"NEW YORK (AP) _ A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday on hate-crime charges
after he threw a Quran in a toilet at Pace University on two separate occasions,
police said.
Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn was arrested on charges of
criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes, police said. It
was unclear if he was a student at the school. A message left at the Shmulevich
home was not immediately returned.
The Islamic holy book was found in a toilet at Pace's lower Manhattan campus by a teacher on Oct. 13. A student discovered another book in a toilet on Nov. 21, police said. "
While I think that this is an act that should not have been done, and I cannot defend, is it a hate crime. I see that there could be trouble in going down this road of allowing hate crimes to apply to objects that represent a culture. Today it is the Koran, does that mean it is a hate crime to damage a Bible, how about any number of sacred Hindu or Buddhist texts, and those are just the main religions. While I know this is a stretch, what if someone wanted to start a religion based on the Harry Potter books, would damage to one of them be a hate crime. Would defacing a cross be a hate crime, or defacing a star of David? Where does it end?
There is another symbol in this country that has come under attack, the attack of this symbol has not been made a hate crime though by the courts. In fact the courts have said that the attack of this symbol is an expression of free speech and is a protected right. What is this symbol, the American Flag. While I am not saying it should be a hate crime to attack the flag, you can't have it both ways. If you want to make attacking the Bible or the Koran a hate crime that attacking an American flag, or any flag for that matter should also be a hate crime. There are men who have given their lives to fight for the American flag, or the French flag, and for them and the members of their families I am sure that they feel like it is a dishonor for the flag to be attacked.
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