Terry Jones, leader of Dove World Outreach Center, heeding the calls of worldwide condemnation, stated Thursday the Quran burning will not take place in Gainesville, Fla., on Sept. 11.
 
Outcries had erupted worldwide over the controversial bonfire throughout the week, with pleas for cancellation coming from top U.S. officials and religious leaders from nearly all faiths.
 
The primary concern from the West had been fear of radical Islamic rebuttal, which usually entails death and destruction.
 
And while it would be entirely legal to deface a sacred text in this country, or any book for that matter, should the book burning have taken place?
In short — absolutely not.
 
But, as indicated by this situation, moral guidelines aren’t universal and hold little sway over extremists.
 
We weren’t dealing with two faiths pitted against each other here. We were dealing with two minority sects of radicals.
 
On one side was a 50-member congregation in Florida, and on the other was a larger group of Islamofascists spread over several countries.
 
One side said, “We’ll burn your book because we don’t agree with it,” while the other proclaimed, “We’ll burn your country because we don’t agree with anything about you.”
 
And while it was disheartening to see people of “faith” seeking violence in the name of their deity, should we have bowed to either side?
 
Should U.S. citizens have stopped the burning ceremony, had it taken place, to prevent a violent retaliation from radical Islamic groups?
 
Absolutely not — we don’t negotiate with terrorists.
 
But for all future fundamentalist endeavors, what could have happened had the Quran burning taken place?
 
Among radical Islamic groups, American flags would have burned and chants of “Death to America” would have undoubtedly rang out in the streets as they had been throughout this past week. As for the long-term effects, we can’t be certain. Soldiers lives may have been at risk — but that’s nothing new in a region that despises our presence.
 
In the end, learning opportunities abound for each side.
 
Islam extremists had the unique opportunity to realize the insignificance of the Dove Outreach Center’s actions, and could have dismissed them as such — though this seems unlikely under any circumstance.
 
The peaceful majority of Muslims, as the true voice of Islam, had a chance to further separate themselves from their crazed and violent brothers and sisters of the faith.
 
And U.S. Christians, realizing firsthand that a small group of radicals don’t, in fact, speak for an entire faith, had the chance to join with their Muslim neighbors in condemning an act of ignorance and misguided hatred — whether it be flying planes into towers or burning sacred texts.
 
Andrew Robertson is a 23-year-old English writing and culture senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_Arobertson.
 
 
 
 
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Contact Andrew Robertson at [email protected]