September 11 is a day that needs to be remembered and reflected on for many reasons:
- The tragic loss of life to several thousand innocent people.
- The reminder that violent assault on any one individual reverberates through a family, a community, and a nation.
- The recognition that for the first time in over 100 years, Americans were attacked on their own soil, challenging their assumption that security can be achieved through armed strength alone.
- The killing of innocent people can lead to rage, a desire to retaliate, and calls for revenge.
- Validation of the maxim that every time an invader takes one innocent life, 10 new people join the opposition.
The intent of Terry Jones, pastor of a small evangelical church in Florida, to burn more than 200 Qur’ans on the anniversary of 9/11 can be seen as a powerful example of rage, the desire to retaliate, and an act of revenge—the kinds of behaviors that perpetuate cycles of violence, hatred, and misunderstanding.
The loss of innocent American lives on 9/11/2001 was a travesty, as is Jones’s plan to burn the holy book of millions of peace-loving Muslims around the world.
Perhaps burning the holy book of millions is not as deadly as killing an innocent person, but as General Petraeus has pointed out, it certainly provides fuel for the small militant element within Islam aiming to harm American forces in the Middle East and elsewhere.
What does Mr. Jones know of the Qur’an? Has he considered Chapter 5, Verse 32: “[I]f anyone slew a person—unless it be for murder or spreading mischief in the land—it would be as if he slew the whole people. And if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.”
Does he understand that the message of the Qur’an, which overlaps significantly with the Bible, emphasizes peace and brotherhood?
Is he also aware that, like the Bible, the Qur’an contains passages that can be distorted by seekers of power within each religion to advance their own agenda?
Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology