What Are They Teaching in These Schools?
Rusty raises some disturbing questions about the teachings in Muslim schools in the United States. Specifically, the school that educated Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the man indicted for plotting to assassinate President Bush.
The United States has freedom of religion. But as a several jurists have pointed out, the Constitution is not a suicide pact.
Let's say, for sake of argument, that I proclaim myself a prophet and start a cult. Let's say that one of the major tenets of my new religion is the destruction of the United States government and the imposition of a dictatorship under me, as the only true prophet of my God.
At what point does my new religion cross the line from being merely ridiculous and start becoming a serious problem? When does the FBI send agents to my compound? When does the justice department start calling for tanks to burn my compound to the ground? And when is it proper for them to do so?
If my followers are stockpiling arms and killing federal agents, then I think we can all agree that my new religion has crossed a line. David Koresh? The ATF may have bungled the raid, but sorry, folks, he had it coming.
But what if I, the Prophet, do not tell you to stockpile arms, but merely tell you stories about the end of the world, when everyone who is not a member of my cult is ruthlessly killed? Is this mere storytelling, or is it inciting my young followers to execute my will?
I think we can all agree that a clergyman can, from his pulpit, state that certain policies of the government are bad. Case in point -- my Catholic parish priest periodically criticizes the laws that permit abortion.
I think that a clergyman can, from his pulpit, call for civil disobedience against laws he considers unjust. Case in point -- Dr. Matrtin Luther King can call for a March on Washington, and can call for people to go on strike to protest segregation.
But can a clergyman go into his pulpit and say that people of other religions have to die? Can a clergyman running a high school with young, impressionable students, preach that people of other religions ought to be killed if they do not convert?
I think that ultimately, for there to be freedom of religion, religion needs to be subjected to the state. Incitements to violence cannot be permitted. Sedition is not permitted. Religions that call for the destruction of the state cannot be permitted.
I'm not saying that Islam should be banned. But when specific mullahs call incite violence or preach sedition, they need to be jailed, or else a climate of fear is spread among practitioners of other religions, or practitioners of no religion whatsoever.
