4/6/11, Letter to Editor, USA Today

Pastor Terry Jones has presided over the burning of the Muslim holy book Quran after a mock trial. While the judge-jury-executioner congregation might have shown its contempt for the sacred book of more than a fifth of humanity, it failed to realize what else it achieved. In their urgency for justice, the congregants probably overlooked Quranic verses about Jesus and Mary, where they are described as the chosen and beloved servants of God. In their desperation to avoid a repeat of last September's last minute "stay of execution," they hastened to set ablaze the very pages describing a merciful and gracious God.