"The West is at war with Islam"

Two people are saying that. One is Osama bin Laden. The other is Pastor Terry Jones, the spiritual leader of a small bunch of snake-handlers down in Gainesburgers FL. The "war" between Islam and (one supposes) Christianity is Pastor Jones's rationale for burning a few copies of the Qu'ran, the holy book of Islam.

I don't think he should do it. Not that I think he ever intended to. The whole thing reeks of a stunt to gain a little publicity for the good pastor. And it's worked too. He's being burned in effigy on the other side of the world, getting 1000s of Muslims all riled up, as if they needed it.

Now Mr. Jones is saying his efforts have wrung a concession out of the Muslims, a promise to not build a mosque (or community centre or faith centre or whatever) near Ground Zero. The imam behind the project says there's no such deal but if for any reason they don't do it, Mr. Jones is going to claim the credit.

Perhaps Mr. Jones, and those who oppose the building of the mosque, need to be reminded that two wrongs don't make a right. Sure, there would be reports of sub-zero weather in hell on the day that Christians were allowed to build a cathedral in Qum or Mecca. But freedom of religion -- including the freedom to build places of worship -- is a cornerstone of our Western democracy.

By denying this freedom to the Muslims, we descend to their level. We also become like the Chinese Communists (see recent posts), who allow people to build churches and temples only if the state approves. If the Muslims want to build a mosque next door to St. Patrick's Cathedral, Walt says let `em...so long as they don't complain if the Catholics install huge amplifiers for the church bells to drown out the cries of the muzzein!