Several governors, including our own Butch Otter, have called for a [temporary] ‘halt to the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program’ ‘until better assurances of security can be obtained.’ (Nov 10, 2015) President Obama said: “Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values”. He also said: ‘a religious test’ for refugees would be ‘shameful’.
The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, however the talk of ‘no religious test’ applies only to ‘a qualification to any office or public Trust under the United States’, it does not apply to immigrants. (Con Art 6:3)
I believe that it is important to distinguish between a religion, covered under the First Amendment, and a political system, which is not. While that would be difficult to distinguish, it should not be difficult for Moslems, themselves, to do so. They ought to be able to root out those among them who would do us harm.
Margaret Thatcher, who was Prime Minister of England from 1979 to 1990 (and good friends with President Ronald Reagan (1981 to 1989) had this to say about America in a speech at William and Mary College in February 1994:
“The historical roots of our [Anglo-American] (sic) relationship are many. A shared language, a shared literature, a shared legal system, a shared religion, and a finely woven blanket of customs and traditions from the very beginning, that have set our two nations apart from others. Even when the founders of this great Republic came to believe that the course of human events had made it necessary for them to dissolve the political bands that connected them to Britain, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitled them, it was from Locke and Sidney, our Harrington and Coke, that your Henry and your Jefferson, your Madison and Hamilton took their bearings.” (Statecraft p. 22)
She went on to say, “Their significance lies in the fact that they allow us to grasp an important truth about America—namely that it is the most reliable force for freedom in the world, because the entrenched values of freedom are what make sense of its whole existence.” (Ibid p 23)
Two years later she made the following claim: “The modern world began in earnest on July 4th 1776. That was the moment when the rebellious colonists put pen to parchment and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honour in defense of truths they held to be self-evident: ‘That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…and that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed’ Henceforth patriotism would not simply be loyalty to the homeland, but a dedication to principles held to be both universal and permanent.'” (Ibid)
She went on to claim that no other revolution in modern history has ever been able to meet that standard: Not the French, the Bolshevik, or any other.
Having spent time in third world countries I have a great deal of sympathy for their people and their circumstances. If they want to be Americans and assimilate with our culture they are more than welcome to come. Look at the different groups that came to America that were not popular when they first came, but after a time they became Americans in the full sense of the word.
The solution, I believe, is to help those immigrants who have had to leave their homes. Help them go back to their homelands and do whatever is necessary to help them reclaim their lands, so that they can be comfortable in their own homes and in their own lands.
Islam is called by some a religion of peace, yet we are told that there are 109 verses that call them to war with non-believers. Here is just one example: Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them”
Some have said that most of these verses only apply to conditions of war, and many could mean that. The difference is that probably few Moslems take these verses literally, and there are verses that talk of love and peace. Still, those who want to do evil can easily justify their actions by verses in the Koran.
There is no easy way to tell a Moslem who is predisposed to violence. As we have seen many do not even value their own lives. Thus, it behooves us to be careful to screen those who appear at our shores and want admittance. That may sound cold hearted, yet the study of history demands that we take the time to know the difference.
American is the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Let us not throw that away by accepting political Islam into our midst for our own destruction.
