A Little Perspective

Every so often I get e-mail from people who I like and respect, but the e-mail is really out there. I never know exactly how to respond but will make an effort here.

I recently this video in the e-mail. It warns of the dangers of Islam and "proves" that the Obama administration has given up on the Constitution in favor of Sharia law.

If this had come from some anonymous source I'd just dump it into my junk folder, but it came from someone who I like and respect, so I'll put some effort into saying why I think its nonsense.



He makes a number of assertions in the video, some are clearly factual and others have a high degree of spin on them. He says that the US has a tradition of free speech that Afghanistan doesn't. I agree absolutely.

He says that, while he doesn't like burning any book (I agree) but that Terry Jones burning of the Qur'an recently is free speech, protected by the Constitution. Again, I agree. In fact, President Obama and other public leaders agree as well, and that's why he made no attempt to arrest or to censor Mr. Jones. He simply used his own freedom of speech to publicly condemn the action.

The video goes on to condemn the burning of Bibles sent by a Christian group to a soldier who hoped to use them to Evangelize the Afghan people. He points out that the Afghan government and culture is not tolerant of this.

This is true; in fact this attitude is fairly widespread throughout the Middle East, so much so that US military policy has very strict regulations about the use of Bibles among troops in the region.

I can sympathize with the soldier in question, who apparantly believed that his call from God superceeded his mission as a soldier, but I can hardly condemn his superiors. When military personnel violate military policy, they are compelled to take action.

As for the assertion that the military (or the government) consider the Bible to be garbage because the confiscated Bibles were burned... The long-standing tradition for disposing of the American flag in the military is also burning. It is considered the only appropriately respectful method. This certainly doesn't mean that mean that the military considers the flag garbage. The Army was placed in an awkward position by the actions of one soldier and behaved as honorably as they could. As a Christian and a pastor I understand that there is no insult intended and take no offense at this. To compare this with the action of Rev. Terry Jones, who burned the Bible as a deliberate insult to Islam makes no sense.

I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know if the argument that treating the Qur'an reverently violates the first ammendment holds any water in a legal sense. My personal opinion is that it is a silly argument. The US is a country where religious tolerance and freedom of speech can be taken for granted. Afghanistan is not. Making some allowances for this only makes good common sense. Pretending it means we've given up on the constitution does not.