Burning Qurans is wrong – and so is purposely offending any other religions

If such massive indignance can be worked up over a fringe American group planning a one-time stunt that hasn’t happened yet, surely similar protest can be worked up over the endemic or state-sanctioned desecrations that happen every single day?

By Scott Thong

I read the recent reports about the plan by the Dove World Outreach Centre to burn copies of the Quran with concern. The outraged reaction by many different parties shows that this act is provocative, disrespectful, intolerant and should rightly be cancelled – with full and unconditional apologies.

It is thus my ardent hope that after the torrent of public pressure – including from the US government itself – finally gets this small group to cancel their rude plans, the public might turn its pressure onto other destroyers of religious items.

For example, the government of Saudi Arabia, whose official policy is to incinerate or dump any Bibles, crosses and other items linked to Christianity that are found in the country.

Or various other places, where the media and even schoolbooks regularly claim that members of a certain religion kidnap and kill children in order to use the blood in making pastries for their religious holidays.

Or certain countries where, every now and then, hysterical mobs will form intent on avenging some perceived minor slight by members of other religions. Their ‘justice’ can include desecration of religious symbols, destruction of holy places, gang rape and murder – even to the point of scalping and killing infants! Meanwhile, as often as not, the local authorities stand idly by.

So if such massive indignance can be worked up over a fringe American group planning a one-time stunt that hasn’t happened yet, surely similar protest can be worked up over the endemic or state-sanctioned desecrations that happen every single day?