Reading round the blogs, it would seem that everyone's quite happy with the idea that a would-be hatemongering Koran burner could blackmail the US into moving a Ground Zero Islamic Cultural Centre I can't understand why such a sacrifice would be condoned.

So far the claim only comes from the mouth of a smalltime U.S. pastor who obviously doesn't pray to a God of Peace.

Pastor Terry Jone's planned action would have sent violence out over the world. The US State Department was expecting demonstrations across three countries, and was warning its citizens abroad to take extra care. By broadcasting his claimed success in having the Islamic centre moved he's demonstrated how much power can fall into the hands of a religious crank, and how easily such a person could make the world wobble.

What could have been a symbol of inter-religious unity, just in time for the tenth anniversary of the Twin Towers attack, that could've created goodwill across the world, has been broadcast across the world as having been destroyed before it was built. This has been portrayed as a direct effect of having avoided the bloodshed-brewing Koran burning.

Hopefully the denials of the pastor's story are true. Otherwise we've missed the most important lesson of the September 11 tragedy - that for peace to exist in the world we need to understand each other.

Whatever happened to "Love Thy Neighbour"? It seems to me that some folks might be spending too much time reading the juicier bits of the Bible, and forgetting about the important stuff!