Good Will and the Golden Mean

A Florida pastor's plan to Burn Korans at his church on Spetember 11th, ignited protests for a second day by hundreds of Afghans, who burned U.S. flags and shouted "Death to America," prompting the top U.S. commander of american troups in Afghanistan to say that the pastor could be increasing the threat to his troops.The protesters were well aware of the pastor's inflammatory comments, such as "Islam is an evil religion," because they have spread via the Internet. Jones has also authored a book, "Islam Is of the Devil." Gen. David Petraeus said he is outraged by the pastor's decision to burn the Quran, which, he said, could "endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort here."

"It puts our soldiers in jeopardy very likely," he told ABC News Tuesday. "And I think, in fact, images from such activity could very well be used by extremists here and around the world."
Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Jack Keane, an adviser to Petraeus, called it "outrageous" and "insulting to Muslims."
"It's also insulting to our soldiers in terms of what they stand for and what their commitment is to this country and to the Muslims in this country," Keane told ABC News.
But Jones vowed he would go ahead with the Quran burning, even knowing the concerns of Petraeus and Keane for the safety of U.S. troops.
"Of course we care. It'd be tragical if because of this one person died. But at the same time, we do not feel responsible for that," Jones said in an interview with ABC News.
"What we are doing is long overdue," he said. "We are revealing the violence of Islam that is much, much deeper than we'd like to admit."
 The ethical relathionship here is that it's being argued that religious intolerance isn't a negative, inciting violence and promoting hate isn't a negative. The only incentive given, or suggested for doing the "right thing" is the potential negative outcome for those who share a specific ideology in the U.S. troops., By the reasoning of Kant, those acting based on a religious ideology would not be practiving "good will" or adhearing to the Golden Mean of Aristotole.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/burn-quran-day-sparks-protests-afghanistan-petraeus-endanger/story?id=11569820

By MARTHA RADDATZ (@martharaddatz)

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 7, 2010