Burning the Quran is offensive. Banning it rewards violent threats. [View all]

[Mosby]

Sweden and Denmark are confronted with a dilemma arising from public burnings of the Quran: They can either stick to their long commitment to freedom of expression or bow to the credible threat of violent retribution. Sweden has responded by adhering to its principles — despite that it might have more to lose in doing so — although the government says it is examining ways to discourage further burnings. Denmark is trying to go the other way by seeking legislation that would ban the desecration of the Quran and other sacred texts, including the Bible and Torah.

Both countries have been forced into an unenviable corner by a relative handful of right-wing nationalists who have flaunted their anti-Islamic zealotry by setting the Muslim holy book alight. Sweden and Denmark have rightly condemned those acts of ostentatious destruction. But because they have tolerated the acts in the name of freedom of expression, the countries have been denounced in Muslim nations — a slander that Russian propagandists have been only too pleased to amplify and exploit. Swedish and Danish diplomats have been summoned for dressings down by governments in Muslim countries.

The risk is not only reputational. In 2005, Denmark faced a wave of violent demonstrations after a Danish newspaper printed cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that outraged many Muslims, who regarded them as blasphemous. Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad was stormed and set ablaze this summer, a few weeks after a protester in Stockholm burned a Quran.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/03/quran-burning-sweden-denmark/