It is almost 3 am and I should be asleep. Instead, I remain awake; angry and completely exasperated by the intellectual dishonesty and utter hypocrisy plaguing almost every facet of society. Words written two thousand years ago accurately describe many religious, community and political leaders today:

““Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

The controversy over the proposed “Ground Zero Mosque” and the uproar over Pastor Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center’s plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11 serve to further expose the acute lack of truth and honesty in today’s society.

I find myself asking the obvious questions and marveling at the inability (more likely, refusal) of many to understand and accept the obvious answers.

For example, why do the same people who demand “freedom of religion” for the “Ground Zero” Muslims excoriate Pastor Jones’ for practicing his religion in the way that he sees fit? Why is it wrong to criticize Muslims for their practices, yet perfectly fine to denounce the Gainesville, FL church’s expression of its own faith?

Some critics of the Quran burning are worried that it will lead to violence in the Muslim world. Here’s a novel idea– why don’t the critics hold the riotous Muslims responsible for their own conduct? Since when does a book burning have to result in a riot?

Nothing compels Muslims to respond with anger and violence… except their own religion.

When a Muslim cleric in Iran calls the United States “the Great Satan,” why do Islamic moderates not denounce the inflammatory rhetoric and criticize the imam for words that could lead to violence? Is it because Americans, primarily adherents of the Christian faith, aren’t likely to take to the streets in anger, behead any Muslims that they find and issue fatwas calling for the death of all non-Christians?

Could it be that Pastor Jones’ critics know that the followers of Mohammed are absolutely incapable of rational, reasonable, non-violent expression of their faith; that they really are likely to go nuts when, for example, a Danish newspaper prints cartoon depictions of Mohammed or a non-Muslim writes a novel that casts their prophet in an unflattering light?

(In 1989, Ayatolla Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran (where there is no “separation of church and state”), ordered all “good Muslims” to kill Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses, and anyone else associated with the book’s publication. Although Rushdie lives today, 38 others have died as a direct result of the “peaceful” Ayatolla’s fatwa.)

I believe that incinerating a stack of books is pointless, but why must the Pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center be tolerant of the religion of Islam when its most ardent followers have absolutely no tolerance for his religion?

Why is it that our own government denounces the Quran burning as “un-American” while acquiescing to, and even commending a religion that allows men to deny their wives food and sustenance if they refuse to obey their sexual demands; requires women to get permission from their husbands to work; and allows rapists to avoid prosecution by paying the victims?

The burning of the Quran may be extreme, what is more “un-American” than a religion whose extremists celebrate the death of over 3,000 “infidels” on 09/11/2001?

The mere fact that I ask these questions marks me as bigoted, racist or, at the very least, intolerant. None of those adjectives describe me; rather, I am simply mad as hell. Hypocrisy has gone mainstream and I am tired of it.

I refuse to give evil a pass.