At first, when I heard about Newsweek's bogus story about guards flushing the Qu'Ran to get information from detainees, I honestly wondered what the big deal was even if the story were true. Personally, I know of nobody who would get pissed to the point of rioting if the bible were flushed. Ironically enough, the Protestant reformation was actually FUNDED by bible burners, who bought every copy of the bible they could in order to burn them. The proceeds were put into the purchase of more bibles.

But then, as I thought about it, I realized. The point isn't about the fanatical Muslims who WOULD get pissed to the point of rioting; it's about the hundreds of millions who would not.

You see, while Islam does have a higher percentage of true militant factions among its numbers than many faiths, the truth is, the average Muslim is no more militant than the average Christian. Even many of the Iraqi insurgents probably would not be insurgents if they didn't feel they were justified in defending their homeland. A look among the professional ranks of this country will find Muslim doctors, lawyers, fire fighters, police officers, military personell, and any other rank you care to name. They contribute substantially to the way of life and diversity of culture we claim to value. and a disrespect of their faith is a disrespect of THEM, as well as the hated terrorists.

While the Newsweek story was bogus, it has incited a backlash of "flush the Qu'ran" responses in the blogosphere, to say the least. These responses disrespect the Muslim culture and caricaturize it by its worst elements. I know of no fundamentalist Christians, for instance, who would want to be lumped with the likes of Eric Rudolph. Nor, in fact, would it be fair to do so.