The sun never set on the British Empire in the 19th Century. Queen Victoria was its supreme leader. Britannia ruled the waves and her army brought order to the savage lands of Africa and Asia. The native were expected to reward their Christina overlords with natural resources and human labor. India was the crown jewel of the empire, although the subcontinent was in truth ruled by the East India Company. Its agents exacted taxes and revenue behind the bayonets of 40,000 redcoats and 200,000 sepoy soldiers.

In 1856 the Governor-General was not satisfied with the native levees’ contribution to the Empire and decided that the Indian soldiers were bound by their honor to serve at overseas post such as Burma or China. This order broke caste for many sepoys and the policies of slow promotions and Christian preaching in the ranks created great dissent in the encampments. Lord Dalhousie and his officers addressed the complaints with an iron fist. Their contempt for the sepoys blinded them to the serious of rumors about the cartridges of the Enfield rifles being greased with cow or pig fat, the Hindus considered the cow sacred and the Muslims regarded pig as haram. The British officers couldn’t have given a fig for these religious restraints.

On February 26,1857 the 19th Bengal Native Infantry refused an order to load the new Enfields. A month later Mangal Pandey of the 34th BNI attacked his commanding officer. Other troops refused to arrest the offender. He was hung for mutiny along with the regiment’s Jemadar. The sepoys broke into open rebellion in April. Within a week northern India was in flames and the British were besieged by hordes angered by religious outrages.

The British Raj triumphed thanks to the gallantry of their soldiers, Sikh compatriots, and Afghan raiders from beyond the Frontier. Captured mutineers were subjected to the Mughal punishment of being blown from a cannon. Lord Dalhousie had departed from India in March. Queen Victoria awarded him a pension and the instigator of the Sepoy Rebellion died peacefully in his own bed.

Christians have a tendency to ignore the beliefs of other religions. Most think that only Jesus believers end up in heaven and after 9/11 disdain for Muslims has been an national obsession for Americans. Our nation is fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both have been winding down under the leadership of Barack Obama. The ‘surges’, bribery payments, assassination squads, and drone attacks have weakened the leadership of the Taliban, but Afghanistan has been a death trap for armies; the Birish in the 19th Century and the Russians in the late-20th Century.

“I am ready to sacrifice everything in completing the unfinished agenda of our noble jihad… until there is no bloodshed in Afghanistan and Islam becomes a way of life for our people.” Mohammed Omar is committed to the struggle and last month his fight gained steam thanks to the burning on two-hundred Korans by a Florida backwater Bible preacher.

The Dove Outreach Center declared the Koran guilty of crime against humanity and their gun-carrying evangelistic leader set fire to the kerosene-soaked Korans.

“They actually burned quite well.”

Mr. Jones’ work was appreciated by his fifty member congregation and the preacher posted a video of the bonfire on Youtubes. Only 1300 people viewed the tape, but the internet has shrunk the world and yesterday Afghanis revenged the blasphemy by storming a UN compound in the Mazar-i-Sharif and killing twelve foreigners, mostly Nepali soldiers.

“We don’t feel responsible for that.” Mr. Jones was quick to point out to Agence France-Presse.

It is not illegal in the USA to burn the Koran. It is also not illegal to burn the Bible. I always throw the ones that I find in hotel rooms into a field. It’s not theft. The Gideon Organization provides them to each hotel room in America. Even in the Mustang brothels in Nevada and nothing burns better than a Bible from a whorehouse.

Only one way to find out.