One way holy books can alter your brain

I'm amused to see an Australian burned pages from a Bible and Koran — to good purpose!

I'm happy to report, too, that Muslims in Australia are reacting in a reasonable way, with the leadership urging no retaliation. There is a bit of silly whining going on, though.

Sheik Wahid said the burnt pages represented a sacred connection for Muslims.

"He doesn't understand people have a strong feeling towards those sacred books," he said.

"It's not a piece of paper, it's a sacred law by the divine for the humanity to follow and we have a very, very strong connection to those books."

Nope. To me, it's just a piece of paper. To Sheik Wahid, it's magic paper. I can burn it unconcernedly. He can put it on an altar and sing to it, if he wants.

Oh, wait. Now I'm not amused. His university has put him on administrative leave, and he may lose his job over this.

But the QUT, which employs Mr Stewart, is not impressed. Vice-chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake said that the university does not support the destruction of religious artefacts.

"The university is obviously extremely, extremely unhappy and disappointed that this sort of incident should occur," Professor Coaldrake said in Sydney today.

"It may have occurred in the individual's private time or on a weekend - it doesn't matter.

"There is always in the community collateral damage to these sorts of things."

"Religious artifacts"? These were not the Buddhas of Bamyan — it was a pair of books you can buy cheaply at your local bookstore. Up yours, Professor Coaldrake — you are threatening to fire someone for expression of free speech in an act that violated no laws and did no one any harm.