Keeping a watchful eye . .

Submitted by Susan (United States), Sep 7, 2005 at 12:42

I confess to ambivalent feelings toward Muslims in the West. From my 20th century, Christian household, secular society upbringing, I want to be fair and give self-proclaimed "moderate" Muslims the benefit of doubt.

However, I find myself unable to reconcile the practice of Muslim beliefs with my secular country's laws and cultural traditions. When you consider that Muslims wholy believe, and openly claim that the Koran is the FINAL, PERFECT WORD OF GOD then I fear there's trouble ahead. How can they adjust to this society when they must regard their religious scripture as absolutely inerrant--as LITERALLY THE WORD OF GOD? When Muslims present old testament biblical scripture as evidence of Christianity's ability to be misused by radicals, I have to question the relevance of that argument, if not the motive. Mainstream Christians don't practice or believe literally these archaic, radical pronoucements. Klansmen who profess to be Christians represent what--an .00001% of the American Christian population? For that matter, as bad as the Klan was, they didn't set out to topple American "imperialism" or secularism--their objectives were far more limited.

Until American Muslims are willing to openly and without reservation embrace the primacy and supremacy of American secular laws over Sharia in the governance of our citizenry, NOW and FOREVER MORE, I will have to look upon you with a wary eye. Western civilization has undergone an enlightenment and Christianity a reformation, which together have enabled the individual, liberal freedoms we enjoy in America. I don't see that in Muslim dominated lands.

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