God, Guns, and Fahrenheit 451

The Rev. Terry Jones is giving stupid people a bad name.
There he is, stamping around in Gainesville, Florida,
preaching to a congregation of thirty people, wearing
a handgun on his hip, and proposing to burn 1000 copies
of the Koran on September 11, just to demonstrate
to the world that Islam is evil, and that we aren't going
to take it anymore!

I do not really think it would be appropriate, but I wonder
what would happen if thirty or forty Muslims got together
and burned the King James Bible to protest the presence
of people like Terry Jones having a church in Gainesville,
just a block or two away from whatever there is in Gainesville
that ought to be kept pure and unstained from hate speech.

There are a lot of things worse than burning each other's books,
although the level of ignorance it requires is staggering. Hate
speech isn't quite so trivial. Neither is ignoring the guaranties
of our Constitution about the Freedom of Religion.
Would a decent people allow someone like Terry Jones
to do what he does, and say what he is saying, if we were not
committed, at a profound, uncomfortable and noble level
to allowing people to freedom of religion, even a perverse one?

Does the Rev. Terry Jones not know that Protestants once
were persecuted? That Catholics were persecuted? That
Mormons, and Jews, and Quakers, and Germans and Irish
and Puerto Ricans and Native Americans were persecuted?
Is he completely devoid of an education? Has he no decency?

Sometimes I am amazed at the decency of the people
who fashioned our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
There are days when we do not deserve them.

Shall we uncock our .40 calibers and pray?

Ah, you do that! I need a drink.

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