I went to church today to join in the brotherhood and sisterhood of man. Maybe I also went to repent.
The church we attend, Holy Trinity Episcopal, hosted an interfaith service at noon today. It was packed. We all knew why we were there: the announced plan by a small Gainesville congregation to burn the Quran on Sept. 11.
But that’s not the only reason. We were there because this group of 50 people has generated worldwide coverage. Everyone seems to know about this planned event because journalists have covered the daylights out of it. In turn, generals, presidents and the pope have pleaded with the misguided pastor to rethink his illegal (he lacks a burning permit) scheme.
I saw the satellite television trucks parked outside the church and cringed. Has my profession — have I — some culpability for creating this Quran burning spectacle?
News, by definition, is the unusual as opposed to the routine. We don’t report about people who live in harmony with other faiths because that’s normal. We do report on the fringe guy who thinks that purposely antagonizing others is Biblical.
Moreover, in this modern era, journalists aren’t gatekeepers. This thing went viral thanks to the Internet. It was going to happen anyway.
And yet the guilt remains.
So I sang lustily the patriotic songs chosen. I listened respectfully to prayers and scriptures from the world’s three great monotheistic faiths.
And I choked up when starting to sing, “Let There Be Peace on Earth — and Let It Begin With Me.” I am, after all, my brother’s keeper.
September 10, 2010 at 5:49 pm
Well put and worthy reading as always, Norm. Don’t know why, but in all this my thoughts turn to the old small-town newspaper days we shared. We would not print bomb threats at schools, for instance, lest we do more harm than good. If we look hard enough and we can always find some nut willing to cause trouble and hatred — but when is it news and when is it not? After 20 years I am still uncertain. But always appreciate your thoughts.