BURNING THE KORAN AND THE MANHATTAN MOSQUE
BURNING THE KORAN IS WRONG
1. Yes, of course, it is bad because it angers soldiers fighting against our soldiers and thus imperils our men and women in combat.
2. But, it is wrong more fundamentally. As Christians we should want to win Muslims to Christ, not offend them. So the Florida pastor is being very foolish.
SO WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS?
1. Christian extremists form in small groups, like the thirty followers of the Florida preacher. This compares to Islamic extremists who form in groups of thousands.
2. Christian extremists burn books as compared to Muslim extremists who kill innocent people. Even moderate Muslims are harsh by Christian terms. Imam Feisal Rauf is said to be a moderate who wants to promote harmony. Clearly this is not true. He is creating massive disharmony with the proposed Manhattan mosque. This “moderate” Muslim has also refused to condemn the terrorist group Hamas. “Moderate” for the Muslim community does not seem to be so moderate.
3. Since 9/11 some people have tried to establish moral equivalence between the Islamic religion and the Christian religion. It just ain’t so. I know it sounds arrogant to say it, but Christians seem to be morally superior to Moslems. Not spiritually superior. We are sinners just as bad as they are. But the crimes against humanity are much greater in the Islamic world.
Imagine two remote African villages untouched by the outside world. Now missionaries appear at each village, Christians at one and Muslims at the other. Fast forward three years. In the village influenced by Christian missionaries you will likely see a medical clinic, linguists working on putting the local language into writing, and a few converts who have freely chosen Christianity. In the other village all the natives are forced to eat a particular diet, follow a strict dress code, and pray five times a day to a God they might not even understand. In this illustration we see the difference.
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