Book Burning

The violent reaction to the burning of the Koran by Florida “pastor” Terry Jones has prompted a whole host of responses. Many U.S. Muslims have publicly condemned the violence, particularly as it is directed against those who were not only not involved but even tried to stop Terry Jones from burning the Koran. Many Christians have publicly condemned not only his intolerance and disrespectful act and attitude, but also the insensitivity to appeals from fellow Americans and Christians. I have nothing to add to that discussion that has not already been said, and I have neither a reputation nor a following that would suggest my comments would be influential anyway. But I do have a couple of observations that I at least want to express, and if it prompts some conversation, so much the better.

We associate book burning with intolerant totalitarianism as a way to squelch ideas they find threatening. Sometimes vigilante groups have sought to burn or ban books they find offensive in schools, libraries and bookshops. Sometimes churches have held book burnings for materials they believed were theologically or ethically dangerous. No particular time or place, nation or religion has a monopoly or is exempt from the impetus to burn or ban books (or artwork or music or drama or film) in the name of protecting the community.

Through the ages some Christians have found a precedent for book burning Acts 19:19 when the converts from occult arts to Jesus Christ in Ephesus burned their magic books. I think it is important to note that this was not an act of political protest or an attempt to offend or humiliate their still pagan neighbors. They had no illusions about making such books unavailable, nor were they trying to protect the community from an invasion of foreign ideas. Rather, this book burning was an expression of a personal change of life direction. People were leaving behind their old lives to begin new lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Even so, with the totally different social climate today, I would not suggest that those who convert from Islam to follow Jesus should burn their Korans. In fact, I think Christians today should read the Koran for themselves to see how Jesus (and other biblical characters and ideas) are portrayed differently than in the Bible and to understand the points at which Islam challenges Christianity and explore how to prayerfully and respectfully respond to those differences. I have written elsewhere about how I as a Christian pastor seek to understand and respond to Islam (http://nstolpewriting.blogspot.com/2008/04/pastoral-response-norman-stolpe-may-27.html), so I will not repeat that here. Certainly, burning Korans and insulting Muhammad does not encourage spiritually hungry Muslims to consider trusting Jesus.

The book burning issue is far broader than the distinctions between Christianity and Islam. That is just what has attracted way too much public attention recently. From my days in youth ministry I well remember some churches asking teenagers to bring their records and tapes of rock-n-roll music to be burned at rather odd youth rallies. Some made a point of burning recordings of Christian artists who were thought to have compromised with the world. With current technology I have heard of a few mp3 and i-pod rock music erasing or deleting parties, but they certainly lack the dramatic impact of burning all that plastic.

Though taking things in a little different direction, I feel I must add a bit of information that contrasts the way Muslims view the Koran and the way Christians view the Bible in order to understand the vehemence of some Muslims’ reaction to Terry Jones’ Koran burning.

First, though both Christians and Muslims speak of their Scriptures as the word of God. Christians recognize the Bible as an accumulation of conversations between God and people (especially but not exclusively the Hebrew and Church communities of faith) that came together over many centuries with many writers, reporting both righteousness and disobedience in the community of faith. Muslims believe the Koran is the actual words of God dictated to one person – Muhammad – in a single lifetime devoted to total submission to God.

Second, Christians emphasize that the Bible is the inspired, reliable, authoritative word of God for the community of faith in all times and places, including ours. Thus, translating the Bible into the languages people can understand has always been important. At Jesus’ time the Hebrew Scriptures had been translated into Greek since educated people in the whole Mediterranean Basin spoke Greek. That is also why the New Testament was written in Greek, even though most of its writers spoke Aramaic as their first language. By the fourth century the Bible was translated into Latin, which was the language people were reading throughout the Roman Empire. Since at least the thirteenth century, there has been an accelerating movement to translate the Bible into as many languages read by people as possible.

Islam views the Koran in a sort of a reverse of this pattern. That is, since they understand it as the actual words of God dictated to Muhammad in Arabic, the Koran is for them only the word of God when it is read, especially read aloud, in Arabic. Translations have to be clearly identified as such and not presented as though they were the authentic Koran. Thus, rather than translating the Koran into as many languages as possible, the missionary task (to apply term usually thought of as Christian) of Islam is to teach as many people as possible how to read (aloud) and understand Arabic.

Thus, though Christians might well be offended at someone burning a Bible, they generally do not regard the physical object in and of itself as sacred and would not consider burning it a blasphemous threat to God’s holiness. We would think of it more as a symptom of that person’s deficient faith and character. But for Muslims, since the Koran (especially in Arabic) is regarded as the actual words of God, to burn a Koran is direct blasphemy against God.

The ultimate value of Islam is the total submission of everything in a person’s life to God, including the community and country in which one lives. Thus, everyone in a community is tainted by a blasphemous act on the part of one person. For those of us in western democracies that put a high value on individual freedom, this is very difficult to understand and accept. Nevertheless, this is why some Muslims blame the entire United States for the irreverent act of one person whom most of us consider aberrant.

One final thought that I believe is very important. I make a significant distinction between what I believe and how I act as a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and what I expect of the United States as a nation, as a society and of its people. While I expect and advocate for religious freedom to practice and proclaim faith in Christ in the United States, I also expect and advocate for the same freedom for all other religions, regardless of how much I may disagree with their teaching or beliefs. That freedom is not without limits, however. It does not tolerate things like cruelty, violence, oppression, slander, deception or coercion by any religion, including those who claim the name of Christian.

Conversely, I do not expect the United States to promote or give favorable status to any religion over any other, including any legal preference to Christianity. As a Christian pastor I must live and articulate my own faith and discipleship with confidence that the Holy Spirit is quite capable of protecting and promoting the Gospel in a neutral and even a hostile environment, and I must lead and teach the people of the congregations I serve to follow Jesus and proclaim the Gospel with similar confidence.