The ninth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attack in New York may very well come and go without incident, and be remembered only for the symbolism of the 70-foot piece of World Trade Center steel that has been installed at Ground Zero as part of the memorial to be unveiled by next year. But Terry Jones, a fire-and-brimstone evangelist preacher from Gainesville, Florida, is planning to mark the anniversary by burning 200 copies of the Koran.
As I write this article, the pastor is having second thoughts. To burn or not to burn? But the damage has already been done, even if Jones doesn't realize it.
The pastor's proposed bonfire has not gone unnoticed. The Florida state attorney general and the U.S. Attorney General have criticized Jones. Gen. David Petraeus, the current commander of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said the pastor's actions could "endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort here." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the plan "disrespectful and disgraceful," and President Obama said it is "completely contrary to our values as Americans." The UN and the Vatican have offered their condemnation. And if that's not enough, even Angelina Jolie spoke out against Terry Jones.
But Rev. Jones seems to be enjoying the show. His declared goal is to force Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to abandon the controversial plan to build a mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero.
Cosmopolitan New Yorkers and small-town Americans find themselves on opposite sides of this debate. But since Islam is a religion of peace, New York Muslims are likely to yield and take the moral victory, while leaving Pastor Jones with a tactical victory.
One look at Jones' picture tells it all. In bureaucratese, Jones can be described as man "beyond middle age" with "limited mental faculties." In general, backwater America is not known for its intellectual vigor, just like in any other country. And zealous preachers like Jones, a favorite character of screenwriters, are all too common. But Terry Jones is unique; he is the only preacher to have drawn the ire of the entire U.S. government.
Nine years on, the 9/11 tragedy still has the potential to divide two world religions and civilizations.
Sir Paul McCartney and many other musicians gave a benefit concert to raise money for the families of those who lost their lives in the attacks. He wrote a new song for it, "Freedom," in which he sings, "We will die for the right to live in freedom."
Sir Paul was wrong. Muslim extremists have never had anything against the freedoms enjoyed by Americans or Brits. Rather they were infuriated by the aggressive expansion of American civilization across the world in the 1990s. It seemed there would soon be no place left where people will be free to think and act as they wish, and enjoy their freedoms and prohibitions.
That feeling created the emotional backdrop against which normal politicians and zealots act. There are many Terry Joneses in the Muslim world, some of whom are far worse than the Florida preacher, and they felt they were under attack by the globalization of the 1990s, when everyone thought globalization will have an American-European face.
September 11, 2001 showed the other face of globalization, which was largely a response to U.S. society. France and many other Old World countries are searching for ways to deal with the challenge of "Muslims in our midst." Is it right that there are Muslim women with their faces covered in Paris? Should they tolerate it?
This debate is absent in American discourse, even though the United States was the first to suffer from the clash of civilizations. Judging by polls, Americans have nothing against Muslim women wearing veils. Why not, if that's what they want?
Racism, or intolerance of other civilizations and religions, is probably one of the two biggest problems in Russia (the other is the rapidly declining state of education). That disease originated in Europe, but Europeans are trying to pretend they themselves are not infected.
Racism is not an American disease. American society is now ethnically and religiously diverse, even if the fathers and grandfathers of today's African Americans were not allowed to ride in the same buses as white Americans. But the United States now has its first black president.
White America has learned a lot from its experience with black America. Moreover, the American complexion is growing darker with each passing year due to the influx of immigrants from Latin America, Asia and elsewhere, which is a source of America's power and a pillar of its future.
And Pastor Terry Jones has proved this with his unique and un-American campaign.
RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
