Some late notes on the whole Qur’an burning thing

In no particular order:

1. Rev. Jones got way freaking too much attention.  He was, ironically, like those crowds on “the Muslim street” who caterwaul and burn flags as soon as the cameras come out.  Hopefully he has attained his 15 minutes of fame and will now sink into deserved obscurity.
2. I note my own measure of responsibility in the above.
3. Just as Rev. Jones and his supporters should be aware that their actions do not serve the cause of America being a home of liberty or Christianity being a religion of love, the “Muslim street” ought to be aware that burning flags and issuing fatwas of death over Rev. Jones’ actions do not serve the cause of Islam as a religion of peace well.
4. Sorry folks — we don’t arrest people in the US for being rude or offensive or stupid or counter-productive, per se.  I think that’s more of a feature than a bug in our system, but it’s one that a lot of people (internationally in particular, but not solely) just don’t get.
5. People who don’t hold sacred what you hold sacred are not obliged to do so because of your claims that it is sacred.  Trying to impose your view of the sacred on all others and hold them responsible for acting in that fashion is profoundly selfish.
6. If you claim you’re not being selfish, but that you’re doing it for God — do you really think God is lessened by the actions of any mortal?  Is Allah less great because someone burns a Qur’an or draws a cartoon of Mohammed?  Is Yahweh less the Father because someone burns a Bible or desecrates some holy item? (Christians, consider the meaning of Mark 2:27.)  No, the offense is your own, not God’s — and if God is offended, God will deal with it as God sees fit (Romans 12:19).
7. People who assume that, just because they don’t hold something sacred they have no social responsibility to acknowledge and respect that others do, are also being selfish.  Are your emotional connections to things (or ideas) so rarefied and logical and utilitarian that you don’t get offended or peeved or insulted by anything save that which causes you physical harm or discomfort?  Really?  If someone takes a crap on your mother’s grave, are you only miffed because of the public sanitation aspects?
8. Nobody has a right not to be offended. Trying to pass a law to that effect never ends well, because you will inevitably end up offending someone else and being hoist on your own petard.  Unfortunately, the quickest to take offense are often the least likely to realize this.
9. Intentionally and publicly offending people to “send a message” (that you don’t care whether they are offended, that your side is smarter / holier / more powerful than theirs, whatever) doesn’t make you mighty and righteous. It makes you a dick.  And if you claim to be doing it in Jesus’ name, reread your Matthew 7:12 /Luke 6:31.
10. Respect doesn’t mean obedience or surrender; it means considering and valuing the feelings of others, just as (to go back to the two Bible passages above) you would hope others would consider and value your own.  That isn’t an absolute moral imperative — sometimes apparent disrespect and giving offense necessary, to break someone out of their shell or as an unfortunate side effect of a more beneficial purpose.  But it’s not trivial, either.
11. Folks, we’re all stuck here on this planet together.  Can we please figure out how to get along without spending so much of our time and energy offending and/or being offended?