The plan by a Florida-based church to burn the holy Quran comes as the US Justice Department launches an investigation into an array of hate crimes against Muslims.
At a private meeting on Tuesday, the US Attorney General Eric Holder received Muslim and other religious leaders to look into anti-Muslim incidents that have taken place in four US states.
Holder characterized the decision made by the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida as "idiotic and dangerous," acknowledged a Justice Department official who requested anonymity, The Associated Press reported.
Holder "reiterated the department's strong commitment to prosecuting hate crimes, and noted several successes," said Justice Spokesman Matthew Miller.
In the past 18 months, the department "has prosecuted three men who burned a mosque in Tennessee, two others who burned an African-American church in Massachusetts and another who spray-painted threats on a synagogue in Alabama, among other cases," Miller added.
"Violence against individuals or institutions based on religious bias is intolerable and the department will bring anyone who commits such crimes to justice."
Analysts maintain that the hate crimes against Muslims in the United States have surfaced after a plan to construct a mosque near ground zero in New York was unveiled several months earlier.
Since then, the US justice system has launched a probe into certain anti-Muslim incidents as potential hate crimes. Despite all the condemnation rhetoric associated with such acts, the US justice system has failed to take legal steps against those who ignite anti-Muslims sentiments.
According to CBS, the stabbing of a taxi driver in New York City, arson at a mosque under construction in Murfreesboro are some of the anti-Muslim crimes that have taken place between July and August.
