A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group has called on Americans of all faiths to obtain and read the Quran after burned copies of Islam’s revealed text were found outside a Virginia mosque. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said worshippers at the Islamic Center of Blacksburg found a shopping bag filled with burned copies of the Quran in front of the mosque’s door on Saturday. Local police are treating the incident as a possible hate crime.

CAIR new release, 16 June 2005