IRVINE, CA–Muslims demand that non-Muslims show respect for the Koran. But does the Koran deserve our respect?
Some argue that it doesn’t because on 9/11 the murder of 3,000 Americans was committed in its name. Others, including our President and government, argue that bin Laden and his henchmen misinterpret the Koran and have “hijacked a great religion.”
Neither side grasps that there is a fundamental standard by which to permanently decide the question of respect for the Koran. Above all else the Koran–and it is certainly not unique in this regard–demands that all human beings surrender their reason and submit to faith, i.e., to the acceptance of an idea in the absence of perceptual evidence or rational proof. On this basis alone the Koran should be rejected by all human beings–because surrendering one’s reason is the very essence and cause of human depravity and evil.