Burnin'

Much has been made about the upcoming, planned Koran burning, set to occur here in Gainesville on Saturday, September 11th.

It is an unfortunate chapter for this fair town, once known for football, Gatorade, and the murder of 5 college students by a serial killer in 1990. I find the epsiode unfortunate for several reasons.

1. This is a small church of about 50 members. The pastor's influence is likely somewhat larger owing to his web presence. I feel comfortable making the assumption that just about any city of more than 100 thousand people has someone like this guy. It just so happens that our local crackpot is now the most well-known nut job in America.

2. The desire to demonstrate rejection of this church's plan has resulted in much wider exposure for their cause. The threats and negative reaction to their plan has been well-documented, but I bet that they have some new adherents who were unaware of them before a few weeks ago. They don't deserve this kind of spotlight. Media time is so hard to come by for GOOD causes, yet we devote hours of discussion to them?

I don't know anybody who has expressed support for this church or it's plan. A multi faith prayer meeting was held today to express unity and opposition to the plan. Are there people out there who support them? Of course, but they are a tiny fraction of the local populace and the nation at large.

My preferred method of handling this would have been to deny then the forum they are obviously seeking. Too late for that I guess.