https://roanoke.com/archive/insulting-an-islamic-center--and-american-values/article_6245beed-bceb-531f-a79a-9464a3a170f7.htmlCourt agrees to block collection of Trump’s $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175M
Hate crime or not, the deposit of a bagful of burned Qurans on the steps of the Islamic Center of Blacksburg was an act of profound contempt.
Whoever was responsible obviously was contemptuous of Muslims. But the scorn expressed extends to principles that maintain America's social fabric: tolerance and respect for fellow human beings. Adherence to those ideals has waxed and waned through U.S. history. Foreign wars, economic upheaval and social change have repeatedly sparked nativist hostility and dehumanization of the "other."
Roman Catholics and Jews, Irish and Chinese, Hispanics and Japanese - all have been targets of popular resentment, discrimination and even violence, typically abetted by religious and political demagogues.
Since 9/11, America's unrelieved anxiety over war and terrorism has made Muslims the most prominent "other." Like Roman Catholics before them, their faith supposedly makes all Muslims an inherent threat to freedom. Or perhaps, like the Chinese and Irish, their presumed innate inferiorities disqualify them for respect and tolerance.
Prominent voices on the right keep that message sounding. Religious leaders such as Franklin Graham condemn the Muslim faith outright. Subtly and not so subtly, Cal Thomas, Ann Coulter and others suggest a Muslim in America is a threat to America. (For Thomas, so are illegal Hispanic immigrants, dehumanizingly depicted in a recent column as a disease-bearing horde.)
It is a belief born of fear and ignorance. Divisions within Islam of liberals, moderates, conservatives and fanatics are disregarded, as are widely divergent beliefs among Muslim sects. Peaceful or not, U.S. citizen or not, loyal American or not, all Muslims are the latest "other" - and the enemy.
Law alone cannot preserve a pluralistic society in freedom and peace. It also requires a common willingness to compromise, cooperate and, yes, respect and tolerate each other. The burning of Qurans is an assault on far more than Islam.