Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett's reviews, news, theories and quibbles.
It makes a patriot proud.
There’s a guy in Florida, leader of a church in Gainesville, who has come up with a novel way to recognize the tragedies of 9/11: He’s going to burn a big pile of copies of the Qur’an, the sacred writings of Islam.
Now, of course no one with the common sense God gave a walnut would take this person seriously. He is no more representative of Christians than the Energizer bunny, and considerably less intelligent. And he sure as hell is no “pastor,” never mind what it says under “occupation” on the permit for the pistol strapped to his hip.
The book-cooker in Florida seems like a random kook until you consider that forty-six percent of Republicans polled claim to think President Barak Obama is a secret Muslim. (See Tim Egan’s good essay on that idiocy.)
The whole world is watching, and we’re demonstrating that in a true democracy, you can say or do just about any asinine thing you want without fear of punishment. We’re also proving that we’re every bit as good at producing haters, fear-mongers, liars and fools as the next nation.
3 Comments
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If the “next nation” has a large Muslim population, its haters and fear-mongers are far more common and virulent than ours. In the U.S., a buffoon such as the Gainesville pastor is widely ridiculed as a village idiot. But in countries dominated by Islam, those who preach comparably vile lies about Christianity or Western society are respected community leaders. Any Iranian or Afghan neighbor who challenges such medieval bigotry puts his life at risk. America has no shortage of damn fools, but when it comes to hateful religious zealots, we just can’t compete.
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Yes, wise words I agree we’re not yet leading the world as producer of hateful religious zealots. But given our longevity, we’re doing pretty well.
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Brings to mind the overworked phrase…What would Jesus do? Not a fan of the church/state intervention but come on!
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Email me at kimberly@typelikethewind.com
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