To protect freedom of religion, we need not stifle freedom of speech. A few weeks before the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Terry Jones, a relatively obscure but controversial pastor, shot to worldwide infamy over his pledge to burn the Quran.

I find it curious that people would want to burn Qurans, whether they agree with Islam, disagree with it, or are simply hateful in light of Sept. 11. Whatever the reason, to me the decision to burn a Quran is wrong. It also is curiously ironic.