wmarkw you wrote,

"As measured versus American values, parts of the Islamic world are home ruthless misogyny, violence against peaceful individuals and archaic governmental forms."

When you talk of the "Islamic World" I am curious to know do you see the whole Islamic World as a single unified entity? All 1.2 Billion. That you cannot differentiate a Tanzanian muslim from one in Indonesia or Kazakhastan? If so do you consider sub-saharan Africa as "Christian World"? What do you think about latin America? Do you associate their crimes as crimes of Christianity? I think I would need you to clarify what you mean by the "Islamic World" I'd like to know what we are infact debating over here.

Also, do you burn everything you disagree with? If you want to disagree with what the Quran says that's fine. Maybe we can debate them. Why do you have to have this amateurish my way or highway attitude. Does it promote goodwill in anyway to ridicule all muslims? Specially considering that two muslim countries have been devastated and destroyed by a coalition of mainly Christian warring nations. Don't you think normal people would find this double whammy of first attacking their countries and then ridiculing their religion and way of living as offensive? I'd like to know how you would react when you're in this situation?

BEST ARTICLE I HAVE READ ON THE MATTER YET! WAY TO GO WASHINGTON POST!
See the video of GROUND ZERO HERO 911 2010! LINK BELOW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31WtoWva0EE

TRIPPIN: Perhaps most offensive, drawing any moral equivalence between burning a symbol of one of the world's great religions with hate and malice and building a community center to bring us together...
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YASSER: Its dishonest and disingenuous to look at this Quran Burn-fest in isolation with ugly displays of religious zealotry and downright racism that's permeating into mainstream US society.
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For completely different reasons, the two of you object to the Koranflagration. Terry Jones is a nut. But a lot of Americans who aren't nuts have objections about Islam, many of which stem from the Koran.

As measured versus American values, parts of the Islamic world are home ruthless misogyny, violence against peaceful individuals and archaic governmental forms.

If burning is wrong, what are acceptable means of protesting objectionable content in the Koran, that anyone but a western-living Muslim would take note of?

Prof. Hamilton,

Its dishonest and disingenuous to look at this Quran Burn-fest in isolation with ugly displays of religious zealotry and downright racism thats permeating into mainstream US society. Muslims are the most vulnerable group in USA today. The Republican party, which is the one half of political spectrum in US has really made Islam bashing a part of its election winning strategy. Newt Gingrich, their presidential front runner compared all muslims to Nazi's. Is anybody surprised no one from the Republican party has condemned this act in an umambigous manner. Most of these right wing nuts are infact Republican party voters. As a Professor in a Jewish University, you must be aware that book burning is often a pre-cursor to people burning. There are saner voices in the US who have the foresight to envision what this unbridled hatred for a vulnerable group will lead to, but by encouraging the book burners and criticizing reasonable people like Obama, Hillary and Petreaus for censuring these hatemongers you have certainly proven to be a voice of extremism not moderation.

"Our culture every day is a recruiting bonanza for al Qaeda."

Please spare us the bigoted xenophobic sophomoric rationale that permitted Bush to substitute a nation wholly innocent of 9/11 and totally devoid of weapons of mass destruction for the murdering perpertrators of that tragedy. You insult our intelligence with this nonsense.

Their hate for our culture, madam, is parallel with that right wing Christians harbors for our culture, stoked by thought molders like you. It may exist, and some may bomb gay bars and abortion clinics over it, but for the most part all they do is grumble and pack heat to political rallies to show off.

To the extent the broader Islamic world hates us, it's for what we do to them, and have done for generations. We have supported brutal dictators as long as they played economic ball with us. As soon as they stray off the ranch, they're vilified by fear mongers with media access like you as an excuse to murder upwards of a hundred thousand men, women, and children, leaving virtually no family in Iraq untouched by tragedy at our bloody hand. And that's just the most recent example, ignoring the rest of the diaspora.

Don't tell me this escapade was to bring them "freedom," for when we denigrate Muslims so by using the moniker as an epithet against the President, methinks that spending a trillion dollars to bring people held in such contempt "freedom" can only be believed by an imbecile.

Sure, Americans have the right to protest the not-at-Ground-Zero Young Men's Islamic Association. But when they do so, they self-identify as being unable to discriminate between the murdering scum who attacked us (from Saudi Arabia no less) and the voices of moderate Islam you and your ilk whine about not hearing enough. And that ignorance by and large is rooted in the torrent of beer-muscled propaganda promulgated by perverse pundits.

