Rev Jones and the Quran: One Nutbag Minister Should not a World Crisis Make

America is not the battlefield of Islam, and one nutbag  minister from Florida is not a world crisis. This country is governed by a system of laws rooted in the Anglo-American tradition, granting wide toleration for stupid and unwise words and deeds, and that protection extends to burning the holy book of any religion of your choice. Religious prejudice is nothing new in our country, and any attempt to spin history to the contrary is simply a lie.

Smart Muslims would be wise to react the same as any thinking person North of the Mason-Dixon line, who ignore aggrevating fundamentalist Southern preachers such as Terry Jones. Rev. Jones, who considers Islam evil,  has designated this Saturday, September 11, as a Quran burning day. Chances are good that the books Rev. Jones plans to burn are English versions, which we long ago learned aren't even real Quarans, anyway. Real Quarans exist only in Arabic. Whatever the case may be, it would be smart to remember that these are books, not people, burning at the stake. A fair and just society, generally speaking, grants far greater rights to human beings rather than inanimate objects.

In a story about Muslims in America appearing earlier this week in the New York Times, a muslim doctor noted, “In no other country could we have such freedoms — that’s why so many Muslims choose to make this country their own." The government officials who have been so quick to condemn Rev. Jones, might well be reminded that the same laws that give the good doctor the freedom he wants for himself and his family, are the same laws that extend their protection to Rev. Jones and his book burning.

Yesterday, about 200 lawyers and civil society members in Multan, Pakistan protested against Rev. Jones. As part of that protest, an American flag--an object as dear to American heats as a Quran is to a Muslim--was burned.  A picture is above.We would note that no American leader who chastized Rev. Jones had anything to say about the flag.