First you burn books......

The first translations of the Bible into vernacular English were siezed by the authorities and burned by the public executioner. Soon after, those proclaiming the truth found in those English words were seized and burn alive.

There is a sequence of events here that seems to obey a certain law of history. Burning books leads to burning people, and it didn't start with Nazi Germany, though that remains the most hideous modern example.

The "pastor" of a small church in Florida has touched a raw nerve with his plans to burn copies of the Koran to mark the attack on the World Trade Centre.

My grandfather served in the British Army in India. I remember once, I must have been about ten, giggling as I read out an account from the Salvation Army's War Cry, as it described penitent sinners making their way to the "mercy seat". It seemed all so other worldly and far away from the crisp new world of 1950s Britain.

He very firmly pointed out that other people's religious practices may seem funny, unnecessary, sometimes even offensive but it was always best to stand back and never cause offence. He then gave me some idea of the balancing act the British had to perform in India where every town and village was a mixture of faiths. 

For reasons that Christians, with our hopefully well thumbed and eventually disintegrating Bibles, cannot really understand, Muslims see the very paper on which the words of the Koran are printed as being sacred. To desecrate those pages is offensive to their prophet and their identity. I gather Muslims can't understand why Christians print verses from the Bible on leaflets we push through doors, this to them seems sacrilegious to the word of God.

So my feeling is that there is absolutely no reason why anyone should intentionally seek to cause offence.

No one is bullying me to say these things. No one is paying me. I just think that causing offence, establishing stumbling blocks is just effort and energy going to earth. In the UK the pastor would be charged with "behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace" and by now would be in custody. I don't accept that he has an absolute right of freedom of expression in this matter. Rights bring responsibility.

There are many parts of the Muslim world where Christian communities live in peace with their dominant neighbours. There are others where Christians are extremely vulnerable and suffer unbelievable persecution. Those communities, far more than us here in the West with our human rights, know how important it is to cling to the cross. I don't if they have time to indulge in many of the sad little discussions that so easily divide us within British Methodism.

How would we react if an Imman announced that he would be burning a pile of Bibles in retaliation? I think we should always make the "first you burn the books" point, but I can't see Christians taking to the street in the same way that we see in Muslim countries.

The difference is stark and simple: our scripture appears on paper in our own language. It is only paper. The sacredness of the Word comes when we write it on our hearts and have a relationship with God through Jesus. Unless we understand that, we do not understand why Jesus died to give us eternal life. In the meantime a Bible is simply a few sheets of paper with some words printed on it. If it is not read and acted upon, that is what it remains.