The source escapes me. But the quote is worthy of proverb status: "Fighting fire with fire only builds a bigger fire."
No doubt, this is what Gainesville, Fla., pastor Terry Jones hopes to achieve, literally and figuratively.
Jones, of the Dove World Outreach Center, is appealing to like-minded brethren with hate in their hearts to join him in celebrating the anniversary of 9/11 on Saturday by burning copies of the Holy Koran (Qu'ran), Islam's equivalent of the Bible and the Jewish Torah.
Jones considers the Qu'ran blasphemous to Christians. And how, one might ask, should Muslims regard Jones' burning of their holy book?
Once again, an imbecile cloaking himself in self-righteousness proves that religion can be used to inflict the worst of humankind's verbal and physical violence on others. No faith is exempt from charlatans, con men, self-anointed demonic "messengers of the Lord," murderers, terrorists or sexual predators. Jones is merely a wretched reminder that creeps infiltrate religion and exploit it for evil.
Pastor Jones' 9/11 scheme is not the first demonstration of his deep-rooted antipathy toward the Christian ethos of brotherhood. Jones has locked arms in demonstrations with Pastor Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church parishioners from Kansas in staging "God Hates Fags" protests at the funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers that these vile people call God's way of punishing homosexuality.
Jones also detests Jews and assures anyone who'll listen that identifying black people with the "N" word is wholly acceptable.
So, this is a fair portrait of the man who would demean the scripture of Islam.
Jones' "Burn a Koran Day" stunt will not achieve his apparent goal to punish the world's 1.57 billion Muslims (2.8 million in the United States) for the 9/11 deeds of a handful of Muslims.
However, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. David Petraeus fear deadly backlashes against GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Muslim protests already have begun.
Happily, intelligent figures in virtually every religion also have appealed to Jones to cancel Saturday's stunt, not only to avoid repercussions but out of respect for Muslims. In other words, out of common decency, unfortunately a stranger to the exhibitionist impulses of Jones.
The hope is that thinking Muslims will understand Jones is not representative of any faith, but only a deranged extremist. True exemplars of the Christian faith are those defending Islam and urging Jones to back away from his perilously provocative incitement to violence.
