There are many good reasons to oppose the proposed burning of the Koran:  It lumps Islamic jihadists together with the huge majority of Muslims who want to live in peace; it disrespects an entire religion; and it will be offensive and hurtful to individual Muslims.  It is ungenerous and, if I may, unAmerican (I know the Left has forbidden use of the word "unAmerican," but I might get a pass this time, since I'm using it to agree with them).

Some would also say it's unChristian, but I'm not going there.

There is, however, one lousy reason to oppose the planned Koran burning, and that's the threat that, if it goes forward, there could be violent retaliation.

If Rev. Terry Jones persists in this perverse, blockheaded and insulting exercise of his First Amendment rights, he should be able to do it without physical retaliation directed at him, much less directed at others.  I would take that to be elementary among those dedicated to free speech.  But I'm not hearing it much.  Indeed, what I'm hearing is that Jones should stand down because, among other things, there could be a violent response.

Am I the only one who thinks that's thuggishness?  And that instead of mumbling to ourselves that, yes, we need to worry about violence, we should be saying that violence won't be tolerated no matter how offensive this Jones stunt turns out to be?  If an atheist group proposed to burn the Bible to protest "In God We Trust" on our national currency, and some crazy sect then snarled that the burning could provoke violence, should our leaders  --  or any respectable person  --  take the position that the sect's threat was a reason the atheists should stand down?  Or should they say that, in this country, the peaceable tolerance of free speech, no matter how offensive, is built into the price we pay for our liberty?

You can't get maturity, respect or tolerance  --  from Rev. Jones or anyone else  --  at the point of a gun.  And those employing gunpoint-like threats in the present controversy, or urging the rest of us to bow to them, have some answering to do themselves.