STOCKHOLM: A man tore up and burned a Qur’an outside Stockholm’s central mosque on Wednesday, an event that risks angering Turkiye as Sweden bids to join NATO, after Swedish police granted permission for the protest to take place. Police later charged the man with agitation against an ethnic or national group. A series of demonstrations in Sweden against Islam and for Kurdish rights have offended Ankara, whose backing Sweden needs to gain entry to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Sweden sought NATO membership in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
How is it an incitement of violence and how is burning a religious text book racial hatred? It’s much more akin to how burning a US flag isn’t an incitement for violence against its citizen but rather an expression against the country itself or its ideals, or merely to express the freedom itself.
I think we’re all capable of recognising the important differences between burning a flag representing a particular state, or some aspect of its government or policies, and burning a Torah in front of a Synagogue, as happened frequently in Nazi Germany, or in this case burning a Qur’an in front of a Mosque.
It’s a hateful act designed to encourage hatred with the intention of turning that hatred into acts.
The person burning the Torah in front of a Synagogue is not saying “I disagree with the Torah’s rulings on x”, they’re saying "those who follow this religion are disgusting and we should do something about it."
The person who burns a LGBT pride flag is not saying “I think this movement oversteps the legitimate reach of the state”, they’re saying "those who are part of this group are disgusting and we should do something about it."
Same with the Qur’an.
It needlessly inflames tensions, encourages hatred and horrible acts towards Muslims, and both makes Muslims feel unsafe and directly contributes to making them unsafe. It’s not the sort of thing a decent, civilized society should tolerate.
A flag represents the state, religious text book represents the teachings of a religion, a pride flag represents the minorities.
Going out of your way to burn the book of a religious group in front of its gathering sites is obnoxious and counterproductive at best, and surely one could hold actual hatred along otherwise protected expression, but the religion itself and its teachings are not above criticism. As crude as burning a book may be, you’re inserting a lot of meaning in to it that just isn’t actually there.
How is it an incitement of violence and how is burning a religious text book racial hatred? It’s much more akin to how burning a US flag isn’t an incitement for violence against its citizen but rather an expression against the country itself or its ideals, or merely to express the freedom itself.
I think we’re all capable of recognising the important differences between burning a flag representing a particular state, or some aspect of its government or policies, and burning a Torah in front of a Synagogue, as happened frequently in Nazi Germany, or in this case burning a Qur’an in front of a Mosque.
It’s a hateful act designed to encourage hatred with the intention of turning that hatred into acts.
The person burning the Torah in front of a Synagogue is not saying “I disagree with the Torah’s rulings on x”, they’re saying "those who follow this religion are disgusting and we should do something about it."
The person who burns a LGBT pride flag is not saying “I think this movement oversteps the legitimate reach of the state”, they’re saying "those who are part of this group are disgusting and we should do something about it."
Same with the Qur’an.
It needlessly inflames tensions, encourages hatred and horrible acts towards Muslims, and both makes Muslims feel unsafe and directly contributes to making them unsafe. It’s not the sort of thing a decent, civilized society should tolerate.
A flag represents the state, religious text book represents the teachings of a religion, a pride flag represents the minorities.
Going out of your way to burn the book of a religious group in front of its gathering sites is obnoxious and counterproductive at best, and surely one could hold actual hatred along otherwise protected expression, but the religion itself and its teachings are not above criticism. As crude as burning a book may be, you’re inserting a lot of meaning in to it that just isn’t actually there.
In addition to all the good stuff the other guys says: BOOK BURNING HAS CONTEXT. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings?wprov=sfla1
It’s a single book, presumably purchased and owned by the person burning it. This is far out of context of cultural genocide.
Why do you think this person does this? Just because he/she can or maaaaayyyyybeeeee TO SEND A MESSAGE? A message that gets its meaning from history.