Quelling the Obsession with Burning the Quran

(RNS) — In 2010, Terry Jones, a pastor in Florida, went viral with a video of his burning the Quran as he called for an international “Burn the Quran Day,” to be held on each anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Since then, Jones has seemingly disappeared. You could argue that his virality was due to the public’s horrified shock at the gross act of desecrating Islam’s most sacred text — according to Islamic tradition, the literal word of God.