An open letter to Muslims

Dear Muslim friends:

You know, I'm getting a little tired of your co-religionists constantly complaining about people desecrating the Koran. I'm tired of hearing about it because it doesn't need to happen. It's kind of a vicious circle. Some Muslims keep saying if people desecrate your book they're going to get very, very angry. So, people desecrate your book. And they get very, very angry. It's a shame, and it shouldn't happen. But let's be honest. They're kind of asking for it. Pavlov couldn't get a more predictable response with his bell, if you know what I mean.

Anyone who's ever known a rebellious teenager knows that the worst thing you can say to them is "If you do X, I'm going to get very, very angry." I know that many of you are familiar with rebellious teenagers, as am I. Making someone lose his temper is a good show that's a lot cheaper than cable. Some people have nothing better to do than try to cheese others off. The mature and effective response is to ignore them and not give them the satisfaction.

Look, I think it's a shame that people desecrate your holy book. Maybe it has something to do with the whole "kill everyone who doesn't submit to Allah" bits, or maybe it's the whole "women are chattel" thing. Or maybe they just don't like the color green. Needless to say, people shouldn't do it because it's unnecessarily disrespectful.

I would never do it. I would much rather see people read the Koran instead of burning it. And we should try to settle our differences with logic, rhetoric, tolerance and understanding, not by burning books, or worse, being violent to each other. Jesus didn't burn books or murder people, nor did He condone these behaviors, and a lot of us find Him to be very persuasive. We all can gain a lot from following His example.

The thing is, people desecrate the Bible all the time. We hold our Scripture in very high regard, as do you for yours. But we also know that it's a waste of time trying to get stupid people to stop doing stupid things by constantly goading them into doing it. We simply don't throw tantrums about it, and it ends up not being a big deal.

Just sayin'.

Your Christian friend, Rick