OPINION: Educate yourself about Islam, and stop calling names

As is so common in modern political discourse these days, Mr. Bill Cox’s April 15 letter on so called “Muslim bashing” opened with a derisive attack on people he does not know and a national security issue about which he apparently knows very little.

Mr. Cox’s descent into name calling, “virulent Islamaphobes,” and his projection of “fear and loathing” upon others with whom he disagrees, is in my mind a sure sign of a weak argument.

“Act! For America is the nation’s largest non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization devoted to promoting national security and defeating terrorism” (http://www.actforamerica.org). I have been a member of the Flathead chapter (http://actflatheadcounty.wix.com/montana) since its inception and have attended most of the meetings. Given Mr. Cox’s accusations of Muslim bashing and blanket generalizations about the group, I have sincere doubts as to whether he has attended any of the meetings.

We are not political demagogues or monotheistic religious fanatics. We are average Americans with average lives who have decided to take the time and effort necessary to educate ourselves on a topic few understand: Islam, radical Islam, and the threat of terrorism. We do so by becoming familiar with Islam through its own words, through documents such as the Quran and the “Reliance of the Traveller” — the very documents Muslims look to as a guide for every facet of their lives.

We also look to what history teaches us and what is actually happening in the present. Like most apologists, Mr. Cox raises the issue of the Crusades. It is an historical fact that, as ugly as the Crusades were, they were preceded by and in response to several hundred years of Muslim aggression across Arabia, North Africa, and Europe. One might arguably call that period the Muslim Crusades. To ignore this part of history is disingenuous. It is equally disingenuous to ignore more recent history and current events. All one has to do is to go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Islamist_terrorist_attacks and review the list of attacks worldwide since the 1980s to realize that the words of Islam closely parallel the actions of radical Islam.

Mr. Cox argues that the Muslim population and the expected influx due to refugee programs is inconsequential. He considers it “preposterous” that our culture could be “uprooted” and a “Muslim tyranny” instituted. In addition, he claims that “immigrants are extensively screened, and cautious comments by U.S. security officials are deliberately misconstrued to suggest the contrary.”

Mr. Cox seems to ignore 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing, the San Bernardino attack, just to name a few. All were carried out by a small number of attackers. All had devastating results. All are examples of how our vetting process failed.

I worked in the Foreign Service for 20 years and know first-hand how imperfect the vetting process is when records and databases are incomplete, inaccessible, or non-existent.

Another area of concern that Mr. Cox conveniently ignores is the incursion of sharia law into the American judicial system. This is a critical issue. According to the Center for Security Policy, 146 cases in 32 states have been documented in which a litigant has attempted to have the matter resolved by applying Islamic sharia law. From a sampling of 50 cases, in 27 cases in 23 different states, the application of sharia law was allowed. Fortunately, at the appellate level, judges are rejecting its use. Thanks in no small part to the push in many states for “American Laws for American Courts” legislation. A bill to this end in the Montana Legislature was withdrawn during the last legislative session, but is expected to reemerge in the upcoming session. For more information, readers are encouraged to go to http://americanlawsforamericancourts.com/faqs. Shariah law is fundamentally inconsistent with the founding principles and the Constitution of the United States. They are mutually exclusive. The camel’s nose is under the tent. The questions we must ask ourselves is do we let it in? And, what are the consequences of doing so?

The consequences of naive immigration policies are playing out in Europe as we speak. The only reason the U.S. may not see chaos on the same scale is that we are protected by vast oceans to the east and west. But, if we are not careful about our immigration policies, those oceans could be rendered irrelevant and we could see more chaos than we care to imagine.

The recent flurry of letters to the editor are about the resettlement of Syrian refugees. Refugees that will be resettled without notification of, or permission from, the communities affected. It is done in secret. If the Syrian and other Muslim cultures had a history of assimilation into American culture, there would be no problem. Assimilation is the cornerstone of effective immigration policy. Without it, a nation will eventually disintegrate, both culturally and economically. Unfortunately, Muslim cultures, of which Syria is one, do not have a good track record on this issue. In fact, going back to the original documents mentioned above (Quran and “Reliance of the Traveller”), they are instructed to do just the opposite.

Mr. Cox accused Act! For America of “Muslim bashing.” He projected a lot of hatred onto the organization and the individuals who attend. I do not see it. Just maybe, as one of the proponents of removing the statue of Jesus from Whitefish Mountain, he is projecting some of his own inner hatreds. I cannot pretend to know Mr. Cox’s motivations. I only hope that he takes the time to learn about Islam, its history and its teachings.

Chris Amyes is a resident of Kalispell.