Book burning

I am thinking about that pastor in Florida who wants to burn the Q'uran. Then he doesn't want to burn it. Then he - well, he didn't really say he wouldn't, he just said he was suspending the event.

Please, Rev. Terry J. You've had your 15 mnutes of fame. You didn't deserve it, you've done nothing whatever to warrant it, but you've gotten it. Now get the hell off my stage. You're not worthy to have your 15 minutes extended, but you seem to want to milk it for all it's worth.

There are many considerations that  would make this action wrong. First, as has been pointed out by many who would know, we have troops in a place that would be terribly offended, even to violence, if this happens. If you thought there was an uproar over Danish cartoons of Muhammad, just wait until you burn Islam's sacred text. Pal, this isn't an abstract to me. I have a son-in-law of whom I couldn't be prouder who is deployed in the Middle East. If you put him in any more danger than he's already in, then may you roast forever, you sorry simple egotistical b-----d.

Gee, did my temper run away from me for a minute?

There is another reason that I don't want this person - or anyone else - burning Q'uran. I am Catholic, but not a cradle Catholic. I didn't come to the Roman Catholic Church until adulthood - age 39, to be specific. I have been in other denominations. I don't name those other denominations much. My reticence about them derives from respect for them. I am what I am for a reason. But, to say I'm Catholic and that I'm not whatever it is I used to be could be taken as a denigration - at least an implicit one - of what I was. And I will not go there unless pushed.

The way you identify yourself spiritually is very close to the core of who you are. If your core is different from mine, then we each owe the other respect to that core. If we're grown up enough about it, we even owe each other a celebration of the other's core. It means everything to them.

So I am not Jewish. I do not want the Talmud burned. (I don't want Torah or the Tanakh burned, either, but those are part of the Christian holy texts.) Many have died martyr's deaths with the sh'mah - from Torah -  on their lips: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."

I am not Mormon. I do not want the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine and Covenants desecrated or burned. Although I do not regard these as sacred texts, millions do. Many of my family are among these, and they and their faith deserve my respect, and I hope they feel the same about my Catholic faith.

And I am not Muslim. I do not want Q'uran burned or otherwise harmed. It is the sacred book - near to the core of the values - for about a billion people. The huge majority are not the Wahhabi radicals; the nations with the largest population of Muslims are not even in the Middle East. You do Islam - and yourself - a disservice if you paint the entire Muslim world with one brush. You do not have to be a Muslim to respect their faith, values and lives.

And THAT'S why I have issues with the good reverend. Not that he would pay any attention.

As always, I'd love - and respect! - your thoughts. Thanks for hanging out for a few.