Burning books, by Màrius Serra

The Danish Government has passed a law that punishes the burning of the Koran, the holy book of Islam. Any offender can be sentenced to two years in prison. The law speaks of “inappropriate treatment of texts with an important religious meaning” and the fine print prohibits burning, desecrating, kicking, breaking, cutting and stabbing religious texts in public and also punishes the dissemination of images. The parliamentary debate established that the main objective of the law is to protect national interests and security. It seems clear that this law is born of fear, rather than bibliophilia. On the other hand, the symbols are carried by the devil and it is likely that the arsonists will soon find another that burns just as well.

We are repelled by the mere idea of ​​burning a book. Those who have historically thrown them on the bonfire represent the triple i: intolerance, ignorance and intransigence. The paradox is that today book burners associate these three I’s with the book they burn in the name of freedom and it is likely that they arouse the sympathies of many European fascists who are heirs of other biblio-bonfires.

They prohibit burning, desecrating, kicking, breaking and cutting religious texts

But books are born and die, they are scratched, wet, torn and, in the end, shredded to make use of the paper. They are mere intermediaries of ideas.

In the series that Fragmenta Editorial publishes on the ten commandments, the editor Ignasi Moreta signs the second: You shall not take the name of God in vain. The book burners should read it to you. It is argued that denying the existence of God is as arrogant an operation as affirming his existence. Taking up the religious thought of Lluís Duch, Moreta extracts from the second commandment that to live religiously one must do so “as if God did not exist.” A very reasonable hypothesis that will be difficult for those who live intensely “as if God existed” to understand.

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