patrick.net

I think it's ironic to see one of these people "impaled on his own sword."
Hope the prosecutor keeps prosecuting Muslims for this. Give them a taste of their own grape, and maybe they'll decide they don't want sharia after all.

B-B-but, the Multiculturalists say that Islam loves Jesus as a prophet. Why would they burn his book?

Talk about an Epic Fail!

To be fair to the guy, some far-right protestant groups DO treat the bible as a kind of Koran that fell out of heaven, inerrant and infallable, and the Source of All Truth (tm). But even those groups weren't inspired to violence over the incident.

It remains something of a mystery to my why Muslim crowds have apoplectic fits when someone burns the Koran.

Some possibilities:

* Witch-hunt mentality means that if they don't show public anger, the Muslim public will turn on them next. So they do it out of fear of their neighbors, or to gain status as "righteous" Muslims.

* Frustration with their repressive autocratic rulers and lack of economic possibilities just comes out in their limited socially acceptable way.

* They have grave doubts themselves about Islam, and riots are a way to prove to themselves that they really are worthy believers.

* They just want to imitate Mohammed, who publicly approved the killings of people who mocked Islam (see especially Abu Afak and Asma Bint Marwan).

* They are really in fear they won't get into heaven unless they kill "enemies of Islam" but not at all afraid of limiting their own freedom of speech (which may be unfamiliar to them anyhow, as in Saudi Arabia).

* They are afraid that westernisation is destroying their local culture and traditions, leaving them as poor outsiders within the American empire. So the protests are really a protest of creeping westernization rather than about Islam itself.

People of all other religions seem to just roll their eyes and get on with their day when someone mocks their holy book. I think that's the best response.

thunderlips11 says

B-B-but, the Multiculturalists say that Islam loves Jesus as a prophet. Why would they burn his book?

It was one person.

Bigsby says

It was one person.

It was one person with an ultra-conservative Islamic TV station.

He obviously has a large audience who he thinks will agree with him, enough to support a TV station anyway.

It remains something of a mystery to my why Muslim crowds have apoplectic fits when someone burns the Koran.

Because the Koran is the Source of All Truth (tm)!

I know the mentality well, because I grew up in a Christian denomination that goes to absurd lengths to defend "biblical inerrency." A universe older than 6,000 years becomes a huge threat to their faith, for example. I like to call it "Chrislam" because there are deeply disturbing (to me) parallels between it and Islam.

Conservative protestants have no "source of authority" outside of the bible. And so if the bible is not "totally accurate in all things" it's authority is gone and their whole worldview crumbles. It comes from the doctrine of Sola Scriptura (scripture alone) formed during the Reformation in reaction to the abuses of the Roman Catholic church at the time. The authority of Church Tradition and the authority of the Pope were rejected...only the bible was left. And given what the Catholic Church was doing at the time I can't blame them for rejecting the pope and all tradition. But doing so turned the bible into the Koran. The seeds of "Chrislam" were sown.

Hell, when it comes to the Catholic Church not much has changed since the Reformation. Look at the sex abuse scandal. Google "magdaline laundries."

No wonder atheism is growing so quickly.

Of course, my experience with "angry atheists" often drives me back toward religion.

It's weird: religion drives me toward atheism, but atheism drives me back toward religion.

freak80 says

And where pray tell is the third great religion of the World? I see how it was clearly avoided. Fair is fair there are fanatics in all religions.

freak80 says

Google "magdaline laundries."

That was interesting. Didn't know about them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalene_Laundries