Today's post is from Helene Atwan, the director of Beacon Press.

While one man and his small group of followers in Gainesville, Florida are talking about burning copies of the Quran on 9/11, it's been thrilling to see America's secular and religious communities reacting in solidarity. Religious leaders, including Peter Morales, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, are calling on their communities to read the Quran. The Mass Bible society has a project to donate two copies of the Quran for every one burned. For those who would like to take the opportunity to read at least some passages from the Quran, you'll find some excerpts here.

Finally, we're proud to have published many books by Muslims, but I would especially recommend, in this atmosphere of hostility, five: The Place of Tolerance in Islam by Khaled Abou El Fadl, whose title says it all; Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel, who has a strong opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune today; Living Islam Out Loud, which offers perspectives from 15 American Muslim women; The Tent of Abraham, which illuminates the commonalities of the Abrahamic faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam; and finally, the forthcoming Love in a Headscarf, by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, which offers a refreshingly warm and often funny account of being Muslim in the West.

You can visit the UUA's Standing on the Side of Love website to find a solidarity event near you. 

Image by Ibn Ar-Rashid on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons.