Pastor plots to burn the Koran on 9/11

After reading an article on CNN's website entitled, Pastor weighing plans to burn Qurans amid U.S. warnings, I am just shocked.

The Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Florida plans to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, in attempts to protest terrorist attacks and to raise awareness that "Islam is of the devil."

The church has been planning this event since July and is still going through with “International Burn a Koran Day” even though their burning permit has been denied, other Christian churches have urged them to cancel, they have received death threats and General David Petraeus, the commander in Afghanistan, believes that the burning of sacred books could be dangerous for soldiers.

"We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it," said Dove World Outreach Church Pastor Terry Jones in the article.

I am aware of the fact that there are a lot of radical people out there in this crazy world, but this event is just uncalled for, especially when it could affect our military.

"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan," Petraeus said in the CNN story that stated there are over 120,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops still overseas that could be affected.

Another article from the New York Times, Far From Ground Zero, Obscure Pastor Is Ignored No Longer, stated that Jones hopes that the Koran burning will not spur violence and said ignorantly, in my opinion, that he doesn’t believe it will affect soldiers.

The church even has a link to a blog on their website, Ten Reasons to Burn a Koran, which states how burning a Koran is a loving act to warn people of danger and harm.

Even though the church may claim that their motivations are not meant to be hateful towards people, this event is sparking hate in the hearts of Muslims around the world as there have already been reports of rioting against the pastor and Americans in general.

According to the article, Afghans protest US church's plans to torch Koran, rioters actually burned an effigy of Pastor Jones chanting phrases like “Death to America.”

The Associated Press also reported, “Last month, Indonesian Muslims demonstrated outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, threatening violence if Jones goes through with it.”

I wonder if Jones still believes that burning the Koran is a loving act after hearing about all of these angry protesters?

"Jones said he has received more than 100 death threats and has started wearing a .40-caliber pistol strapped to his hip," AP reported.

I just do not understand what positive outcome could possibly come out of burning copies of the Koran, whether the Christian church agrees with it or not. The only thing this highly publicized event will accomplish is an escalated amount of violence and fighting.

While I agree that some extremist messages in the Koran are something to be very worried about, I do not think that makes it acceptable for anyone to go around burning all holy scriptures in sight.