My responses are as follows:
Steven, I would not want to disrespect any of our troops, the troops of our allies or their sacrifices. There are many, many good people who are Muslims. But, Islamists decades ago, when their ideology was being reborn, worked closely and happily with Hitler's Nazis. And, there are too many passages in Islamic holy texts advocating violence that would be considered illegal in the US and under international law to think that an association between Islam and terrorism is coincidence or "Islamophobia".
Farther down, I have this to say (excuse the long paragraphs, it is on Facebook; I added in "to" which had been left out in the middle of the paragraph):
Steven, you are right about good and bad people; they are in all religions. The difference is that if you are a determined evildoer, and you are a Christian or a Buddhist or a member of any number of other religions, sooner or later, you find yourself at a crossroads: you need to change your ways to be true to your religion. Islam is fundamentally different; hatred and opportunism are evident throughout Islamic texts, as are calls for violence. This hatred is dressed up in a cloak of piety. Consequently, the good soldiers you served with who are Muslims will be confronted with a choice: either they convert from Islam, relative to which they are apostates, or they get a dose of that olde-tyme religion and declare jihad on takfir. A very few Muslims are seeking to reform Islam, but the deck is stacked against them, since they are far lower on the food chain even than I, according to the fanatics: I could still convert, but they have left true Islam, and are under a death sentence as apostates. Furthermore, being a woman is not an ideology; being a feminist is. So, you are right not to judge all women according to a few, the same as we should not judge people based on what color skin they have, what color hair they have (though I do make blonde jokes), and so on. However, Islam is a belief system; it is an ideology. For many good people, it really is a religion of peace, and there it ends. However, the evil lies in the Islamic texts; Islam is an ideology of armed conquest that seeks to dominate both this world and the next. Just as Islam offers us the triple choice to convert to Islam, submit as a dhimmi, or die, so do Muslims have ultimately a triple choice: become an imperialistic militant, reform Islam, or leave their religion; for good people who are Muslims, and they are many, that is the dilemma they will ultimately face.
The member who started this with an image linking Nazism to Islam had this comment near the top (I reproduce only the first sentence of his comment):
The Fact of the Matter is this...............THEY ARE MUSLIM FIRST, AMERICAN SECOND!
My response to that (I paragraphed here better than on Facebook):
Roy, I would like to answer your comment about being Muslims first. This is a true statement; similarly, I am a Christian first, and an American second. However, I see no conflict between doing what is right according to my understanding of Christianity, and doing what is right according to what I believe my duties as an American are. Consequently, it is not an issue.
For Islam, however, the tenets of Islamic doctrine, as laid out in Islamic texts, are fundamentally at odds with our Constitution. For example, we have a First Amendment right to free speech; our free speech is blasphemy, and is prohibited in Islam. We have a similar right to freedom of religion; under Islamic law, Christianity and Judaism are subordinated to Islam, and their practice is practically discouraged under dhimmi status, and other religions are legally banned. Reality, of course, has caused Islam to make accomodations with certain other religions, but this is only temporary - such a temporary accomodation is permitted by Islamic law, until Islam gets the upper hand. Our Fourteenth Amendment guarantees to us the equal protection of the laws; Islam, however, makes a distinction between Muslims, other people of the Book (Jews and Christians), and polytheists and non-believers, all of whom must be subordinated and feel themselves subdued. Furthermore, under a strict interpretation of Islam, women are very much second-class citizens, essentially property of a man, either their father or their husband, occasionally of another male relative. Our Second Amendment guarantees us the right to keep and bear arms; under Islamic law, non-Muslims may not be armed. The list goes on...
Thus, to be a Muslim first - as any good Muslim must be - ultimately will place that Muslim in conflict with any oath to support, uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. The way out is: conversion from Islam, reform of Islam, or jihad against America.
Steven and I may disagree on some issues, but Steven is the kind of guy who makes America great.
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