"The president of the Pakistani bishops' conference has called for the arrest of a U.S. Protestant pastor whose decision to burn the Islamic sacred book has caused fury in the Muslim world and the deaths of more than 20 people.
Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, conference president, said the U.S. government should seek to diffuse mounting tensions by detaining the Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center Church in Gainesville, Fla., who oversaw the burning of the Quran by the Rev. Wayne Sapp, his assistant.
"The U.S. government should detain the pastor for some time," Archbishop Saldanha told the British branch of Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity for persecuted Christians around the world."
Catholic News Agency
I'm curious. What exactly does the good bishop think that Rev. Jones should be arrested for? Burning the Koran may be provocative, it might be stupid and it was probably simply an act of self promotion. But illegal? Hardly. The act itself harmed no one and didn't damage another's property. It didn't offend the natural law rights of another; in fact it was an exercise of the natural law right to freedom of expression and religion that the pastor possesses as a part of his humanity.
It's frightening how quickly a bishop is willing to excuse the truly horrendous, immoral and illegal behavior of the Muslim rioters and to then turn around and place the blame on an innocent man.
I have some questions that I'd love to hear the bishop answer. When Christian missionaries are arrested and executed for the crime of preaching the Gospel, are they guilty of causing their own deaths? If a person hands out Bibles in a Muslim country and is killed because of that, who should be arrested? The killers or the church leader that sent the person in the first place? If the bishop sends someone to preach the gospel and riots erupt because of it, should the bishop be arrested? Or, in the bishops way of thinking, is the preservation of peace and ecumenism so important that he wouldn't send the missionary or preach the Gospel in the first place?
Just wondering.
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The bishop is afraid of Muslim retaliation against himself and his flock by Pakistani Islamic fanatics for what "Pastor" Terry did in burning a copy of the Koran. I understand his fear, but we have to be willing to stand up for Christ in spite of such fear. I don't agree with the self-promotional tactics of that fundamentalist minister in Florida. But the bishop should take a lesson from Paul and Barnabas in the Acts of the apostles. There's no room for the timid in Heaven. You're either for Jesus or not. I understand fear. But where's the power of the Spirit that the bishop is supposed to exemplify?
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It seems that this is a deliberately formed opinion that violates God's laws in an effort to protect himself and his flock.
ReplyDeleteI understand the fear and I hope and pray that if I ever have to confront something like this I can muster up the courage to do what's right.
But none of that excuses the bishop, a prelate of Holy Mother Church, from distorting the truth. The criminals in this instance are the Muslims, not Pastor Jones. He's just an a self aggrandizing ringmaster that has inadvertently or purposely set the Muslim world on fire.
He can only be held accountable if chaos was his goal.
I think this bishop is a wuss. Our church sed to burn heretical books all the time. Pastor Jones may indeed be a self-promoting fool, but at least he doesn't kiss the Koran like one misguilded churchman did years ago. The Koran is anti-christ and those who believe it will run the risk of hellfire. Burn it before it leads many more souls to hell!
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