Talk Elections

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It amazes me that when a rogue pastor (whose church is about 15 minutes from where I live) announces he will burn Korans- he is universally condemned as a hateful bigot

Meanwhile- there is a debate about flag burning in this country. Most of the same folks who get all pissy pantsed about the Koran being burnt are the first to defend the rights of protesters to burn the flag that drapes the coffins of those killed defending their right to do so... I see no universal condemnation or any major national figure raising a fuss over the Occupy protesters burning our flag

For the record- I don't defend Koran burning. I see it as unnecessary incitement of hatred and puts our service members at risk... but it is free speech assuming it was purchased and is owned by the people burning it

My question is this- if you find burning the Koran wrong- why is burning my flag ok?

The Koran is the holy text of a religion and a symbol of faith for billions.

The US flag is the symbol of an artificial construct.

To atheists religion is an artificial construct as well. And to nationalists the flag is "holy"/sacrosant and a symbol of their faith in the nation.
So its a false dichotomy, since nationalism is basically a secular religion.

Both are wrong, because it's nothing more than real-life trolling.  I guess it should still be allowed though; freedom of expression and so forth.

Woah you're in North Central FL?! I'm in Gainesville.
Anyways, I can care less what Pastor Terry Jones wanted to burn. There's no law saying he can't burn it but there's consequences that will happen, same thing with flag burning. However, I think he should be free to burn whatever he wants whether it's the flag or The Koran.

Neither would be big issues if the media didn't give them so much attention.

The symbolic / sacred relevance of both objects are socially constructed. However, whereas the burning of the Koran is liable to further strain relations between people of the States and West Asia while driving a wedge between culturally distinct social groups - posing a threat to the civic nationalism which arguably underlies American solidarity - I think that when Americans burn the flag of their country it is more indicative of strong dissent to public policy or the current regime in power. It is a distasteful form of protest and lacks tact in my opinion but on the whole expresses ill-will toward a government or its actions rather than all Americans in general. The burning of a U.S. flag by non-Americans is more offensive. Nonetheless, folks who desecrate sacred symbols obviously have reasons for doing so. Those ought to be studied and discussed in an empathetic, open-minded manner rather than met with immediate, knee-jerk condemnation.

I'm in Newberry- are you a student?

Both are disrespectful actions which should be completely legal.

There is a difference between something being illegal and something being generally viewed as wrong by most of society. It's "wrong" to burn a Koran but it shouldn't be illegal. It's "wrong" to burn a flag but it shouldn't be illegal. It's wrong to say you're going to meet someone for lunch and then never show up, but that shouldn't be illegal.

Yeah Im a 3rd year Chem-E major at UF.

This ^^^^^^  Inks should infract them 10 points a book/flag :)

Burning the Koran puts a lot more people's lives in jeopardy.

I'm not going to condemn or defend either. It's really just trolling and I personally don't care if a bible or a koran or a flag is burned. Of course burning a koran does put a lot of troops in harms way for no good reason and that's a good reason to condemn that idiot in your state.

I agree with the majority here, burning either is "wrong" but shouldn't be illegal.

To equate the Koran with a flag is deeply insulting.

I personally resent people who burn things like Korans and flags and Bibles and whatnot and I don't believe that one action should be seen as any "less bad" or more justified than the other, but just plain being a dick shouldn't be illegal.

I guess the question to ask Clarence would be whether he thinks burning a bible is worse than the flag, or the same. And if it's worse, then why isn't burning the Koran worse as well.

Neither offends me in the slightest.


The two aren't really comparable actually, the status of the Koran in Islam and its nature has reasons why burning it would be far more offensive to Muslims than burning the Bible is to Christians, though even if I were Muslim I doubt I'd get too bent out of shape over Koran burning. I see being offended by desecration of any symbol (outside of the stupidity and nature of it just being real life trolling) to be essentially idolatry.

Precisely

Maybe to you and your friends, but to the rest of us (and more importantly, the law), it's just a book.  Thankfully it's not against the law to insult someone.Indeed, but we shouldn't ban things because asshats might get violent.  It would set a bad precedent.

You should be free to burn your own flags or Korans or Bibles wherever and whenever wouldn't be a fire or smoke hazard.

Personally I find burning a Koran more offensive than burning a US flag for two reasons:

1. The Koran is a book. A book is a container of ideas and knowledge. Even if the contents of a particular book are wrong, factually or morally, I believe there is an intrinsic good to having a free marketplace of ideas where they can compete on their merits. As such book burning just feels kind of wrong.

2. The US flag is supposed to be a symbol of freedom. Freedom to the extent that you have the freedom to burn that symbol. Some flag burners happen to actually love the country, so the action also tends to have a much difference context than Koran burning.

Neither should be illegal provided you own the actual object, of course.

Obviously the stakes are much higher for Muslims when a Koran is burned than for Americans when their flag is burned.

Here's an example of why being offended by either is silly:

On my iPod Touch I have a Bible app, and an election news app where the icon is an American flag. Would it therefore be offensive to restore my iPod? Or not to do so but delete either app? See how silly that would be?

On this issue, I'm just glad there's 30-50 million conservative Christians out there constantly reminding me how nobody talks about Bible burning.

I don't see anyone here making an argument on the basis that they are the same thing.

Both are unabashedly immature.