Is it morally wrong to burn the Qur'an?

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This, unfortunately, is EXACTLY the problem...

it is perfectly o.k. to burn any book you own provided the applicable fire safety regulations are observed.

That includes Bibles and copies of the Q'ran and the Encyclopedia Britainica


ruveyn

It means that they should fly to a country that is more amenable to their beliefs.

I don't think I would ever burn any book, but I definitely can't imagine myself inciting religious hatred by burning a Qur'an. Burning a Qur'an is equally hateful to all Muslims, not just the few who use Islam as an excuse to hurt others. As for what others do, that's their right to free speech and it's not up to me to decide what they should or shouldn't do with a Qur'an.

I think it might hurt my Muslim family members if I burned a Qur'an, but of all the Muslims I know, I've never heard anyone condone violence in any situation so I wouldn't be concerned with retaliation so much as the pain I would be inflicting if I burned a Qur'an. I find them being religious at all to be an unfortunate situation, I am not sure why religion is needed in order to compel one to act in a way that is respectful and peaceful to others, but it works for them.

In any case, the Qur'an doesn't present Islam as being strictly pacifist, though it does have a lot of guidelines for when and how Muslims are permitted to use violence. It also says that Muslims are to be respectful to non-Muslims and take measures to live peacefully side by side with non-Muslims. The Qur'an definitely isn't a book that can be understood by looking at three arbitrary pages and selecting arbitrary passages.(which, to be fair, is true of most books) To get to the real schizophrenic heart of it you would have to read it all in context and even then I think you'd be surprised by how internally consistent the schizophrenic ramblings of a 6th century miser-cum-warlord are.

No.

It's just another book.

Redacted

Last edited by nat4200 on 21 Apr 2012, 1:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

Could it be the same reason Muslims stick around? There is an advantage to staying put for people belonging to growing religions that do not rule out force as a means of dominating nations they inhabit. People who belong to those religions may say they value peace, and many of those who pay lip service to valuing peace might genuinely value peace. But when the attacks begin, will they really stand up and help defend their unbelieving compatriots against foreign attack if those attackers belong to the same religion? Or will they simply look away since they'll have no need to convert to that religion and since they already submit to it?

I don't think it's morally wrong to burn the Koran, the Bible, the Torah, the flag, etc, as long as the one you are burning belongs to you. Sure, it's offensive to those who believe in whichever book, or those who feel patriotism toward whichever country, but it's no more morally wrong than insulting someone.

Just because I feel strongly about something does not mean that others have to feel the same way. Also, if a particular God gets offended by the burning of the holy book, then wouldn't that God be able to avenge it himself? It's ridiculous to go all nuts over bound paper with ink on it, or cloth sewn in a particular pattern. It's an object that represents a concept, not the concept itself.

Muslims, Christians, Jews, whatever, religions should not get special treatment, at all

The actual of act of lighting a book on fire, no biggie. Where the moral implications bother me is the use of the act of book burning to convey an absolute contempt of something that many people hold sacred. You start getting into the black/white us vs them conflict mindset, which is partially how the terrorists are recruiting their countrymen in the first place. So, maybe not illegal, just stupid and blindsided.

No more stupid than murdering 5 people who were not involved in the book-burning in revenge for the book-burning.

Actually, the entire concept of murder-for-revenge is just plain stupid.

I probably hold the Qur'an more in contempt than the who are people burning it do. However, I wouldn't burn it myself, because I care too much about Muslims as people to go about needlessly upsetting them.

It's not a moral issue.

I hold any religious fundamentalists in contempt for the most part.

Of course it's not morally wrong as long as you own the book. You should legally be able to destroy and dispose of your own property.

If a schizophrenic believes Harry Potter is revealed truth from the planet Xijnab, that's not really my problem either. He'll need to adapt to the world or get locked up.

What, you mean it isn't?