Perhaps most offensive, drawing any moral equivalence between burning a symbol of one of the world's great religions with hate and malice and building a community center to bring us together is symptomatic of the twisted, black-hearted no-holds-barred hate mongering so expected today from people sharing your political inclinlations.

If our Constitution is under attack, madam, it is from within, beginning with Bush and continuing with Obama, using Islamophobia as the excuse just as surely as 9/11 was used as an excuse to invade Iraq. We are already at the point where we are so afraid of these camel herders we accept the virtual strip searching of our teenage children by leering rent-a-cops in airports. That's the threat to our Constitution, and if Muslims have anything to do with it, it's because we've painted 1.5 billion of them as our enemy.

Hello Prof. Mari Hamilton!

I enjoy your essays in Findlaw's Writ.
Welcome to "On Faith".

As for what you said, "So what if Jones's act offends the radical Islamicists?"

It is their right to burn Qur'ans. I still have my copies of the Qur'an. No one can stop the publication and printing of more Qur'ans.

Only this particular burning is a wee problem that may snowballed into more problems in this day and age of Youtube and cheap DVDs. Extremist Islamists would play that burning of the Qur'an videos again and again to show "they" hate "Muslims".

Just as videos of some Palestinians "dancing" in the streets are shown again and again to show Muslims "celebrate" 9/11 and "hated" Americans, and made out to be and used as "they hate us, we hate them".

I don't have to elaborate on the impact of Palestinians "dancing" upon the American psyche who saw them and believe, think, propogate the whole Muslim world as such.

Obama is doing the right thing as a leader who not only has to uphold the American Constitution, Bill of Rights and values, but also lead by moral and ethical examples.

Obama is not saying Mr. Jones has no right to burn the Qur'an by America's freedom of speech or to call Islam is of the Devil etc.

Your President did right - not approving what is said and done, but defending the right to do so.

Of course, "hate speech" or "incitements to hatred" is another matter altogether legally, ethically, morally, and a values to be defended too?

Law is reason, free from passion. So first year law students are told. But then, burning books is also an act of emotion and passion and so are reactions on it.

J

One of the great impediments to the adaptability of Islam is the "final prophet" tenet. This takes the doctrines of a seventh century writer and casts them in resistant stone. Many Muslim societies, for example, have tied themselves in knots, trying to create a modern economy while obeying the Koranic injunction against lending money at interest.

Considering the legalistic nature of the religion with demands and injunctions concerning many aspects of day to day life and the incongruous nature of those edicts to western norms, there will always be low level conflict between the respective civilizations. We would like to tamp it down but should not sacrifice free speech to do it.

Presidential pressure was brought to bear to prevent the Burning of the Koran. Why did no one act to prevent the burning of Bibles by the U.S. military? See the CNN report of 22nd May, 2009: edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/20/us.military.bibles.burned/

I asked two WP.com online discussants yesterday, what WOULD be an acceptable way to protest the parts of the Quran that we find objectionable. I got two non-answers.

Apparently, religious leaders are not interested in serious analysis of the Quran as a book; we just have to accept that some people believe God commanded them to commit self-serving atrocities:

Akbar Ahmed: I would suggest you read the Quran. The kinds of passages you are no doubt referring to are in texts of all faiths, including the Bible--all must be put in a context. We need to see the essence of all the Abrahamic faiths which is rooted in the idea of a humanity which is driven by ideas of compassion, charity, mercy, and knowledge.

Geoff Tunnicliffe: I'm not sure if protesting is the right approach. I think dialogue with Muslim leaders is an appropriate response. Also, I think that if you're not a Muslim it could be helpful for you to get to know a Muslim in your community and build a relationship and seek understanding through that process.

Muslim societies have a time honored excuse to censor whatever they do not like. It is whatever they define “disturbs the general peace”. They use this argument to deport aid workers and Christian missionaries, shut down places of worship, jail judges and lawyers as well as political antagonists and close down newspapers and TV stations. It was no wonder that on many of the Arab satellite TV stations, journalists were wandering aloud why the “American government” does not use this “law” to silence “this rowdy pastor.”

Well said. In fact, I just posted much the same thing on Susan Jacoby's thread, although I confess it was (very) hastily written. Throughout the last couple of days, I have asked on various threads when the President would announce "Burn the Constitution Day." (No reply, thus far)

At all events, it's all on Jacoby's thread, so I will only say here, Marci, WELL DONE!

