Australian lawyer smokes pages of Bible and Koran, asking 'Which is best?'

I think he is making a valid point. Pages from a printed book are made of paper and ink. They have no value in themselves. The importance of both the Bible and the Quran lies in the acceptance of the words and ideas into our hearts and minds. To burn one copy (or even many copies) of a book can be seen as either pointless (because it detracts nothing from the real value of the book, since there are many, many more copies in existence) or symbolic of a personal hatred. There are many people who hate Islam or Christianity, yet we are not offended too much by what they say, so long as we are strong in our own faith. It is just as silly to be offended because someone expresses their personal hatred by destroying copies of a holy book. If they were able to destroy ALL copies, that would be a different matter, perhaps!

Balls of steel. All I can say. Balls of Steel.

I think he was jsut acting studid or maybe jsut wanted to get peroples attention to what was happening. I do rember the pator decideing not to do that.

I heard about this at the time it happened and I though it was a stupid, thoughtless thing to do. Now that I know he is part of an atheist group after reading the article, I see that it was not an entirely thoughtless act. He obviously did it to demonstrate his views and beliefs. I am not a believer in any particular faith myself, but I do believe that peoples religious views should be respected, no matter what they believe. Burning the books of any other faith is wrong and should not be given the attention that the offenders are clearly seeking. If we ignore these silly stunts, then radicals will stop doing them. I think he may be regretting his decision to do this now after losing his job.

Well sweetie, it is only a book, as per say. But, i think he should start thinking for himself. I have seen idiots in my life, but this one, beats all of them..I know he had a awesome headache after that. Ignore people like that, they only want attention. TATA.

Everybody has its own belief...beliefs and faith to God is based in doctrines written in the bible for christians and koran for Muslim..as to the christians the best so far is the bible as this is their basis oof their faith..for the muslims the best is the Koran for it is what they believed the words of God has been written... so among in any walks of life and beliefs there is no used as to debate what book is the best rather ask yourself how is your relationship to the author of either the bible or the Koran...

I think that book burning is just stupid. This guy took it to a whole new level though, he burnt the Koran and the Bible, and then asked "Which one is better?" I don't condone this, but I do see the point that he is trying to make, and I quite agree, "If we can't burn your book, then you shouldn't burn ours." or, "Hey, I am burning our book and yours, I guess nothing is sacred?"

If I needed a lawyer, Alex Stewart wouldn't be the one that I'd hire. In trying to show that he's an equal-opportunity inflammatory lout, he's done nothing except injest who knows what chemicals. Chemicals used in processing papers and making inks aren't generally intended to be injested, by eating or smoking. Maybe next time he'll check his pockets and not send his normal smoking media through the wash.

I think that is a little funny. I think that acting about on burning someone's religious book should not determine any body else's superiority. Whether one burns something or not others will still believe in something and I feel like the lawyer may be expressing this. But then at the same time, I am ignorant about other religions and this can be offensive to them... in that case, one should be respectful.

Hi krupesh, people do need to get over the fanaticism. While it may seem like an outrage, he does have a point to make as Owlwings has mentioned. I think the American preacher started it all... media is equally responsible for reporting such things. Problem is people who were more tolerant or indifferent get drawn into the the controversies to defend their religion, whether they believe it as much or not. :(

He has lost his head, figuratively. Take my advice, open the law book check for the relevant law for causing public outrage, shove his nose into it and slam the book shut. Better still send him to Saudi Arabia, one way ticket is enough. He will loose his head, literally. We have enough problems even without these nutcases. Let us get on with life!

I think people do all sorts of things to get their few minutes in the limelight not realizing the impact or effect it may have to other people. In this case, multitudes of irate religious fanatics consider it way out of line.