I thought of calling this post "Islam is Bad for America" but then decided to be more tactful.
The most recent incident of Sudden Jihad Derangement Syndrome is another uncomfortable reality check, one in an endless stream of uncomfortable reality checks, for those who want to characterize Islam as a Religion of Peace and Muslims as the natural allies of Christians.
I suppose one could argue that it is not an uncomfortable reality check, since something becomes a reality check only if allowed to act as one, and those who are deeply committed to their illusions that "real Islam" is peaceful are not about to be checked by reality, no matter how grisly.
One thing that we need to face is that, if we are concerned about whether Islam is good or bad for America, it makes little difference whether we regard Nolen as a terrorist or as an Islam-inspired nutcase. No doubt he was not acting under orders from some larger group, but so what? He idolized ISIS and had the all-too-common committed Muslim's disdain for the unbelievers. He appears to have been an anti-white racist to boot, which all fits together very well in a particular American version of black Islam. His firing was lese majeste, an offense deserving revenge. The kuffir dared to fire a Muslim brother. A white woman dared to complain about his racism. Off with their heads!
The timeline is unclear as to whether Nolen converted to Islam in prison. As best I can judge, it appears that he was released from prison in early 2013 and began showing clear, public signs of commitment to Islam about a year later. Prison conversion, therefore, remains a theory only.
Nonetheless, the combination of a "black power" narrative, criminal background, and Islam is toxic, and our prisons are now encouraging it. I have caused some consternation in the past when I have suggested that imams should not be admitted freely to prison inmates. Denying Muslim inmates the consolation of religion! But this is an empirical matter. Having discovered that it is a bad idea to have criminals converting to Islam, that it encourages violent behavior and ideology, we are fully justified in treating Islam differently from other religions as regards access for those who would try to convert violent criminals to that religion.
Jeff Culbreath and I also caused some consternation by our alleged "bigotry" when we suggested several years ago that American should "disinvite" Islam. I realize that Alton Nolen is not a Muslim immigrant. The larger point, however, is that our multiculturalism, of which large amounts of Muslim immigration is a symptom, is causing that religion to spread more quickly, especially among criminals, and that we need to recognize this and decide what to do about it. While I do not at all advocate criminalizing Islam per se, I have in the past endorsed a number of ways in which we can resist the encroachment of Islam and show that America will not be assimilated.
As the saying goes, the first step to doing something constructive about a problem is recognizing that you have a problem. Unfortunately, too many of an otherwise conservative disposition refuse to recognize that Islam in America is a problem. As I implied above, for those who have no ears to hear, no wakeup call will do. But let us not lose the forest for the trees: This heinous murder (and another attempted murder) by Alton Nolen should be such a wakeup call even though he is doubtless a lone, Islam-inspired bad guy rather than a well-connected part of a larger terrorist plot.
Islam in America is a problem. We need to face that squarely and do all we can to resist.
Comments (8)
North America and Europe long ago disestablished the Church. If a nation adheres to an Enlightenment understanding of freedom of religion; how can she uninvite Islam?
Posted by Thomas Yeutter | October 2, 2014 6:53 PM
Thom, we give several suggestions. Feel free to look at them. I do not agree with _all_ of the suggestions made by my former colleague, Jeff Culbreath, but you might be surprised at how many things there are that we could be doing differently, and better, even given our "enlightenment" understanding of freedom of religion. For example, there is nothing in the Constitution that requires that imams be let into prisons to recruit. There is nothing in the Constitution that prohibits the banning of Muslim immigration. There is nothing in the Constitution requiring that individual towns allow the building of mosques. And there is certainly nothing in the Constitution that requires the existence of non-discrimination laws preventing _private_ people from discriminating against Islam in employment and requiring them to "accommodate" Islam in public accommodations. I could go on about various ideas along these lines at further length, but hopefully this gives some picture. Moreover, our country's leaders are constantly _catering_ to Islam and complimenting it. This is scarcely required by freedom of religion.
Posted by Lydia | October 2, 2014 7:10 PM
A number of Senators warned that the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill would lead to disaster. As predicted the United States has allowed nondiscrimination based on religion to trump freedom of association.
Posted by Thomas Yeutter | October 2, 2014 9:06 PM
I completely agree.
I would add, though, that there is definitely a range of interpretation on what counts as "reasonable accommodation." Muslims frequently ask for workplace accommodations that are unreasonable. In the UK, for example, Muslims in the medical fields have asked for exemptions to the requirement that female medical workers wash their arms up to above the elbows, as this would allegedly involve immodesty. This is clearly a request to set aside a bona fide requirement of the job. In the U.S., Somali packing plant workers have overburdened non-Muslim workers and nearly shut down the plants by demanding that they all receive their breaks at the same time (where there are a lot of Somalis) for religious reasons. I believe at sundown, if I recall correctly. And rioted when their request was not granted. Now, even under the deformed regime that we have with the federal government overseeing and micromanaging these employer-employee relations, any sane person should be willing to admit that the accommodations being demanded in these and other cases are *unreasonable* and should not be required. Part of the concept I have always had in mind of "disinviting Islam" is pushing back against the obviously excessive and unreasonable demands of Muslims--their demand for Christianity-free enclaves, their demand to be allowed to block streets with Friday prayers, their blocking other users by kneeling down and praying in the middle of a gym locker room (yes, really), their demand to wash their feet in public restrooms, and on and on and on. This is a religious group that definitely fits the "give them an inch, they'll take a mile" description, and even in our current legal situation, not all of these accommodations are required. And they should be refused.
Posted by Lydia | October 2, 2014 9:41 PM
One important principle to keep in mind is that we do NOT owe the same range of civil liberties to visitors that we owe to citizens. We CAN legitimately decide that we don't want to have visitors who dis our own culture of freedom, which many Muslims do. We can within the rules reject their coming into this country on perfectly legitimate rational grounds. We can at the very least LIMIT the foreign based growth of the problem while we get a handle on the home-grown part of the problem.
Posted by Tony | October 3, 2014 10:16 AM
Yes, it's very odd that people seem to think, vaguely, that the Bill of Rights applies to immigration policy.
Posted by Lydia | October 3, 2014 10:31 AM
Posted by Grobi | October 3, 2014 11:05 AM
Yeah, Grobi, like "disdain" as in "they might as well just die" or "they have to make major changes to their business to let me kneel down and worship in the middle of the floor," and many other examples. No, you'd be surprised. The type of disdain I am talking about here is surprisingly rare among Christians, including myself.
Posted by Lydia | October 3, 2014 2:15 PM