What religious people (like me) need to remember is that if you hold someting to be sacred, then you open yourself to being offended. I think Apple have got this wrong. Using the name Mecca or making the building like a cube is problably ok individually, but the combination of the two is too much. Any Moslem who is offended is entitled to say so and should he or she choose, not buy an Ipod: nothing more. What we, and Apple, need to remember is that offense is in the ear of the beholder, so if someone says they are offended, they are offended. What any offended Moslem needs to understand is that it is they who are offended, not Allah. (God can take care of himself and is big enough to rise above such things.)

Quote Originally Posted by Zorba
I mean, if someone built a big glass building with two semicircular wings and a dome in the center, and called it "The [insert corporation here] Cathedral", you would see quite a few Catholics up in arms.
Not sacred enough to be a close parallel. Having a shop with a huge communion wafer sign outside and calling it the "Real Presence" would be more like it. However in such a case, wise Catholics would be pleased to see their faith given a high profile and seize the opportunity to explain their creed to a wider audience. I am sure wise Moslems will do the same in this case.