Is burning the Koran a hate crime?

This was the question asked recently in national media outlets in response to a Gainsville, Florida pastor's plan to burn the Koran on 9/11.

Simple - we live in America and if you can burn the US flag in protest you can certainly burn a book. It is exactly the same! Some hold the US flag to be sacred - some hate what it is only a symbol of. Some hold the koran to be sacred - some hate what it is a symbol of. So NO it is not a crime in any sense of the word.

Burning a Koran may not be a crime, but it may be stupid. The backlash could be worse than even the media or military predicts. Certainly "peaceful" Muslims around the world will protest and people will most likely die. They will burn US flags and chant "Death to Satan America"! But, that is not what worries me most.

Certainly this book burning cannot be compared in scope to the Night of Broken Glass, but the incremental loss of freedom our does hearken back to 1930s Germany. Gainsville police plan to step up a road block and check the ID of everyone who attends the Koran burning. Is no one outraged that the city of Gainsville plans to "set up a road block" and "check the license" of people who go to the event? Who is going to keep the list and what are they planning to do with it? What is happening to our freedom?

You may laugh now, but do not be surprised if one day you have a visit from the "Religious" division of the FBI, or an entirely new federal agency established to "promote tolerance" and fight against the "defamation of religion".

PREDICTION -- The US Congress will debate a bill on the Defamation of Religion that will seek to make it a "hate crime" to "defame" anyone's religion, religious symbols, sacred sites or founders.

I wish the pastor would just cancel the burning, but the firestorm has already started. He did not start the fire, it has always been burning.

Lastly, speaking of politics since when did our political leaders become so well versed in religion? Since when do our political leaders have the right to tell us what to believe and how to practice our faith?

Hillary Clinton has apparently become well versed in Islam and stands in the place of prophet as she make proclamation after proclamation. She condemned Jones' plan at a dinner Tuesday in observance of Iftar, the breaking of the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "I am heartened by the clear, unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act that has come from American religious leaders of all faiths," she said. She has proclaimed that Islam is a religion of peace and that "terrorism has no religion".

Repeatedly we are told that we are "not in a religious war". This is a war against "terrorism". You know the thing that has "no religion". Am I stupid or something? As the Islamic terrorists blow themselves up they chant religious slogans, mobs chant "Death to Infidels", spontaneous parties broke out in the Islamic world to celebrate the Islamic victory on 9/11 and I could go on and on. But, it isn't religion?

The fact is that all leaders of all faiths have not condemned the Koran burning, and from the comments posted on many websites it seems that many (if not a majority of) Americans agree that Pastor Jones has every right to burn whatever book he wants to burn. Furthermore many Americans still believe that you can believe whatever you want to believe, and say whatever you want to say about religion. It is based on something we call the US Constitution.

What ever happened to the separation of Church and State?

www.righttobelieve.org

Updates to ioi blog

For those of you interested in the ministry of IOI --
The www.ioiusa.blogspot.com blog is updated monthly. Also, we have a new URL for our website at www.ioiusa.org which I hope is much more user friendly. Check it out when you have an opportunity.

Also, for those interested in our home renovations check out www.universal-design-home.blogspot.com

Quote of the Weak - Proselytize

"Every attempt to impose the gospel by force, to run after people and proselytize them, to use our own resources to arrange the salvation of other people, is both futile and dangerous."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Taken out of context one might accuse Bonhoeffer of being "unevangelical." This would be a huge mistake.

Bonhoeffer saw clearly that modern methods of evangelism were dangerous because they cheapen the gospel, and present a god that is incapable of accomplishing His will. The begging, powerless and effeminate Jesus wants to save you, if you will only ask him to...
Bonhoeffer knew the all powerful, sovereign Creator of the Universe that commands all men everywhere to believe and repent. He boldly proclaimed the Gospel and knew that God was the only faith giver. He knew that men cannot believe unless God performs a miracle at the hearing of the Word. He knew too that there must be a preacher to proclaim the Gospel. With his very life Bonhoeffer paid the cost of his discipleship (he died in a Nazi concentration camp). At the end of his life it was said of him by a fellow non-Christian prisoner, "I never knew a man who's God was so real to him."

