Having watched the news and paid some attention to the many number of internet headlines dedicated to the topic, I know a little bit about the fiasco concerning a small Florida church’s plan for September 11 and how it has garnered worldwide attention. The Dove World Outreach Center originally made the news when it planned to hold a “Koran Burning” this Saturday.
But once the media picked up that such an extreme event was taking place, it seemed that all the worldwide news organizations picked up the story and spread it like wildfire. Soon after all this attention, Pastor Terry Jones held a press conference stating that he would cancel his churches’ event if the “Ground Zero Mosque” that has been proposed recently was moved to a different location.
Currently, it is not known if the Islamic leaders in New York have heeded Pastor Jones’s message, but he has since cancelled his Koran Burning event and is eagerly awaiting word from New York about a proposed meeting with the Islamic leaders there about moving the mosque.
A majority of the media has focused on the sort of damage the churches’ actions could have caused to America’s reputation in the Islamic world, but what I’m more concerned about is why there is such a big deal made about the suggestion of such an event taking place in America.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe Pastor Jones’s plan is immoral and I don’t support it in any way, but isn’t this action protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution? What Pastor Jones wanted to do is not illegal, just morally wrong in the eyes of the public. The same goes for burning the flag, which has been the main issue in many Supreme Court cases, and in that situation this act of symbolic speech has been found protected under the First Amendment.
Maybe all this attention is what the Pastor Jones wanted. But I still just don’t understand where the big issue is on this story. The action is protected by the constitution, so why do we have to treat it like such a scandalous occurrence?
I would have to agree that this act would be protected by the First Amendment. That's not to say it's not a provocative act, but I concur, flying airplanes into buildings is a rather provocative act. I know that not all muslims are as extreme as those professed terrorists were, but I do know that the koran that the muslims teach, and believe in, says to convert whomever is willing and those who aren't, are to be killed. "Kill the infidel"
ReplyDeleteIt might be interesting to see how this all 'plays out'. It's sad though, that this is all the news media can print as "news".
What saddens me about the whole situation is that Rev Jones considers himself a Christian. However, most Christians know that God doesn't force himself on people, so why should this reverend burn Qu'rans to promote or defend Christianity?
ReplyDelete