subject: The Koran Book Burning Brouhaha and Gunter Grass' quote on Books [print this page] "Even bad books are books and therefore sacred." G,Grass German Nobel Prize Writer
Days before the Sept. 11 anniversary, a Pentecostal pastor from the US vehemently proclaimed worldwide that his congregation will have several copies of the Koran burned.
The pastor never made explicit his reasons for burning the Koran, although it turned out later that what he wanted was a leverage against the building of a Muslim mosque near the ground zero site.
The incident sparked the usual incendiary type of Islamic protest from all over the globe. And while the Muslims raved and ranted, the moderates coming from almost all the religious persuasions dissuaded the pastor from making good, his angst provoking threat.
And the rest was history.
Book burning by itself is neither new nor illegal. Hitler during prewar Germany burned a lot of books which were thought to be corrupting the German culture. And it wouldn't be whimsical to state that the bible might have been included in the list of those books burned because of its Judaic nature.
But the Jews never complained, much least protest in a manner similar to what the Muslims did. Unfortunately for the Jews, the book burning preceded the holocaust wherein they were virtually burned pile upon pile in the Nazi gas chambers.
Thus it is told that once you start burning books, burning people may come in next.
And this is where Grass' quote becomes significant. Books are probably the most important and enduring of all the human creations. Perhaps the act of creation itself is indeed a sacred thing.
Great monuments, palaces, and the like are ruined by time. But the written word and the spirit that goes with it remain.
Notwithstanding whether the spirit of the book is good or bad.
The Koran Book Burning Brouhaha and Gunter Grass' quote on Books
