In light of recurrent news items concerning desecrations of the Quran, I thought I should contribute.

After all, I don’t treat the Quran as a special book. In both my offices—at home and on campus—it’s not unusual to see books strewn and stacked on the floor. And it occurs to me that I have, in the past, created sights that would shock some of my more devout Muslim friends. I have had, I will confess, a copy or two of the Quran lying on the floor, tossed aside. Worse, I have had other books on top of the Quran. If some of my devout Muslim acquaintances were to witness such a offense, they would automatically pick the Quran up, kiss it, and remove it to a high shelf in a position of prominence.

So here’s my documentation of mild Quran-desecration:

Not only is the Quran on the floor, I have stacked on top of it a copy of the Tanakh, the Book of Mormon, and Jennifer Michael Hecht’s Doubt: A History.

Terrible, terrible stuff. I expect to burn in hell for this. Or at least to be hauled into court for “inciting religious hatred.”