Garth George writes that the bigot who plans to burn the Koran shows that religious leaders of any faith can be serving Satan.
When I was a teenager, a respected elder of the Methodist Church in which I was involved, said to me: "If you want to know where the devil is most active, look first in the pulpit."
I didn't really understand, but it wasn't too many years later I began to understand and today, as the third millennium anno domini proceeds, I comprehend fully what my old mentor was saying.
As a Christian friend of mine observed the other day when I shared this piece of wisdom with him: "Where else would he be? That's where he can do the most damage."
I understand, too, this does not apply just to the Christian Church, but to the other two God-centred religions - Islam and Judaism - as well.
In Christianity in recent times we have seen plenty of satanic work in the priestly paedophilia scandal that has bedevilled the Catholic Church. In this country that church has not been alone: the Salvation Army has suffered through the depredations of one of its officers; and then there's that parson-turned-politician Graham Capill.
The damage done to Christ's church throughout this nation and the world has been incalculable, yet the perpetrators are only an infinitesimal number of the millions of devout, decent, dedicated, hard-working ministers of the gospel whose untiring efforts bring salt and light to bear on the putrefaction and darkness that besets the modern world.
In the past week or so, one man, Terry Jones, of the Dove World Outreach Centre, a so-called "church" in Gainesville, Florida, has, by his decision to burn copies of the Koran on September 11 this year, ignited a fresh conflagration in Christian-Muslim relations.
This pig-ignorant bigot, who presides over an "independent" (read unsupervised) "Christian" congregation of about 50 in a metropolitan area of some 250,000, obviously has no idea of what the gospel of Christ is about and no conception of the damage he is doing, not to Islam but to Christianity.
As Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention, put it: "I think it is appalling, disgusting and brainless ... [Jones' actions] besmirch the reputation of our Saviour, and that makes it blasphemy."
And Rick Moore, writing in the blog site Holy Coast: "How does this little stunt possibly advance the cause of Christ or show God's love to Muslims? It doesn't. It's a stunt by someone who has more hate in his foolish heart than anything else and serves no purpose other than to inflame passions. It's a shame this guy calls himself a Christian because he gives the rest of us - and the God he claims to serve - a bad name."
Let's hope that the Gainesville Fire Department, which has denied Jones a permit for his bonfire (which he intends to defy), will turn their high-pressure hoses on him and his cohorts before they can ignite what could become a worldwide backlash by Muslim extremists - fanatics just like Jones.
Yet, if there is a Muslim backlash, the main damage will be to the Islamic religion, for it, too, suffers worldwide from the depredations of a minuscule minority of its leaders - the extremist imams and mullahs who preach hatred and murder from their pulpits - and misguide many adherents.
In contrast, according to the website islamreligion.com, the teachings of Islam "act as a mercy and a healing for the human soul, and such qualities as humility, sincerity, patience and charity are strongly encouraged".
Additionally, Islam condemns pride and self-righteousness, since "Almighty God is the only judge of human righteousness".
Judaism, too, has its tiny minority of nasty rabbinical bigots who use their pulpits to foment enmity. This week, one influential Israeli rabbi sermonised on Israeli radio that God should strike the Palestinians and their leader with a plague.
"All these evil people should perish from this Earth," said he, ignoring that God himself commanded him and all his faithful to "love thy neighbour as thyself". To my knowledge there was no qualification, such as "but only if he believes/behaves the same way you do".
Christianity, Islam and Judaism are irretrievably incompatible but that is no reason for them to be constantly at odds with one another. They should all be concentrating on getting their own houses in order.
Christians, of whom I am one, need to listen to the Apostle Peter, who, in 1 Peter, chapter 3, told us how we should relate to other cultures.
"Finally, all of you," he wrote, "live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing ... But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience ..." Christians please note: That's "everyone who asks you."
garth.george@hotmail.com
