Iconic books are texts revered as objects of power rather than just as words of instruction, information, or insight. In religious and secular rituals around the globe, people carry, show, wave, touch and kiss books and other texts, as well as read them. This blog chronicles such events and activities. (For more about iconic books, see the links to the Iconic Books Project at left.)
Afghan protests over accidental Qur'an burning
The
accidental burning of Qur'an's by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan have provoked two days of violent protest so far and led to U.S. bases and offices being locked down for security. Scripture
desecrations, including Qur'ans, has been a frequent subject of commentary on this blog as well as the topic of my
2009 online case study.
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2 comments:
I heard a news report in the past few weeks that a military base also disposed of human remains in trash pits. I'm thinking of Mirvold's _The Death of Sacred Texts_ and the argument that the disposal of holy books in a tradition is closely related to burial practices. Unfortunately, in this case, there seem to be parallel desecration, instead of parallel sacralization.
Note Brian Palmer's Slate article on this topic, using the research and comments from Myrvold's book: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/02/afghan_quran_burning_protests_what_s_the_right_way_to_dispose_of_a_quran_.html
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