Obviously, Terry Jones needs to be educated in many things. PHOTO: affinity1
But, I won't go into the particulars of that here. In fact, this is probably the most opinionated I've allowed myself to be on this weblog. It blows my mind that this man cares nothing about the soldiers he could be endangering in Afghanistan or for the majority of Muslim people who do not believe in committing terrorist acts. His actions do a disservice to Christianity and I'm willing to bet that the majority of Christians do not want to be associated with him any more than true Muslims want to be associated with terrorism.
The disrespect and disregard Jones has shown for others, however, does accomplish one positive thing: His actions do an excellent job of showing what being uninformed and closed-minded can do. In fact, CBS News reports that Jones admits most of his knowledge of Islam comes from You Tube videos. Nice. Where does he pull the information for his sermons from...Mad Magazine?
Truthfully, many of us, while we may know bits and pieces about religions outside of our own, could probably stand to learn more. Many kids, while learning about their own spirituality, tend to ask questions about other religions. This comparing and contrasting is a great learning opportunity, especially since a well-rounded education leads to an open mind, which often breeds a higher level of tolerance for other opinions. However, many parents (myself included) come up short with some of the answers to our children's questions.
That's why I finally did a bit of research to find answers. I chose sources that I found as unbiased as possible. I hope you'll find them useful:
Religionfacts.com
The BBC website has an in-depth page on facts about religions.
BeliefNet.com
