Schlussel On Burn A Koran Day

A Florida Christian minister's plan to burn the Koran on September 11 in memory of the thousands of Americans who died as a result of the worst Islamic terrorist attack on American soil has provoked a strong negative reaction from President Barack Hussein Obama and various members of his administration, as well as others across the political spectrum. Book burning of any sort has never struck me as a good idea, but it's hard to overlook the hypocrisy of so many on the Left on this exercise of free speech by Rev. Terry Jones. Fellow blogger Debbie Schlussel's take on their "sudden excess of outrage" reaction pretty accurately sums it up. She writes, in part:

While I do not support, embrace, or endorse the International Burn a Koran Day, and it is meant to unnecessarily provoke (and does a disservice to the efforts of those of us who oppose Islam but do not engage in offense like this), I view it as far less offensive than those who burn an American Flag on regular occasions all over America. The American Flag is far more holy to me than a book which inspires mass murder of all of those who do not adhere to the strictest observance of Islam and its sharia (and often the mass murder of rival Islamic factions).


I also see the burning of the Koran far less offensive than “art” sponsored by the U.S. government, such as “Piss Christ,” featuring a cross in a bottle of urine. But Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder never spoke out against that. Neither did the mainstream media. Instead of saying to the Islamic world, “this is what America is about–we say and do what we want, no matter how offensive,” they are cowering to those who have already vanquished us on the anniversary of the planned event. Cowering to the enemy never works. It eggs them on.

I view the planned burning of Korans as far less offensive than the mass murder of Jews and Christian on a regular basis all over the Islamic world on the basis of the contents of the Koran and its related Hadiths, considered the word of Mohammed. But Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder never spoke out against that. Neither did the mainstream media.

I view the planned burning of Korans as far less offensive than the building of a mosque on top of the holiest Jewish site, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, and the ongoing excavation of that Temple, which further destroys what is left. I view the planned burning of Korans as far less offensive than the use of Jewish gravestones as sidewalk pavement and Jewish graves as urination receptacles, all done by Muslims who took over “Palestine” before it was recaptured by Israel in 1967.

I view the planned burning of Korans as far less offensive as I view the Sunni-dominated Saudi destruction of Sh’ite Korans, in which the leather binding is purposely transformed into thong sandals to denigrate and embarrass Shi’ites and show them their Koran is the lowest of the low, gracing the dirt on the streets. But Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder never spoke out against that. Neither did the mainstream media.

Here’s what I view as far more offensive than the burning of Korans: that the outrage over this is more so than the outrage of any Islamic murder of Americans, any jihadist beheading videos featuring Westerners being slaughtered in the name of the Koran.

And it is offensive that the same liberals who constantly tell me that burning the American flag and denigrating Christianity with urine jars is “free speech” and “that’s very American,” suddenly don’t seem to like free speech.

UPDATE: The Koran burning hasn't even taken place before the American flag burning and chants of "Death to the Christians" rang out by Islamic protesters in Afghanistan.

UPDATE II: NBC News tonight says a call from the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Rev. Terry Jones convinced him to cancel his planned Koran book burning event on Saturday, the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Rev. Jones tied his original decision to hold the Koran burning to plans to build the Ground Zero mosque. Jones, accompanied by a local imam in Florida, claimed an agreement had been reached to move the location of the new mosque. A represenative of Imam Rauf denies any such agreement has been reached. Rev. Jones says he has a trip to New York planned on Saturday. If the Ground Zero mosque is not moved, Rev. Jones says it means he was tricked and lied to by the imam representing himself as a representative of Imam Rauf. There is something wrong with a religion that the entire world had to be placed on a heightened state of alert simply because some no-name minister in Florida planned to burn a few copies of the Koran. Unbelievable. And yet another Hoosier soldier is dead at the hands of Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan. Marine Cpl. John Bishop (25) of Columbus died when his combat unit came under fire yesterday. Don't expect any apologies from the religion of peace for his death.