18
votes
Quran burning and requests to approve the destruction of more holy books have left Sweden torn between its commitment to free speech and its respect for religious minorities
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- Published
- Jul 5 2023
- Word count
- 952 words
It's surprising to me that the actions of the few is a dilemma for the state.
Let them burn the books, it doesn't reflect your own stance in the slightest. Uphold your own nation's laws by allowing it, but if you really have to, denounce it for being disrespectful.
Which is my next point, it's disrespectful at best. In no way does this mean Sweden is discriminatory towards minorities, nor does this in any way deserve any more attention than the burning of any other book does.
Theres this guy in turkey who is using the burnings to mess up Sweden joining NATO.
Personally I agree with you. Sweden should stick to their principles and laws but its more complicated than that at the moment.
Not that they are under the threat of attack or anything.. its just annoying to give erdgogan easy goals.
Yes and its frustrating they're being put in that position by Erdogan. But Sweden honoring the discussion means lending merit to the false dichotomy. It's well played politicking by Erdo, even if crude.
Anyone here old enough to remember the "novel burning" of Da-Vinci Code across the globe and how the author had to face litany of litigations and getting a life ban from visiting Vatican City?
I think you should be able to burn whatever you want. But actually attacking the people is a different matter altogether.
In my opinion, burning holy books is just pointless provocation. This person even did it on a holy day as well to enrage/upset more people. I’m pretty sure plenty of Christian folks would be upset if some people went in front of a church during the Christmas service and burnt the Bible.
I am not a religious person myself, and I don’t agree with calling for heads to roll and violence in protest to the burning of the Quran, however this feels like all it’s going to do is to further the divide between people and cause more hate.
ChatGPT Summary:
Questions to ponder:
If we burned Harry Potter books, would it be a problem to Harry Potter fans?
What about a copy of Charles Darwin's works and atheists / scientific types?
It's unlikely to elicit the same reaction. It is not the states place to stipulate what people can do with any book.
If someone burns a book you believe holds the meaning of life, be annoyed. But it's absolutely not your place to implicitly decry them and call for their heads / arrest / banning of behaviour.
Exactly. Ideas do not inherently deserve respect. People do, though, which is why we should be free to burn holy books, but not to discriminate against those believers.
We also have to be careful about the paradox of tolerance. If you wish to live in a tolerant society, you cannot tolerate intolerance.
Yeah, I'm sorry, this isn't something in willing to give way on. Burning a holy book is hugely offensive, and the person doing it (and announcing it to the world) is a huge asshole, but it's protected by freedom of religion. You could use the same logic to ban depicting Muhammad, for example, another hugely offensive act.
The person who did this is an Iraqi Christian. Knowing nothing about them, ISIS went on a murder/rape spree in Iraq, mostly targeting religious minorities like Christians, Yazidis, etc. This probably feels like revenge and liberation to them. It hurts the feelings of innocent Muslims that have nothing to do with that. That sucks, but it's not illegal, and it shouldn't be.
There's now been requests to burn bibles and torahs. Go for it. Burn some flags while you're at it too. It's a free country.
Why is it always burning? Can we try composting?
I'm not sure why you feel like this is a good argument. Of course, it's rude. That's the point. That's how social progress is made.
I'm also not sure why you think that a (most likely) persecuted religious minority knows nothing about the people persecuting them.
I'll just reiterate: beliefs don't inherently deserve respect.
Finally, I'm not sure why you think it's ok to treat the Christian and Jewish belief systems differently from the Islamic ones. I can't think of a good reason why.
Edit: see below. I misunderstood op.
Respectfully, I think you misunderstood my comment. I agree with you.
Well that's different. Thanks though. I'm new here, from the reddit exodus.
I think it was the "yeah" at front that did it for me. I'm an elder millennial, and I grew up using sarcasm differently that I think a lot of people do.
The case in point is "I could care less". Too me, that means "I could care less, but that would require more effort than I intend to devote to this topic".
Anyway, appreciated. I'll edit my above comment.
No, I can definitely see that. I meant yeah like that kiwi, yeah nah. We say that when we're saying no and making an attempt to be polite about it. But reading it again, I understand how it can be misunderstood!
You'll find that most folks argue in good faith here, unlike on Reddit.
That would be wonderful. It's the educated commentary that I appreciate most.
I agree entirely.
Book burnings for some, libraries for others?
Let them burn their books. Freedom of speech/expression.