ANTI-DRUG EXHIBIT

Keep Taliban Flag in Display, and in Perspective

A new Detroit Science Center exhibit on drugs and their connections
to terrorism contains many disturbing images, including models of a
crack house and cocaine processing lab, and a video on how drugs
affect the brain. But it is a handmade flag of the Taliban in
Afghanistan, tucked behind a display showing the rubble of 9/11, that
has generated the most discomfort.

Some Arab Americans and Muslims are upset because they believe the
white flag -- proclaiming in Arabic: "There is no God but Allah, and
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" -- unfairly ties Islam to
terrorism and distorts the religion's message. They want the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration, which created the exhibit, to remove
the flag. It's part of a small display on possible connections
between the Taliban, Al Qaeda and drug trafficking.

That some Muslims are offended is understandable. Some Christians
would object if the Lord's Prayer were somehow tied to acts of
violence. Some Jews would protest if the Star of David were
associated with brutality.

The DEA defends exhibiting the flag, arguing that it is a succinct
symbol of the Taliban regime. Creating offense alone does not make an
image unworthy, any more than it detracts from a work of art.

But there's a larger reason the exhibit should remain intact, despite
public pressure to remove the flag. It conveys a universal message
for those open enough to see it. Crimes against humanity have been
committed in the name of every religion. Too often, the beliefs that
should elevate people have, instead, debased them. No one should
taint a religion because of the warped ideology of a few.

The real quarrel of believers should be with those who twist the
tenets of their faith and turn them into a message of hate.