Is there any acceptable justification for the burning of a religious scripture? How about endangering the lives from countless U.S. soldiers in Iraq? What about risking a possible war between the U.S. and Middle East?

These are the questions that immediately came to my mind when I heard that a pastor from Gainesville, Florida was planning to burn Qurans in a bonfire on the ninth anniversary of Sept.11. Pastor Terry Jones proclaimed in July that he would stage an ‘International Burn-a-Quran Day’. These premeditated actions have sparked a heated mix of encouragement and international outcries of protest.

The combination of the building of a New York Islamic

Center just 2 miles from Ground Zero, and the impending ninth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the U.S. further fuels Jones’s burning of the Qurans. Jones’s undertaking has encouraged people to send him several copies of the Quran in their support. But it has also caused key figures such as president Barrack Obama, Interpol, the Gainesville mayor, the UN secretary general, the US and NATO commander in the Afghan capital, the Vatican, and even the Pope, to speak out against the act.

Obama has warned that the number of people willing to fight for Al-Qaeda will increase if the burning is carried out. He warns that “this is a recruitment bonanza for Al-Qaeda.” I don’t understand why Jones would want to go through with the burning when he knows that these dire warnings coming from important political figures are almost certain to happen.

I believe that Jones’ motives behind the incineration of the Qurans are more for publicity than for any strong religious or patriotic beliefs. If he goes through with it, his actions will most likely be televised, whether by cell phones and uploaded to Youtube or national televised by news stations. This is nothing but bad news. Jones’s act will not be perceived by the world as an act that the U.S. government could not prevent because of the freedoms of speech and religion promised in the Constitution. It won’t look like an exploit they could not prevent because of their democratic government. It will be seen as the burning of a religion’s holy book that the U.S. government did not care to stop, or maybe even consented to. And the videos that might be made of the burning could be used by Al Qaeda to influence and recruit young boys into becoming suicide bombers.

His undertaking is outraging people all around the world, and if he goes through with it, there is a high chance that it could ignite another war. We already have soldiers in Iraq, and during the government’s years of attempting to pull them out of Iraq, countless have died. Now Jones’s act will risk many more lives, and even the entire nation as a whole. The anger from the burning will increase Middle Eastern hatred for the U.S., and risk another attack on the nation- just like that of Sept. 11.

Does it make sense that an act meant to speak out against previous terrorist attacks could possibly ignite another series of violence to our nation? I am not the most patriotic person, but this is scary. This man’s act would risk the safety of the nation and of its citizens.

However as of Sept. 9, Jones’s proclaimed that he would ‘suspend’ the burnings, but not cancel them. He claimed that Imam Musri, the head of the construction of the Muslim Community Center, agreed to move the building of the Islamic center away from Ground Zero. However, Musri asserts that he made no such promise, and that Jones simply “stretched his words.”

Jones is going around and around with his decisions and trying to keep people on the edge of their seats. It’s so stupid. Why are we giving this man the publicity that is obviously the only thing he desires? He said that “God would want us to do it” and that it is for the American people. His decisions are rash and unnecessary, regardless of how he feels about the building of the Muslim center, and if he is truly driven by the motives that he claims, he should think of the wellbeing of the nation and stop this.