Heathen Dawn

That's a racist thing to do... then again, democracy has to defend itself. So the best thing to do is to let Muslims in on condition that they admit their children to secular schools. Or on condition that they leave Islam altogether, which is the same thing.

In the 9th century the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great held a great victory against the pagan Norsemen, and one of the codicils of the peace treaty with Guthrum was that the Norsemen should leave polytheism in favour of Christianity. I do not see why a victorious Infidel West shouldn't demand the same (abandonment of Islam) of vanquished Islamic states. The damage of Islam must be undone. Even Christianity, for all its craziness, is better than Islam, politic-wise. (It was Jesus' "render unto Caesar" which enabled church-state separation in the first place).

Gregg

I don't know that we need to go so far as to demand the abandonment of Islam. What's needed is a modernization of the faith and separation of mosque and state. After we defeated Japan, we didn't demand that they abandon their traditional religions, but we did insist that the Emperor admit that he was not a god. That pretty much secularized Japan overnight.

As for Muslim immigration to this country, we have every right to expect that anyone who wants to live here will uphold the principles of our Constitution, including separation of church and state. We have enough Christian fundies now to deal with, we don't need more Muslim fundies as well. I have absolutely no problem with strictly regulating Muslim immigration to make sure the fanatics stay out. Some people might find that racist, but all I can say is, tolerance is not a suicide pact.

Gregg

MollyMac

I would like to see all religious fanatics kept out both temporarily and permanently - not least fundy xian americans who come here on their missions of hate.

However excluding people on the grounds of their religion alone is a good way to make the fanatics hate us even more and make targets of us. Here in Britian, some of the most powerful voices against Islamic fundamentalism come from ordinary, decent, non-violent muslims - or atheists who come from muslim backgrounds. I have a number of friends who are muslims and they are amongst the nicest people I know - I'm really glad they, or their parents, were able to come here because they contribute to and enrich our way of life.

I agree that they should go to secular schools - everyone should. In fact that's the only kind of school that should exist.

Hubble head

Right on.

The religious zealots deserve the same protections as any other mentally insane person.

Once we live in a society that will adhere to that rule, everybody will be safer- especially the religious people who feel their faith is something more personal, and not to be shoved down the throats of others.