Ten Reasons NOT to Burn a Koran

Original post of Mary at Work of the Poet, reprinted with her permission:

Here is a letter I received in email today:

Dear Mary,

Get your free bookmark opposing "Burn a Koran Day"—and spread the word!.

Show that you don't support bigotry and hate!

President Obama. General Petraeus. The Pope.

World leaders are speaking out against the "Burn a Koran" event scheduled for September 11th. It's hateful and dangerous.

Despite the outcry, Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center are moving forward with their event. In fact, they posted five MORE reasons to burn a Koran on their blog just yesterday.

Human Rights First pushed back: We decided to build our own list—using responses from over 5,000 supporters like you!—of "10 Reasons NOT to burn a Koran." We posted the final list yesterday on our blog, Huffington Post, FireDogLake, and other media outlets. Thanks to those of you who contributed!

Here's the Top 10 list:

Ten Reasons NOT to Burn a Koran

1. Book burning! Do I really need to say why?

2. By not burning a Koran I'm not burning a bridge to communication.

3. Burning the Koran because of extremist Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists makes no more sense than burning the Bible because of the Ku Klux Klan or Nazis.

4. Hatred breeds more hatred and that is not going to solve any of our problems.

5. That type of hate-filled religious intolerance has no place anywhere in the world, and is especially abhorrent in a country where religious freedom is one of the pillars of its foundation.

6. It's a sacred book to millions of people. We should respect all people's beliefs.

7. It will only inflame. I'd like people to understand each other.

8. I may not believe in the words of the Koran but I would never burn one out of respect for my fellow humans who do.

9. Support our troops!

10. We must learn to coexist. We cannot continue to live in fear and suspicion.

Show the fearmongers and the world that Americans don't stand for bigotry by ordering your free "Americans Don't Burn Books" bookmark right now. (You pay shipping and handling.)

Sincerely,

Sharon Kelly McBride
Communications Director

P.S. Want to support our work? Click here to make a donation. Every gift is tax deductible and supports our programs to stand up for religious tolerance and basic human dignity.

Human Rights First, 333 Seventh Avenue, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10001-5004

Addendum: Jones has since tried to (unsuccessfully) tie his event into the Park51 zoning issue in New York and has at the time of this post 'suspended' his plans.

President Obama addressed this when asked during his press conference on Friday. He reminded us that we have Muslims serving in our military and that they are our neighbors and our friends. In today's New York Times, Samuel G. Freedman wrote an interesting column in the On Religion section titled, Muslims and Islam were part of Twin Towers' Life.

It behooves us to take the time to learn more about the people with whom we share our lives, our country and our planet. And, if nothing else works, remember the words from another religious teacher: The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:31)