“We’re praying for rain and snow and anything else that can cause a problem.” ~ Andrew Brenner

There has been much in the news this week about 9/11 as we approach the 9th anniversary of that tragedy. However, apparently, prejudice and hatred is not a lesson we learned.

Lest you think that not true, the pastor (and I use the term loosely) from an evangelical fundamentalist church in Gainesville Florida is here to prove us all wrong.

On Saturday, he and his congregants will set some 200 copies of the Qur’an on fire to honor the 2,996 people who died that day. Perhaps this misguided pastor needs a reminder that the deceased represented more than 90 countries, some of whom were Muslim.

I truly wonder what Bible this church is using in their worship practices, because the one that I use calls for us to be “a light shining on a hill” and encourages us to “love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.” I do not believe that setting the Qur’an on fire is the kind of light Jesus was speaking about nor does that act show any love, mercy, or concern for anyone.

This is, I suppose, what happens when we allow the Glenn Beck’s and Rush Limbaugh’s of the world to spew their brand of filth and lies. Oh, yes, I know we all have the glorious right of “freedom of speech” yet I do not believe that freedom should come at the expense of others. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion go hand in hand, you cannot have one without the other. If you limit one, all should be limited.

We now have a nation with growing factions who believe the doubts about President Obama’s citizenship and they likewise question his faith. The adage of a “sucker being born every minute” never has been more true than it is today in America.

It is my hope to see people of every faith, creed, and color in our great nation join in unity as we all pause and remember those who died on 9/11 and I do not know about you, but I am praying for a monsoon to pour a little water on Gainesville on Saturday.

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