I feel that if I buy a Quran or Bible or Bhagavad-Gita then they are my property, and I can do anything I like with them. The world has no right to
question my choice whatsoever.
They are selling it for cash in the
capitalist religious artifact industry that makes billions every year.
If I belong to another religion and want to destroy their texts, that's my business, and my business alone.
If the paper of every printed copy is sacred, then surely the sin is with the capitalist person who sold it to an unbeliever,
the capitalist
merchant who sells the text is at fault.
The Charismatic church I once frequented believed that the physical Bible was just paper. They highlighted, scribbled and underlined in it during
sermons. Indeed, they believed that some denominations and Freemasonry made it into a false idol. On the other hand, new converts also burnt their
occult books and records, according to Acts 19:19, in which converted sorcerers burnt their occult books to the value of 50, 000 drachmas (I'm sure
they counted every penny going up in smoke with mixed feelings).
Back then I burnt books on astrology and astral travel, and some ISKCON books I never read. People also brought rock records and He-Man figurines, and
it was believed that the demons would literally jump out of the flames and possess the pets. Well, Biblioclasm is an old custom, with tit-for-tat
burnings of the Quran going back to the Inquisition. We didn't have the Quran back then. In Christian books the devils were the Hindus and the New
Agers, until Islamophobia slowly began creeping in towards the mid-1990s.
Despite their distanced fundamentalist Christian view of the physical Bible, they were all upset when Christian Heavy Metal band Stryper tossed Bibles
into their audience. It was a very uneasy approach.
In any case, if a book is sooo holy, then don't sell it!
If you don't like the Quran, stop supporting Saudi Arabian oil - which sponsors most translations and distributions. Otherwise US Pastors are burning
their own money by burning Saudi sponsored Qurans - they use gas, don't they?
If you have the cash and buy a book it is yours. Since the printing press the ideas will never die with singular copies. What is your property is
yours to cherish or burn.
Buy it and burn it if you like - you're the sucker leaving the cash in the capitalist religion industry of the other faith.
And to any religion that sells their "Holy Books" - stop pretending to be offended.
You want the cash, but you don't want fair ownership for people to do as they please with what they buy from you.
PS. This post is inspired by the lively debate and commentary about the proposed Florida Quran burnings - whether shelved or not. However, the topic
also brought out issues in the various threads about Holy Books in general which still make me think, and I attempt to sum up here. It appears they
should be the one cash-item that one cannot use for art or personal use, even when they are bought like other goods.
edit on 10-9-2010 by halfoldman because: addition/clarification