Does NOT burning the Qu’ran protect soldiers?

Let’s dispatch from the start one dark cloud over this whole discussion: Terry Jones and his Qu’ran-burning stunt more resemble a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail than it resembles orthodox Christianity.

The sad reality is that while the witch trial in Monty Python was an entertaining spoof, Jones’ “Qu-ran trial” is neither entertaining nor satire, and instead reveals an all-too-real distortion of biblical Christianity.

Even so, the naivete in the media’s insistence that burning a Qu’ran in Florida justifies the slaughter of humans in Afghanistan is astonishing, and, we should begin to suspect, reveals its outright fear.

Top military brass also pleaded with Americans to cease activity such as Jones’s, and while the plea was broadcast on national media, one suspects that the request was made directly to a small church in the State of Florida. According to that official, burning the Qu’ran in Florida endangers soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan. Yet when we consider that soldiers on the ground are in danger by definition, it is difficult to imagine that a bit of fire and smoke and a holy book an ocean away truly increases the degree of risk posed to American military.

What this should reveal to non-Muslims everywhere is the nature of present-day Islam. As John Piper and Denny Burk have said elsewhere, there is a fundamental difference between it and Christianity. In Islam, desecration of the holy book on a different continent justifies the slaughter of soldiers from the same country, soldiers who do not smell of smoke.

Christian Bibles are destroyed or confiscated or mistreated every day.Yet we do not see Christians taking revenge on others for it, or the “Christian government” denouncing the action. Christians are imprisoned, persecuted and murdered every day. Yet we do not see Christian taking hostiges and beheading people, or the “Christian government” even expressing concern about the fact.

What explains the difference in the response of the two religions?

What explains the deference that Western governments and media give to Islam, the “religion of peace”? It is becoming apparent that the respective treatment that religions receive is in direct proportion to the degree of fear that they instill.