This weekend, Muslims will be celebrating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of our holy month of Ramadan. But this year, the holiday falls during an ugly time. This year Eid coincides with the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and comes at a time of great tensions between the Islamic and western world.
We are currently in the midst of heated opposition to building a community learning center along with a mosque near the area of ground zero, with thousands of people protesting that the mosque would be a monument to terrorism.
Islamophobia has escalated dramatically, with radical evangelical pastor Terry Jones hosting a “Burn a Koran Day” at his church, the Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, FL as his own personal way to commemorate 9/11. How remembering the fallen by hosting a hateful, disrespectful, abominable event such as this one is beyond me.
Jones, who has previously been expelled from a German church for his hateful teachings, has admitted that he has never read the Qur’an, stating “I have no experience with it whatsoever. I only know what the Bible says.” He claims to be sending a warning to radical Muslims that “they can’t push their agenda upon us.”
Jones’ event has been condemned by religious leaders around the world and U.S. officials at all levels, including President Obama, who said of Jones, “I just hope he understands that what he's proposing to do is completely contrary to our values of Americans, that this country has been built on the notions of religious freedom and religious tolerance." Jones has ignored all warnings that such an event endangers our troops in Afghanistan and will almost certainly result in retaliation. Shows just how much Jones cares about his country.
Jones also inspired hate-pastor Bob Old from Springfield, TN to participate in Qur’an burnings as well. Old stated that in his opinion, there should be no Muslims in America.
The actions of these hateful pastors not only go against American ideals, but also against Christianity. While Jones has never read the Qur’an, it is doubtful he has even read the Bible, because the teachings of Jesus oppose such disrespectful, hateful actions.
Hellen Keller once said, “The highest result of education is tolerance.” It’s truly a shame that we still have such ignorant people living in this country which stands as a beacon for religious tolerance.
