[snarks_when_bored]

Harris should be reminded that the Afghans aren't Arabs, but, unfortunately, a muslim is a muslim.

[KStorm]

Newsweek has blood on its hands.

[OldSmaj]

But it is not as a book that Muslims regard the Koran -- that is our first misconception. It is in itself a holy and sacred object...you don't mess with it. It is not to be trampled on, or stuck in a toilet.

Oh yeah?

Well, I had a copy (probably not the complete Koran, but close enough, downloaded off the internet) hanging in the outhouse of my hunting cabin.

It hung there all winter and not one person used it to wipe their..., uh, shoes or anything else with.

I chucked it into the hole two weeks ago after spring cleanup.

Damn shame, can't even get someone to use it as toilet paper.

Can't say as I blame anyone though, I wouldn't the vile document anywhere near my private parts, either.

[Waco]

Blast the sh-t outa em, till they sue for peace. That always works!

[denydenydeny]

Brilliant column. Bookmarking.

[untenured]

If I have offended anyone, including Karen Armstrong, I sincerely apologize.

LOL!

IIRC, in A History of God she claimed that in its early days the Arab tribes interpreted the Koran the way Mohammed meant them to, as just another parallel revelation from a prophet so that the Arabs could stand alongside the Jews and Christians. Only later, in her telling, did it become a competing faith.

[Capriole]

That faith and that book are the product of the Devil.

So I'm unenlightened. I can only judge the tree by its fruits.

[amba]

Deeply Orthodox Jews don't just believe God spoke every word of the Torah in Hebrew; they believe God spoke the entire WORLD in Hebrew. See Rabbi Akiva Tatz and David Gottlieb, "Letters to a Buddhist Jew" http://www.buddhistjew.com

[Navy Patriot]

there are some things that even the most enlightened Westerners don't get about Muslims -- their fanaticism about the Koran.

I just had a western idea, win the war on terror by disguising cluster bombs to look like the Koran.

[goldstategop]

The Koran imported a 7th Century culture and mentality around the world. One that has changed very little down to our day. Islam has never experienced a Reformation and Muslims take the Koran as the literal word of God. They make Christian fundmentalists seem milquetoast in comparison. Their devotion to their faith is as unyielding as it is absolute. And that is a gap across which even the most well meaning Westerner cannot travel. They are for once, literally "The Other."

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)