On Beliefs and Who should be Dying for them

I must have been out of the news for quite some time, because I only just heard about the burning of the Koran on March 20th. And it is sickening. Pastor Jones of Gainesville, FL held a mock trial that ended in the burning of the Islamic Holy Book. And that led to uprisings in Afghanistan. Here's the NY-times article I read: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/us/03burn.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=quran%20burning&st=cse

Look: I know people can believe what they want; we live in the US, a free country. But shouldn't burning the book of another religion count as a hate crime? I'm wondering why this guy is going around with police protection instead of being put on trial himself. If burning crosses on people's lawns is a hate crime, burning a holy book should be, too.

And it gets worse.

Jones said he made his decision after considering that people might react strongly. He said they were worried. And yet he did it anyway, and he would do it again.
It's one thing to put your own life at risk for your beliefs, but to put other people's lives--the lives of people you don't know and who don't agree with you--at risk...that's bad judgment and cruelty. I'm not saying that the Afghans who killed the UN staff are right--not at all. But if you know that people might die because of something you do to 'stir the pot,' it shouldn't be done unless they're willing to die for your cause.

The one good thing that resulted is that people are changing the anti-Islamic signs outside the church to slogans about peace and love. Thank you, reason.