An important distinction I think should be made.

[mmonk]

Burning the flag is different than burning the Quran at Islamic places of worship and other similar spots. One is protest of a country's political policies or foreign policy. The other is an expression of hatred and a rejection of fellow Americans of the Islamic faith. The latter is blaming their neighbors for crimes they did not commit. Part of the reason for the latest burnings are to limit another citizen's 1st amendment rights through intimidation.

[DrDan]

1. good try . . .

[LostinVA]

2. There is actually some legal precendent there re: cross burnings

[DrDan]

5. but a cross-burning is clearly an overt means to intimidate

I'm not sure the same could be said about quran burning.

[mmonk]

6. Why don't you ask a Muslim?

At the end of Ramadan this year, many were scared to venture out or go to their mosques.

[DrDan]

12. and based on several cases of arson, not so sure how safe they felt there

I just think that, outside of the context of DU, most would not consider it in the same vein as cross-burning.

[Syrinx]

3. what if the burning of the Islamic holy book was in some other place?

Not a place of worship. Would that make a difference?

[mmonk]

4. I suppose it depends. I am not making an expression of law, more of

an observation of difference. One being a rejection of another human being based on religion vs. political dissent.

[Syrinx]

7. I'm real sleepy, so this might not make sense

I don't like people to burn anything like that. The Qu'Ran or the Bible, or the flag. I just generally don't like antagonizing people. It usually doesn't end well.

People can offend you in America. People have a right to offend you.

But I try not to. :)

[customerserviceguy]

8. Well stated n/t

[mmonk]

9. I understand your position.

However, one can look at limits to offending a singled out population and the particular population's right to not live in constant fear or intimidation, especially if that intimidation is backed by public figures for political purposes.

[zipplewrath]

10. Mixing religion and politics

Reason 137 not to mix religion and politics.

Burning a flag is a clear political expression.

Burning a Quran is hard to classify. It is a political expression in one sense, but predominately because of the inappropriate inclusion of religion in politics. And as many point out, despite intent, the primary impact of the action is upon people for their faith, not their political views.

We should be always careful of bringing religious symbology into politics and political symbols into religion. Blurring this line, confuses two issues that shouldn't be confused.

When my father and my brother were both buried, the traditions were careful about this symbology. Both being veterans, they were eligible for military symbology. During the visitation at the funeral home, there were folded flags on the corners of the caskets. Military awards and other momentos were present and displayed. At the church, for their funeral masses, the flags were removed and replaced with the white pall (a symbol associated with baptism). As we left the church with them, we stopped in the church and removed the pall. Outside, before placing them in the hearse, the flag was unfolded and replaced on the casket.

It is a subtle symbology, but important. They were not "soldiers of God". I know not all funerals work this way and many religions will leave the flag on the casket, that's fine. I'm not making a point about the appropriateness of funeral symbology. My point isn't so much about funerals as it is about the mixing of religious and political symbols and the larger issue of mixing religion and politics. When we mix them, we mix incompatible traditions and beliefs, and we set up the kinds of conflicts we now see.

I wouldn't burn a Quran, or a Bible or a Book of Mormon. Truth is, book burning in general just don't sit well. And I'd have a hard time burning a flag. It sat on my brothers coffin. In sat on my fathers coffin. But I recognize that the reason it sat on those coffins is what makes it a political symbol. People abuse religious symbols for political purposes. But I'm not sure that one persons abuse is a good justification for anothers excess.

[mmonk]

11. I am also mindful the flag has been draped on coffins of Americans

of all religious traditions as well as those with no religious traditions and also including Muslim Americans. I also am aware we live currently in a country where many people have accepted the removal of habeas corpus, imprisonment without charge, and a prison system outside the rule of law where torture takes place because in their minds, it involves people name Mohamed or Hamid instead of Jim or John. How close is such a country's population to accepting a pogrom if their political leaders say it is needed?

[whopis01]

13. The only difference is one is made of paper and the other of cloth. n/t