Terry Jones, an obscure pastor from an obscure congregation, has hit national headlines with his recent plans to hold a Quran burning. News outlets from The Daily Show to CNN and FOX have covered the topic. There is concern, even from the White House, that burning these books might put troops or Americans, at home or abroad, at risk. It is unfortunate that such a small and misguided group has been given such a large voice on the national landscape. Fortunately, however, most people who weigh in on the issue (The Daily Show, especially) seem to emphatically disagree with Terry Jones and his church. As an atheist, I understand the sentiment of wanting to burn holy books, but it gives me flashbacks of Fahrenheit 451. Religion should lose in the war of ideas, but it should not lose from tactics like destruction of information — it should lose when all cards are on the table and in open daylight. Religion, of all things, deserves the middle finger more often than not; this is not the way to do it. Burning books, is at worst an attempt to eradicate a position from collective human thought (which should never be done, however vile that position may be), and at best is combating an issue metaphorically through what it represents. One should not employ something so metaphorically detestable (book burning) as a tactic to metaphorically challenge a detestable position. Maybe I think too highly of books; I have trouble even writing in the ones I own.
Update: No Koran burning, but activists gather outside US church