Website Update - Indigenous Outreach

The IOI Website has been updated!! Check it out www.indigenousoutreach.net and let me know what you think.

Quote of the Weak -- The feast of Christmas

"In the feast of Christmas we are directed in a new way to the very thing that stands in the center of the Bible, to the simple reality of the gacious and merciful action which comes from God into this lost world. We are no longer concerned with elegant and gay pictures and fancies; from the reality which is so plain and from our distress, we thirst for the reality of the great divine help. Our question is whether God really has sent the One who has the right and authority for complete, all-embracing, final redemption. And the Christmas message is the complete, glorious "Yes" of the answer to this question."

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Photo and quote - International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society

Celebrating 18 years of happy matrimony

My love busting a pose on the bridge across the moat of the Baroque palace of Schloss Gymnich in Germany.

A wonderful place to celebrate a wonderful gift from God of 18 years of happy matrimony!

Located west of Cologne, Germany this palace was originally constructed in 1390. The castle suffered a fire in 1642 and was restored in 1655. It has served many purposes including official government functions. It is now a wonderful Bed and Breakfast.

Quote of the Weak - Wisdom

"Getting older does not mean you are wise, it just means you are old."

- Günther Schulze, SCFS Board Member

"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain wise counsels."
(Proverbs 1:5)

Old Man in Armchair, Unknown (17th century) Art.com

Quote of the Weak -- Church Architecture

"Architects could design church spaces that encourage people to use more of their senses than just sight or hearing. Think of the possibilities if architects were to consider the five senses not in isolation from one another but in harmony with each other.
God gave us five senses for a reason. People need to look, to listen, to touch, to taste, and to smell when they are praising God. "

-- Leonard Sweet (Church Architecture for the 21st Century, Christianity Today 1999)

While I disagree with most of his article (too much emphasis on innovation and video screens) I very much like his thoughts concerning the harmony of senses in worship.

Sublime and Ridiculous

Graffiti in the bell tower

I really should stop swearing oaths. It is an exercise in ungodliness, and besides that I almost always end up breaking my word eventually. Other than my marriage vow and an oath never to eat at Shoney's again, most of my rash vows have been broken.

I climbed the stairs of the bell tower in the cathedral in Cologne a couple of years ago. It was worth the trouble and the 2 euro they charge. After ascending and descending the 500+ stones stairs of the narrow passageway to the historic bells I said, "Well, I'll never do that again." What I should have said was, "I'd rather not do that again."

Two years later I found myself purchasing another 2 euro ticket for the privledge of losing my breath and getting cramps in my legs. My daughter was traveling with me and I thought it would be a crime not to take her to the top of the tower and see the view of the city. It was worth the trouble of course, and I took a picture of her that is one of my favorites.

I had already seen the bells and the view so this time my attention was turned to the graffiti that fills the inner walls of the tower stairway. Lovers, students, pilgrims, Satanists and others had taken their turns memorializing their journey to the cathedral by writing inscriptions with a variety of tools and languages. I was repulsed by the bold vandalism and at the same moment tempted to memorialize our visit. In some way we want to be a part of the greatness of the 700 year old building, and the permenance, faith and hope it represents. Graffiti on top of graffiti had made much of the writing illegible and served to illustrate the nameless mass of people that have come and gone like fading letters over the years.

Patrons of the cathedral are buried in eloquent coffins and tombs littering the main floor of the cathedral. Stained glass windows serve as reminders of great men through the ages. An elderly woman kneels in prayer. A group of Asian tourists snap photos. A priest with a coin box strapped to his chest scolds men who forget to remove their hats as they enter the holy place. Gift shops built into the outer walls peddle scale models of the cathedral, religious books and pornographic post cards. A man dressed in a blue bodysuit and wearing a jester's hat performs for the crowds outside the front door. A three-piece accordion band from the Ukraine plays classical music in the courtyard. A street artist spends his day chalking a picture of Mozart on the sidewalk. McDonald's is just across the narrow street and located next door to a hundreds of years old bier haus. It is both sublime and ridiculous.

It is in this place that I am reminded that our names are written in a place that is eternal. I take a deep breath and for a moment I cease despairing of the vanity of life.