Spreading intolerance

The campaign against a mosque near ground zero in New York City is just one of several disturbing expressions of hate-filled rhetoric and violence against Muslims and their religion surfacing in the United States.

The opposition has been unable to block construction of a Muslim community center that will house a mosque, day care center, auditorium and pool two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks. But they are just one of many voices feeding the hatred.

In Tennessee, federal investigators believe an arsonist torched construction equipment at the site of a future mosque in Murfreesboro.

Here in New York state, the Muslim community in Waterport has been the target of harassment by teenagers.

Evangelist Bill Keller has denounced the New York City mosque and called Islam a religion of "hate, violence and death." He plans a 9/11 Christian Center at Ground Zero to counter the "victory mosque."

The Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center, led by Pastor Terry Jones, plans to burn copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, on Sept. 11, which has already enflamed Muslim emotions and increased tensions in Afghanistan.

Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God that must be treated with respect, as adherents of other religions would expect for their sacred writings. The anti-Islam furor has provoked violence from Muslims, angry at the perceived desecration.

In Kabul, hundreds of Afghans burned American flags and an effigy of Pastor Jones while chanting "death to America." Some threw rocks at a U.S. military convoy. One Afghan high school student blamed the burning on President Obama. Thousands of Muslims held demonstrations in Indonesia to protest the Quran burning.

Speaking out against it, Gen. David Petreaus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said the burning would jeopardize the safety of soldiers and civilians and make it more difficult to accomplish our mission there.

Undoubtedly, as he noted, images of the burning would be used by extremists to incite more violence, which can turn into a cycle of escalating intolerance, distrust and violence.

What is needed now are the voices of tolerance and moderation on both sides to be heard and to prevail.