With respect to Terry Jones' burning of the Qu'ran, my position (as a Catholic) is to echo the statement of the Vatican: it is "an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community," and an unnecessary provocation (if even to make a point). A peaceful dialogue between communities is not advanced by such a direct attack on the other. Likewise, with respect to caricatures of Mohammed by the Western press:
In addition, coexistence calls for a climate of mutual respect to favor peace among men and nations. Moreover, these forms of exasperated criticism or derision of others manifest a lack of human sensitivity and may constitute in some cases an inadmissible provocation. A reading of history shows that wounds that exist in the life of peoples are not cured this way.
I said as much last year ("Lars Vilks, Gay Muhammad and Freedom of Expression" (American Catholic May 16, 2010) -- Lars Vilks may endorse his right to depict a gay Mohammed or a paedophile Jesus. We might countenance his First Amendment "right" to sacrilege as Americans, but I believe as Catholics we should protest such offenses, not only to ourselves but to Muslims as well.
However, what I think also merits comment as well is exactly what is noted by Rich Sanchez in his column: when a Qur'an happens to be vandalized, such an action is "not only offensive, but also dangerous -- especially to our troops."
But why would it -- why should it -- be considered dangerous, even lethal, to our troops?
Surely this fact is a travesty as well?
In the past several days, a Muslim mob protesting the actions of Terry Jones in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, culminated in an attack on the United Nations headquarters, the murder of six Nepalese guards and 3 foreign staff members, "hunted down and shot, some in the back, as they ran from a bunker where they had tried to hide. One person’s throat was also slit." ["Koran Burning Prompts Third Day of Rage" Globe and Mail April 3, 2011.] Two US soldiers were shot dead by an Afghan border policeman in Maymana, northern Afghanistan (The Telegraph April 5, 2011).
By no means am I equating all Muslims with the mob in Afghanistan. We do not see this level of violence here in the United States by American Muslims. But surely those Muslims protesting the actions of Terry Jones, and Mr. Rick Sanchez as well, can agree that there is something seriously amiss when the vandalization of a religious icon -- or cartoons published in a newspaper -- result in a violent mob and the slaughter of innocents.
Christians, much to our dismay, suffer similar incidents of abuse and vandalization of that which we hold sacred here in America: the Holy Mother smeared with feces, the Crucifix dipped in urine, funded with taxpayer dollars and labled "art" to boot.
And yet, has the media ever reported mobs of Christians hunting down and killing the perpetrators of such sacrilege? -- Speaking from personal experience, by and large when such incidents occur, the result is the congregation of Christians in prayer and silent, nonviolent protest.
What is it about Muslims in other nations that we see them react in this manner? Is this a religious thing? -- Can it be so readily dismissed as a ethnic or cultural thing?
When critics of Islam depict it as a "violent religion", why do so Muslim reactions have a tendency to lend credence to the very characterization they are protesting against?
I ask this with all respect, as a reader, as a Christian, and as a friend to the Muslim community.
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