising to harm them or their families.
However, take a Christian acting radically and the casual practitioner of Christianity will turn on him and eat him for lunch.  

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