You can never guess what youve got in the melting pot. Turns out that in the very heart of the borough of Queens, NY, Muslim youths are trundling off to the mosque to memorize, verse by verse, the most controversial text of the times. How are we to regard this seemingly dangerous activity?

A closer look at the kids who are condemned to the practice affords some assurance that they will place the orthodoxy at a comfortable distance as they attain some perspective on its content. In listening to the comments of the Muslim-American children, as they study toward the goal of earning the title of hafiz, there is hope that their innocence will prevail.

Its almost like a bank account for the afterlife. said a child of 11.

Ill be the first hafiz Muslim baseball player.

And a father said, In this life, kids are doing a lot of things. This is something for God.

We can only hope that the ideals of freedom and tolerance that the children learn in America will provide them with the wisdom to moderate the more inflammatory and intolerant verses that they will find in The Koran.

It may be too much to hope that they will ever realize that the religion the world so desperately needs if it is to save life is, not one based primarily on the hope of another life, but one based on the care of this one not only as a practical necessity but as our surest reverence for whatever lifes ultimate source may be.