In an interesting perspective, Eugene Volokh writes an article on the “conflict” between the Koran-burning church in Florida and Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).  To the point, he quotes Hooper saying:

Can you imagine what this will do to our image around the world…And the additional danger it will add whenever there is an American presence in Iraq or Afghanistan?

After going through several explanatory examples and analogies, Volokh draws an interesting conclusion:

In those situations, the mainstream group representative seems to be consciously using the threat of [others’] extremist violence to achieve his own ideological goals. And he also seems to be trying to blame the people who are exercising their rights for the violence that would supposedly ensue. This sort of political tactic does not reflect well on the mainstream group.

Separate from Koran burning and CAIR, Volokh’s perspective has an interesting application to religious freedom in the military.  After all, one conspiracy advocacy group cites Taliban/al Qaeda reaction in response to virtually every indication that there are Christians in the US military, as if an extremist ideology should dictate the freedoms enjoyed in America.

To borrow Volokh’s line of thinking:  Are conspiracy theorist “freedom” groups using the threats of others’ violence to achieve their own ideological goals?

As noted at ADF.