I agree that there is often something shaky with Christianity in the West. But the burning of a Koran is not central to that. More central is leaping to judgment of others, thinking we can know and judge their motivation and acts...
Blaming the pastor is sophistry, though at first glance it seems not to be. Jones burns book, people in Afghanistan are slaughtered, looks kind of like cause and effect, so let's blame Jones. The actual murderers often get little blame, seemingly because we decide from our pinnacle of moral and cultural superiority that they are too primitive and barbaric to be responsible. If the imams in Afghanistan had not roused the mob, it wouldn't have happened, but we don't blame the imams. Maybe they are still too "simple and barbaric", so back up a step.
If President Hamid Karzai had not spread the news for his own political purposes, the imams would not have known, but we don't blame Karzai, and he is NOT simple or barbaric. There were also local warlords involved, with a beef against the UN, but we'll ignore them...
If the news media had not taken it up, Karzai would not have known, and we can't very well call news media simple or barbaric. The act of Jones is several steps removed from the murders - do the intervening people bear responsibility? Armchair quarterbacking it after the fact, we can say Jones should have known, but in fact, the action of Karzai, at least, was unpredictable.
What rule are we to draw from this? If I do a thing that is harmless, but will offend someone, is it OK to do it if the person will never find out? How am I to assure myself of this, and how much control over my own behavior do I allow the possible offense of strangers at great distances? How much moral responsibility goes to gossips or news media, much less those inciting violence over my act? What if my act only ~might~ offend someone, what if I don't know for sure? How likely must offense be for my act to be wrong? And what if the offendee doesn't kill somebody, but just cuts their legs off? Or just one hand? Or puts someone in jail, or slaps them, or talks mean to them? A dirty look? Bad thoughts? Where does my responsibility end? It might be hard to think of an act that would never offend anybody anywhere, or a method to keep my otherwise harmless act secret enough from all who might possibly be offended, nor a reasonable way to assess how serious their hypothetical retaliation might be.
No need to look up chapter & verse to say Jesus was never shy about offending the Pharisees. He told them exactly what he thought of them, time and time again, though he knew it would contribute to His death. He may have loved them as individuals, but He felt the truth was more important than their feelings or reaction.
Jesus knew in establishing Christianity that there would be death and torture as a result - to Him, to His apostles and immediate followers, spreading out among peoples and locations. He also knew that murder and cruelty would be done BY Christians in His name, to Jews and others. Should Jesus have stayed anonymous, or not come, to avoid the consequences of Christianity? Sounds kind of silly to say it, but the truth is more important.
Christ calls us to love, and to turn the other cheek, but He also calls us to stand for something, and sacrifice. Early Christians often died for their faith, and in the Middle East, Christians are still doing so - it isn't a faith for wimps. I don't know if Jones felt he was standing up for something very important, it is not for me to judge his intent, but if Jones felt that way, he took responsibility for his act. Not only has Jones been widely mocked and vilified, he has a fatwa out against him of over $2 million. If the murders were predictable, so was the fatwa.
