[fr_freak]

Theology is not the issue here--citizenship is. You CAN be American and whatever religion you choose or don't choose.

Yes, legally there is no question that, currently, Muslims, as well as all other religious practitioners, can be citizens of the United States. But I did not think we were arguing the letter of the law, but whether, from a practical and ideological sense, Muslims can be Americans in spirit and in practice. Citizenship these days is a mere piece of paper. The real question is whether an individual can be a functioning member of American society, upholding American ideological and cultural principles. I believe that Islam is incompatible with the American political system as it exists today. American political concepts such as freedom of speech, assembly, religion, etc. are antithetical to Islam, and Islam is antithetical to those concepts. There are other non-Christian religions which can blend in just fine - Buddhism for example. Islam cannot.

[gogeo]

Yes, legally there is no question that, currently, Muslims, as well as all other religious practitioners, can be citizens of the United States. But I did not think we were arguing the letter of the law, but whether, from a practical and ideological sense, Muslims can be Americans in spirit and in practice. Citizenship these days is a mere piece of paper. The real question is whether an individual can be a functioning member of American society, upholding American ideological and cultural principles.

I believe that Islam is incompatible with the American political system as it exists today. American political concepts such as freedom of speech, assembly, religion, etc. are antithetical to Islam, and Islam is antithetical to those concepts. There are other non-Christian religions which can blend in just fine - Buddhism for example. Islam cannot...

This is a subtle point, lost on those whose intellectual framework of freedom consists of, "On yeah? You can't make me!"

Unfortunately, legalism is the only framework they possess.