The right of free speech is sacred to most Americans, even when we disagree with that speech. I would expect foreigners to tolerate that as we tolerate many things we find offensive in other cultures.

The antidote to offensive free speech is reasonable free speech, not violence.

Christindobash: "what the president should've done is thrown his butt in jail,"

On what grounds? "They" torture, hang, and kill those who disagree in the land where Quran is the constitution. Not in USA so far, but if we are not careful, those who want Sharia in USA will be doing that soon enough.

I'm sorry to burst everyone's bubble here BUT this guy who plans on burning the Quran, is no better than the terrorist we are fighting. end of story. his actions are the same of a terrorist, and he should be treated as such. what the president should've done is thrown his butt in jail, for terrorism and stupidity. it's not all muslims we hate which everyone seems to forget b/c they aren't christian, religion in itself causes wars and disagreements, it causes terrorism. so maybe we should just abolish all organized religion....how 'bout that. or is this the 21st century HOLY WAR....please the reason we came to american for the right to practice whatever religion we want, not to terrorize each other.

Right on, Marc!

"Our deepest constitutional values are at stake in this war, and we must fight against the enemy that recruits to crush those values into submission to a religious dogma. So, General Petraeus, your job continues to be the same: root out the enemy to protect our rights."

Obama should have said that but could not because unfortunately his base, and I absolutely hate to say this, is totally mired in political correctness and can only criticize Americans. Examination of the "other" is something that is now labeled bigotry and racism.
The mainstream media refuses to explore what does it mean when a single "crackpot" threatens to burn a few books (Korans) that Muslim around the Globe are threatening World war three, and people have been injured and hurt in those countries? Where are the intelligent and moderate muslims in USA trying to tell the extremists to keep things in perspective? Instead the Americans are being told that they are hateful and bigoted. I guess, I am going to go use a Koran as kindle to make some barbeque pork ribs tonight.

Free speech and the First Amendment is the only real weapon that we have against the hate spewed in the Quran against the Kaafirs.

Ms. Hamilton, your comments are spot on! Finally a writer who has the b*lls to say exactly what's at stake in this debate. While I'm totally against anyone debasing another's religion or religious beliefs, I'm appalled at the excessive amount of pandering towards Muslims. They are the only religious sect I know that resorts to violence whenever they feel insulted. Jesus Christ and His teachings, beliefs and image are parodied all over the world every day. In some countries (primarily Muslim) Bibles and churches are burned every day like it's the normal thing to do. Yet you don't see Christians taking up arms to retaliate or call the offenders infidels. No, Jesus taught a better way - love your neighbor as yourself. But Muslims scream and threaten and expect the rest of the world, especially the US, to cower in fear of what they may do. BS!

Not bad. Obama's first mistake was not to say at the Iftar several weeks ago that the U.S. proudly stands by Rauf's right to build a community center cum mosque near Ground Zero, but that in a diverse community, individual persons and groups should take into account the feelings of others before they act. This is not to give them a trump card, but just to play the game in a civil manner. Also, I fail to see the relevancy of mentioning the Vatican case. What point were you trying to make regarding individual versus corporate responsibility?

Thank you, thank you, thank you. We are a miracle of myriad and often disparate religious, social, ethnic and cultural individuals and groups.

The only, real and powerful thing that ties us all together is our Constitution.

Think about it- a 'pre-destiny' Presbyterian, a 'speaker in tongues' Evangelical, a Mormon who sincerely believes that Christ appeared in the desert in the U.S., a Catholic- who lives with the criticism of being called an 'idol worshiper', and Jewish person who does not feel compelled to treat Jesus Christ as the 'living Savior'.... well I could go on and on and on about our different religious beliefs or the lack thereof but I keep going back to what holds us all together as a single united thread.. all of us share this amazing ability to gather in town hall meetings, in Country Board of Supervisor hearings, in the halls of Congress etc.

Marci Hamilton, I hope that WaPo will let you continue to write and that you will write about the history and meaning of the word 'commonweal.'

We so desperately need more articles and blogs like yours. Now, more than ever.
Our Constitution seems to be under attack or at the very least under severe criticism from abroad and right here at home from one interest group or another.

One day before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks- this blog piece could not have come at a better time.

Write more, please.