Quote:
Originally Posted by Vexx
I'm having trouble equating the two though...
1) Burn an organized stack of paper of which there are many many copies.
2) Slaughter human beings.
Now if they'd "burned a Bible" -- I might see the equivalence. But this is the kind of madness that gives religion bad rep. Wanna bet quite a few of the UN staff weren't Christian to begin with?
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Yes and no. Both actions are stemming from the same root: religious radicalism, and that's what the insanity remark is for. Ideally, what you suggest is fair: no any sane man in the outside world will disagree. However, in that part of the world it simply does not work that way. The society, and the religion all operates by different rules: so it is only fair in our eyes, not in theirs. So by passing this fairness judgment on them, we are actually enforcing our value on them, which is how some policies with perfect intentions goes wrong; and they are acting on their own radical version of fairness: that is all perceived "offenders" of their religion is punishable by death.
Of course, that's no excuse for killing innocent people no matter what of the circumstances. Those people most likely killed some one who they should be gratitude for: those poor UN staffs are there to improve their lives. That's really how misguided those people are and how sad this incident is. But on the other hand, do you think the pastor in the US bear no fault? "Hey I burned a Koran, why don't you burn a bible in exchange?" All the signs and precedences indicate there will be a strong reaction. Yet he still acts on. In fact, in some sense it is a calculated move, because he "proved" his point: that Islam is a bad religion; but at what cost?