Why do I bother?

As indicated in previous posts, several of my correspondents (mostly relatives) are quite a bit more conservative than I, and they forward me emails espousing their views.
This is the second time I've taken the time to reply.
Here goes.

... But first I'll note that much of the anti-Islam screed below could have been adapted from anti-Catholic screed pre-JFK - simply replace "mullah" with "Pope" and "Mecca" with "Rome". ... and the basic argument regarding "allegiance" is straight from anti-Catholic propaganda!

Original indented, normal font.
My replies indented again, italic:

This is very interesting and we all need to read it from start to finish and send it on to everyone. Maybe this is why our American Muslims are so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities.

Can a good Muslim be a good American?

This question was forwarded to a man who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years. The following is his reply:

Theologically – no. . . . Because his allegiance is to Allah, The moon god of Arabia .

well, yes - Allah was adopted by Mohammed as the Universal God of his revelation.

... much as the TWO gods of the Old Testament (God: "El", as in ImmanuEL and IsraEL; and the LORD: “YWH”) both started out as local cultic gods, and were conflated by the Mosaic tradition into the single god of the Hebrew scriptures, later adopted by Christians.

By contrast, Christians worship a deified MAN, and would have us imagine God sucking on Mary's tit!

… also, just for grins: Christians participate weekly in ritualized cannibalism: "this is my body... this is my blood..."

… and is it worth mentioning that Xianity is founded on belief in efficacy of HUMAN SACRIFICE?

Religiously – no. . . Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)(Koran)

Well, yeah… and how does this differ from mainstream Christianity (or any other revealed religion)?

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
[John 14:6]

ALL revealed religions claim exclusive access to “the Truth”.
(and I note that the author, by pejoratively equating Allah with the “moon god of Arabia”, implicity denies the legitimacy of Islam!)

scripturally – no. . . Because his allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran.

Strictly speaking this is not quite right. The Muslim declaration of faith is starkly simple:

“There is only one God, his name is Allah, and Mohammed is his Prophet.”

Nothing about “allegiance” in this simple creed.

… and again, how does a Muslim’s devotion to the Five Pillars differ in kind from the Christian’s much more elaborate creedal confession, e.g.,

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Again, all revealed religions demand adherence to supposedly god-given secondary rituals and beliefs.

Geographically – no .. Because his allegiance is to Mecca , to which he turns in prayer five times a day.

Well, no. Again the creed is starkly simple. “There is one God. His name is Allah. Mohammed is his prophet.” And there is nothing about “allegiance” to Mecca – the ritual of facing Mecca in prayer is a liturgical practice unrelated to fundamental belief.

In the same way, Orthodox Jews around the world face Jerusalem in daily prayer, and Christians almost universally direct worship toward an altar marked by a cross or crucifix. These liturgical, ritual practices do NOT have anything to do with “allegiance”!

… and just for grins: our school-children pledge allegiance to A FLAG!

Socially – no. . . Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.

This may be strictly true, I don’t know.

BUT: I believe you’ll find in Paul’s epistles basically the same advice for believing Christians: avoid the non-believing Gentiles & non-believing Jews – they will only pollute you.
(I’d look up the references if I thought it necessary.)

… and for what it’s worth, Mohammed in the Quran singled out Jews and Christians as “People of the Book”, to be treated with respect.

Politically – no. . . Because he must submit to the mullahs (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America , the great satan.

This is NOT true. It is FALSE!
On the contrary, Islam is a remarkably democratic religion: all believers are equal before God. The respect accorded mullahs & other spiritual leaders derives from their presumed scholarship. But there are NO intermediaries between the believer and God.

True – some Islamic governments have accorded the clergy secular, legal, governmental functions & authority – but this is a matter of government, not religion.

There are no synods or councils to which the believing Muslim must submit his conscience. If he can read and understand the Quran, his spiritual standing before God is equal to the most learned mullah or ayatollah in the community, and it is only the individual believer’s conscience in matters of religion that is relevant to his faith.

Yes – there are mullahs and ayatollahs who preach hatred of America as the ‘great satan’ – but they do this not as religious leaders, but as political leaders.
Islam qua Islam grants them no special spiritual status.

By contrast, creedal denominations (Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans among them) DO assert submission to a church hierarchy:

“And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.”

That “apostolic Church” bit confirms belief in the special spiritual status of clergy!

… and I’m pretty sure that if our tax laws permitted it, LOTS of Christian preachers would be delivering sermons on the evils of Islam!

Domestically – no. .. . Because he is instructed to marry four Women and Beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34 )

Which one (or one dozen) of the Levitical Laws would you like me to choose to ridicule?

Forget Leviticus, let's head straight for Paul:

"Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything."
[Ephesians 5:22-24]

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 2:10But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 2:11Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 2:12But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 2:13For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 2:14And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
[1st Timothy 2:9-14]

Intellectually – no… Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.

Please, someone tell me: just exactly HOW is the U.S. Constitution “Bible-based”????
It is a wholly SECULAR document. The words “God”, “Jesus”, “Christ”, “Bible”, “Faith” occur in it NOWHERE. … and it expressly forbids religious qualifications for federal office.

"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
[U.S. Constitution, Article VI, section 3]

Okay – most of the framers were at least nominally Christian… many of them were Deists… some were Freemasons (among them, George Washington).
Based on these backgrounds, am I free to characterize the Constitution as a Masonic document???

Philosophically - no. . . . Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran does not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

"there is no compulsion in religion"
(Quran, 2:256)

… and again, an examination of Christian scriptures, and an analysis of Christian practice – historical & modern – suggests that Islam differs not a whit from any other revealed religion in demanding exclusivity!

Spiritually - no. . . Because when we declare 'one nation under God,' The Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as Heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names.

Well – okay – even tho’ Mohammed’s revelation has strong ties to the Judeo-Xian tradition of 6th/7th-century Arabia (from an orthodox Xian’s point of view, the Arabian Christianity to which Mohammed was exposed was almost certainly heretical) – Allah, God, the Lord, and Christ are not interchangeable. For that matter, “the Father” of the New Testament is hard to reconcile with God/YWH of the Old Testament (in fact, not a few early Christian heresies explicitly DENIED that Christ and the Old Testament god were the same!).

So what?

… for what it’s worth: “The Pledge of Allegiance” didn’t incorporate “under God” until 1954, in response to anti-communist hysteria.
… and the Pledge is NOT a binding legal formulation.

Therefore, after much study and deliberation.... Perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. - - - They obviously cannot be both 'good' Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish it's still the truth. You had better believe it. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future.

The religious war is bigger than we know or understand. ....

Footnote: The Muslims have said they will destroy us from within.

SO FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.
THE MARINES WANT THIS TO ROLL

ALL OVER THE U.S.
AND .......
AMERICA IS NOT ISLAM!!!
as the person in our Washington , D.C. Whitehouse
is trying to convince
the people they are.
Thus ends the anti-Islam screed. What follows is my commentary.

Just for grins:

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
[Treaty of Tripoli, 1797; by contrast with anti-Islam screed referenced above, this Treaty IS the law of the land!]

All revealed religions demand exclusivity, claim to represent the one & only truth, require "allegiance" to a named higher power, and involve cultic practices that seem just a little weird to the non-believer... Islam differs not at all from Christianity in these respects.

Many Christians in America today forcefully assert their allegiance to a "higher power" that justifies MURDER in the name of conscience. (e.g., killing abortion providers in the name of Christ is just hunky-dory!)

My non-tongue-in-cheek retort:

Can a Good Christian be a Good American?