OK, Let's Go Over This Question Again, Slowly, So Even Fundamentalists Can Understand It

Burning books is a reprehensible thing to do, even if you are convinced the books you are burning are reprehensible. OldSouth has been over this with ya'll once already.

OS, like so many, was cradle-born Southern Baptist (No longer, but still a conservative Protestant. Another story, another day perhaps.) What that meant was, that every child learned his Bible, front to back. We had Sword Drill on Sunday nights, when the teacher would call a chapter and verse and we little ones would scurry to find the passage first in our copies of the King James Bible (which, of course, was the one written by the Almighty Himself, for the benefit of all English-speaking and right-thinking people everywhere). We knew that book cold, and OS is forever grateful to all those adults who gave so much of their time and energy to make certain that happened.

Never, not once, does the Good Book ever endorse burning books. Golden calves, yes. The Prophets of Baal fared pretty badly at the hands of Elijah on Mount Horeb if memory serves. Our Lord, in his days upon earth, did have his words eventually recorded by his followers. There's a good bit of overlap in the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew/Mark/Luke), and nope, not one endorsement of burning books one takes offense at. The Master directed his most acid words at bankers, lawyers, and fundamentalist legalistic nutter clergy types--the type who prey upon the emotions, hopes and finances of humble people. In the end, they got together to perform judicial murder upon Him, proving His point in the process.

This last week, against all sane advice, it appears a nutter preacher in Florida staged a Koran barbecue. In America, that's protected Free Speech. Black-letter law, no argument about it. In Afghanistan, some other nutter decided the response to that should be to stage a suicide bombing, and kill a bunch of UN aid workers. That's murder, and unspeakable tragedy.

And there is no excuse for it. Period. Even if the Florida nutter incinerates a thousand Korans. It's ink on paper, just like those KJV's we used in Sword Drill in that Breeko-block little church. The content matters, not the newsprint.

But what OS wishes to repeat, for all who might read, is this: The Florida nutter is exercising his American right to Free Speech. That doesn't make him a Christian, and what he did was not a Christian act, in any possible definition of the word. It was done to draw attention to himself, to piss people off, to create headlines and controversy. Our Lord did not behave that way, except on one occasion, for very specific reason, and never out of malice. He did not endorse that method of operating in the world, nor did any of his immediate circle, when it came time for them to write down their accounts.

The nutter set a tragic chain of events into motion, giving another nutter an insane pretext to commit a foul act of mass murder. Florida Nutter did not 'cause' Afghan Nutter to commit murder, but he certainly helped set the stage.

Whatever this nutter in Florida is, he is not Christian. This is not the practice of Christianity. He is a heretic, plain and simple.

And a nutter. (Did OS mention that already?)

And heresy always, in the end, breeds tragedy.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: A Heroine For Our Age

Unlike most Fridays, this one will be wall-to-wall busy. OS does try to set aside the day for his two great passions, Mrs. OS and golf. Mrs. OS is away, the temps will top 100 degrees F, and OS is way behind on his work. He'll tell that story another day...

But, the day should not pass without sharing something that may contribute to the lives of his readers. OS views his hobby as a form of creative revenge upon the new barbarians who wish to kill off our culture.

So, a CBC interview with one of the bravest, most articulate women on the planet: Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She made a courageous and fateful decision in 1992 to escape the fate of an arranged marriage engineered by her Somali father. The rest is history.

The interview is 45 minutes long, in-depth, and well worth the time invested.

OS, if you haven't guessed, is a conservative, Christian, traditional sort of guy. But, he has a passion that young women not be boxed in, have their opportunities foreclosed, by the religious wackiness of parents. It's a real problem here in the South. It's eerie, listening to Ms. Ali, because what she describes from her Somali childhood is what OS encounters here. Fundamentalism kills--soul and body. Grace, love and faith foster life, and make all things possible. OS cites Paul's benediction at the close of Ephesians 2 as the very heart of the Christian message.
Look it up, if you feel so inspired.

Grab a cup of coffee, and give her a listen: