People have been asking me what I would do if someone in the UK annouced plans to burn copies of The Qu'ran.
I didn't disagree with Hillary Clinton when she said it was "disrespectful" but there is more to be said. The people most likely to suffer repercussions are Christians living in places where their position is precarious: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Malaysia - just to name a few. I'd want to add that the idea of burning books is a sign of a bankrupt mind.
Legal action: If this were a UK issue I would take legal advice and perhaps gather Christian support to seek an injunction to prevent the burning going ahead. My sense is it would violate UK law.
Media: The guy is an attention seeker with a tiny congregation. I would be contacting journalists and TV people to dissuade them from giving him the oxygen of publicity. His loud pronoucements have already prompted investigative journalists to enquire into his previous activities and he hasn't come out smelling of roses.
Neighbourhood Action: I doubt there is a lot of value in rocking up to the local Mosque in ambassadorial mode. I had a Quaker friend who tried this after 9/11 and found himself being directed to a group for enquirers into Islam - the Mosque's version of Alpha! But if I had Muslim neighbours I would take the opportunity to tell them I would repudiate such an action.
All this is a very interesting window into the American scene. John Chane the bishop of Washington said this week that America is a nation boiling with anger having been unable to properly mourn 9/11.
America is a very insular place. Middle America has very little idea of the impact it has on people and places it doesn't know or understand.
American Christians have no idea that there are Christians elsewhere who assign to the US the status of the imperial power. Some even apply biblical references referring originally to Babylon and Rome to the US.
When American Christians hear this sort of thing they are hurt and bewildered because they see their nation as a guardian of freedom, whereas many outside the US would say the opposite.
An African told me recently that one of the few ways open to people from his continent to express their pain and anger with the US is to 'rough up' a soft target - like the Episcopal Church.
Well the soft targets have started - a beautiful school in remote Kashmir which was dedicated to providing high quality education to those who had little or no access
Protest fire in Kashmir - reaction to "Qu'ran burning" http://asiacms.blogspot.com/2010/09/protest-fire-in-kashmir-reaction-to.html
Posted by: MullaNasruddin | 13 September 2010 at 11:02 AM