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The Burning of The Qu'ran and the Freedom to be NegativeSaturday, September 11, 2010 F.A. Hayek Institute of Canada Recently Pastor Terry Jones of a small 50 member church in Gainesville, Florida made headlines when he announced that his parishioners were planning to burn The Holy Qur'an on the ninth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Pastor Terry Jones' shocking "International Burn a Koran Day" is a reminder of the despicable and blatantly provocative acts that fundamentalists do to manufacture conflict. While the Pastor has cancelled this event for now, the issue and response from politicians is an excellent study in the importance of negative liberty and the absolute freedom from restrictions on expression and religion. Though there are more cerebral methods of criticizing Islam, and the very notion of burning a book is pathological to the foundations of Western democracy, Jones still has the right to undertake this exercise. While it would be foolish to conflate the spectacle Jones was set to engage in with events such as the nailing Luther's 95 Theses to the Wittenburg church door, it is important to remember that tolerance of all religious criticism is a hallmark of a free society. All this considered, the response from Sarah Palin, de-facto matriarch of the Tea Party has been, at best, a paradoxical and selective interpretation of the Lockean notion of liberty enshrined in the American constitution. The former vice-presidential nominee released a statement, saying that the [event] "will feed the fire of caustic rhetoric and appear as nothing more than mean-spirited religious intolerance". In the same statement she labeled the event an "unnecessary provocation" and equated it to "building a mosque at Ground Zero". The F.A. Hayek Institute of Canada believes freedom of speech as afforded to United States citizens through the freedoms of the First Amendment. While Pastor Terry Jones and his church have every lawful right to burn The Holy Qur'an, this abhorrent religious intolerance will serve as propaganda for Jihadists in Afghanistan and Iraq, similar to the photos that emerged from the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, inciting further attacks against coalition troops (including the Canadian Forces) in the respective theaters. In a press release by the Campaign for Liberty, Republican Congressman Ron Paul said: "General David Petraeus, our military commander in Afghanistan, strongly condemned Mr. Jones' plan, arguing it would be provocative, make his fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan more difficult and further jeopardize the lives of American soldiers. "I agree! This blame of all Muslims for the atrocities of 9/11 only makes things worse - especially since it wasn't the Taliban of Afghanistan that committed the atrocities on 9/11. Under Jones' warped logic, we should have attacked Saudi Arabia since 15 of the 19 suicide bombers came from that country." Countering this behavior with a message of condemnation while respecting Pastor Terry Jones' right to free speech is the proper way to respond. While the F.A. Hayek Institute of Canada is concerned about the geo-politics of a rise in Iranian influence in Shiite Iraq resulting from the withdrawal of American troops from the region, we see the strategy of a troop withdrawal as one which will produce the most favourable outcome.
F.A. Hayek Institute of Canada Copyright © 2010, F.A. Hayek Institute of Canada Inc. All Rights Reserved. |