NO! No! No!
(Comment in response to a certain, in my view very misguided, pastor in Florida planning to burn copies of the Koran on the 9th anniversary of 9/11)
I’m sitting here writing this while watching a TV program about 9/11, and can understand the anger and desire for justice and revenge, but I am reminded of many things Jesus Himself taught His followers/disciples/believers, including: “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” (Luke 6 verse 27)
and “…love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6 verses 35-36)
I’m convinced that burning a Koran will never warm anyone’s heart towards the Good News of salvation through faith in Christ alone. Radical Christ-like LOVE may…
Wolfi's View from London 
But….at which point in loving your enemy should self-preservation kick in?
I’m not saying that what this pastor is proposing is a good thing to do, but then I don’t live in a country where people, especially Christians, are feeling increasingly helpless and desperate.
Americans have taken terrorist hit after terrorist hit on their own soil, and are increasingly aware that to provoke many Muslims to violence it is simply enough to be an American. ‘Death to America’ is not just a maniacal chant; it is a very real threat, one that Muslims are determined to achieve, some through the determined spread of Islam in the US, some through brutal violence.
I think Americans have ‘loved their enemy.’ Between six and eight million Muslims live in the United States where they have practised their religion and culture, enjoying peace and tolerance from other Americans for decades. Many Muslims from Arab countries have flocked to the USA to study at American universities.
However, it is now becoming increasingly easy to find radical Muslims across the United States, who openly promote terrorism against the country in which they live, work and worship freely.
I understand this pastor’s frustration. He is not physically harming or attacking anyone. But he is, I believe (aware that a liberal government will not do it for him) trying to reassert his American, Christian identity in a country that was founded on Christian morals and principles.
And he is doing it by destroying a book that calls for the killing of all non-Muslims, as understood by a growing number of Muslim believers…in the USA.
I don’t believe that this pastor doesn’t love his enemy. And there is a place for angry protest against evil. Jesus showed us this when He cleared the temple.
I’m not sure his method of protest is the right one, but I certainly understand what is driving him.