In this world of instant global communication and 24-hour news cycles, it only takes one nut to set off an explosive chain reaction with worldwide implications.
I’m not talking about a nuclear blast or a repeat of 9/11, just a lethal disregard for everything this nation is supposed to represent.
An obscure, pistol-packing Florida “preacher” named Terry Jones with a reputation for irresponsible agitation and a congregation of 50 has touched off a furor over a planned religious obscenity that has the possibility of seriously increasing the threat to forces stationed in the Middle East.
He plans to burn Qurans to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11.
That is unless after “praying” on the matter he heeds the warnings of those like Gen. David Petraeus that troops in Iraq and Afghanistan would be endangered by the leader of this miniscule sect of self-styled evangelicals in Gainesville with the grandiose name of the Dove World Outreach Center.
Even if Jones does back down, it may be too late to repair the damage.
There already have been protest demonstrations in Kabul and other places where Jones has been hanged in effigy amid cries of death to America and Americans. Muslim radicals everywhere are delighted.
Wonderful! Exactly what our officials needed as they prepare to reopen peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians while at the same time conducting the withdrawal from Iraq and minimizing the Taliban.
The White House, State department and a host of religious officials, including evangelical leaders, have vehemently denounced Jones’ plans.
In the days before the Internet, the chances are that he wouldn’t have caused much more than a ripple. Most news organizations would have considered his aberrational conduct simply the act of a messianic nitwit seeking publicity. They would have been correct in that assessment.
But in today’s hypersensitive religious environment even threatened acts of utter disrespect are blown into huge proportions, picking up hurricane force as the news circles the globe.
Let’s face it. Anti-Muslim sentiment is growing here. Many Americans see Islam as a religion united in its goal to conduct jihad against infidels, most of whom have more freedom than anywhere else. It is, of course, a natural aftermath of 9/11 and a continuing fear of terrorism.
But that attitude also contains an element of intolerance that is wrongheaded and dangerous and violates our concept of religious freedom.
Jones apparently regards all Muslims as devil worshippers.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims are peace loving, productive citizens who condemn the extremists who make up al-Qaeda and similar terrorist organizations that have brought so much shame on their religion.
One would be hard put to imagine anything more blasphemous or inflammatory than the burning of any holy book, whether the Bible, the Torah or the Quran.
Sadly, this pipsqueak of a zealot has the right under our laws to carry this out. But even to consider doing so marks him as completely unfaithful to Christianity. He seems clearly to know very little about his own religion or he would understand that tolerance and respect are cornerstones, just as in the Islamic faith.
There is certainly some irony in all this. Burning sacred books would fit nicely with the twisted interpretation of the Quran used by jihadists and radical clerics to justify the most barbarous acts, including the killing and persecution of women and children.
Whether Jones realizes it or not, he is closer to the concepts of the Taliban than his own religion.
It seems to me Jones desperately needs to find a new calling. It is sad that in this “brave” new world we can’t just ignore him.
Dan K. Thomasson is former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.