gambit
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Not at all.gambit, lets not change the goalposts here. I think I was very clear when I mentioned that if you want to burn flags or effigies of presidents of muslim countries go ahead and do it. Hell, I would'nt be surprised if some Pakistanis joined in the burning of a Zardari effigy in NYC.
What justify the burning of the Quran is the same as what justify the 'art' piece called 'Piss Christ'. The issue is not that the Quran burning is somehow a 'response' for US flag burnings popular in the ME. The issue is that in the West, the default position is that nothing is a sacred cow. No religious beliefs are immune from criticisms. No prophets or political figures are immune from mockery. We believe this freedom is universal but it rests upon the individual on how far and passionate he wants to exercise that freedom. We do not believe that THIS individual limit should be imposed by the State but by moral persuasions from without and self discipline from within. This is applicable to burning the Quran, the Bible, or a national flag.The question is what justifies attacking the holy books and prophet of Muslims? Lets look at like for like here. And just selectively choosing news articles about a radical in Indonesia is not comparable. Arn't there hate crimes against muslims in the US? What about the recent shootings of two elderly Sikhs who were killed just because they "looked" muslim. Lets not get there.
And burning the US flag is not comparable to burning the Quran. Burning the bible or Torah IS. So now how many muslims have burnt the Bible or the Torah? No muslim religious scholar would justify its burning becuase like I mentioned they are part of muslim belief.
My grudge is not against the crazy pastor, because ofcourse he is crazy. Just as stupid it was some Taliban foot soldiers to use this as an excuse to kill UN aid workers in Afghanistan. What I don't understand is how some posters here can even justify his actions by weasel words and weak arguments like, "they burn our flag and say "Death to America"" so we can burn their holy book".
Ofcourse without defining who "they" are. Its a very weak argument and any sane person would clearly see that as bigotry in the extreme.
Is that too alien to grasp? Must be...