Relief for America

Upon looking at my iPod's news app last night, I was hugely relieved to see that Pastor Terry Jones wasn't going to burn the Q'rans tonight.  I read on Facebook a long conversation about the burnings and the mosque that was the cause to much indignation.  A short summary of the controversy can be found there. (click here)  In short, the Pastor claimed that the threat was only used to try to open a door to talk with the imam who was going to build the cultural center near ground zero.  While I and my facebook friends agree that it was within Pastor Jones's rights to do this, it certainly would have been a very poor choice.  As it is, the threat has incited large anti-American gatherings in Afghanistan, larger than ever before.  Pastor Jones had recieved pleas not to burn Islam's holy book many times now, and he backed down.


However, the long term affects of this man's threat, will not be as trivial as we may wish.  Because of this one man, many groups look bad.  Americans were hated more than ever in countries where Islam is the dominant religion, and I have no reason to believe this will stop.  Our troops in Afghanistan could be in more trouble and experience more violence because of the threats.  Christians have lost face, which disappoints me.  As a Christian myself, I do not want to be judged based off this one man's actions hundreds of miles away.  In a way, I believe this helps me identify with muslims.  Most are peaceful, and only a small group are violent.  In the same way, I guess Christianity has radical sects as well.

Because of all of this, many questions have been raised.  Just because we are allowed to do something by law, should we do it?  Are our rights so important that we would compromise our image locally and globally in order to exercise them?  Do we sacrifice all our rights so that our image is preserved?  Where is the line?  How could we tell if one of our actions could offend others if we never could have imagined that they would be impacted?