I was sitting on an airplane yesterday reading an actual dead tree edition of the NYT (yes, I know, how quaint) and I read the piece on Terry Jones of Koran-burning fame: Koran-Burning Pastor Unrepentant in Face of Furor.
From the story:
“It was intended to stir the pot; if you don’t shake the boat, everyone will stay in their complacency,” Mr. Jones said in an interview at his office in the Dove World Outreach Center. “Emotionally, it’s not all that easy. People have tried to make us responsible for the people who are killed. It’s unfair and somewhat damaging.”
This made me think of the following passage from Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.” Indeed, on balance it is difficult to look at Jones and think “Christ-like.”
As such, perhaps Mr. Jones ought to spent a bit more time reading his own holy book and not burning that of others.
Is Jones responsible for those who reacted with violence in Afghanistan? No. But he an hardly claim the mantle of “peacemaker.”
