Religious Right: Bible Dictates Laws & Economic Policy But Islam Not a Religion Because It Is A

[rug]

Political & Economic System

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Friday, 12/18/2015 12:19 pm

Donald Trump’s call to bar all Muslims from entering the country was widely recognized as an appeal for explicit religious discrimination and generated significant pushback. But many of Trump’s right-wing defenders have turned to an argument that has long bounced around Religious Right circles: that Muslims are not entitled to the religious liberty protections of the First Amendment because Islam is somehow not a religion. A few years ago, for example, retired Lt. Gen Jerry Boykin called Islam “a totalitarian way of life” that “should not be protected under the First Amendment.”

At this week’s Republican presidential debate, Rick Santorum explained why he believes Islam is not protected under the First Amendment, an argument made repeatedly by the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer. Here’s Santorum:

The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean this sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong.

Conservative columnist and radio host Andrew McCarthy has similarly defended Trump’s comments, saying that Islam is not merely a religion because it “has ambitions to be more than a religion, that is to say that it is an ideological, sweeping system that does not recognize a division between spiritual life on the one hand and political and civic life on the other.”

Back in September, Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins defended similar comments by Ben Carson:

“Religious freedom and our liberty is ordered liberty under the Constitution,” Perkins said. “And as Dr. Caron pointed out, and I know this is driving the left crazy, that Islam is not just a religion, Islam is an economic system, it is a judicial system, it is a compressive system which is incompatible with the Constitution. That’s what Dr. Carson said and he happens to be correct.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-bible-dictates-laws-economic-policy-islam-not-religion-because-it-political-

[COLGATE4]

1. Perkins knows as much about Islam as he

does about the Constitution- a big, fat ZERO.

[Igel]

2. People really don't get numbers.

Or the difference between old-school Xian reconstruction and newer, more extremist approaches.

It's like trying to distinguish between a flea and an elephant at a distance of 500 miles using just 10x binoculars. They're the same from that distance, so it doesn't matter if your dog has a bad infestation of fleas or elephants, a simple dip will dispose of both a hundred fleas or a hundred elephants. (Just make sure you repeat it a week or two later to get rid of the next hatch of flea or elephant eggs.)

For many, a common view of Islam is that there is not a distinction between mosque and state; one serves the other, and if one doesn't serve the other (esp. if the state doesn't serve Islam) then things have to change. Even if most don't want to change things, it's a reasonable assertion. Note that for many immigrants, many educated people this isn't the case, but for many 1st gen college grads it is still true, and since most of the population in Muslim countries tends to be not college educated, well, there you have it.

In the West, this is a much weaker strain of thought, one taken seriously only when mediated by popular will. There are people who think this is a serious issue, but they are far fewer in number and most, when pushed, will argue not for complete subjection but issue-by-issue subjection, with the issues varying from person to person.

[Promethean]

3. Someone once made a really interesting point to me.

When discussing why christians here in the US are so against muslims. It went like this: We liberals write it all off because we think others are like us and cooler heads will prevail. The christians know what its means to be a true believer and they see it in the muslims. This was one of the points that convinced me to take the threat of islam to our society seriously. Because islam does have commands for how government should be run. Even down to tax policy and political classes. Guess where non-muslims stand when they are allowed to live.