(By Jaimie Erker, ’76 Contributor) “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” (U.S. Const. Amend 1). Those potent words make up one of the most influential and defining rights the United States protects and enjoys; Freedom of Religion. The fight to establish a separation of church and state dates back to the very author of the Constitution’s childhood: James Madison. He had seen the effects of a state-sponsored religion on populations that did not believe the same way, most notably the persecution of Baptists in Anglican Virginia. He and the other Founders knew that to create a free society, there must be the protection of an ideology called “freedom of conscience”: the freedom to think the way one chooses. When the call came to draft a Bill of Rights, Madison knew that the protection of freedom of religion had to be a part of it.
How has one of the rights that defines the U.S. become the “Achilles’ heel” of its national security? In this day and age, there must be a greater understanding as to what the Founders intended by protection of freedom of religion. It was not to allow any religion to impose their ideology on our government and make our Republic a Theocracy. Yet that is the intent of Al-Qaeda. In our nation where separation of church and state is the law of the land, Al-Qaeda or radical Islam, threatens to destroy our form of national government and replace it with their strict, Old-World Islamic Theocracy. When viewed accurately, Al-Qaeda is, in reality, a political faction, much more so than a religious institution.
Sayyid Qutb, the father of radical Islamic thought, was drawn to the U.S. by this exact freedom in the 1940s. He lived in New York City until he was disillusioned by the sinful nature of the city. He then moved to Greeley, Colorado, attending the school which would later become known as the University of Northern Colorado. Upon his return to Egypt, he wrote harsh criticisms of the Western world because of this rampant sin he found in the U.S. It was from his writings that Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri became radicalized, describing the West as “the wellspring of all evil.” They began perverting the writings of the Qur’an to fit their own political agenda, most notably being the justification of the suicide bomber. In the Qur’an, if a Muslim commits suicide, he is doomed to repeat his death by the same instrument forever in hell. Zawahiri took this passage and manipulated it to reveal that suicide bombings were actually the ultimate form of martyrdom to further the kingdom of Islam. The creation and promulgation of radical Islam took on a force of its own, leading to horrific acts and loss of life, such as the attempted bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the bombings in Kenya in 1998, the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, and the September 11, 2001 attack.
How is the U.S. to deal with a group of radical Islamists who see these acts of terror as their duty to Allah in purifying Islam and the world? It is vital to understand that this group of Muslims seek to overthrow the United States government and any other government that is either secular or supportive of any religion other than their version of Islam. In this way, Al-Qaeda has proven itself to not be a religious institution, instead it is a political faction working to rebuild and expand the Ottoman Empire. These radical Muslims will stop at nothing; even killing fellow Muslims who do not follow the same extremist ideology. Al-Qaeda wants to create a government extremely contradictory to that of the U.S. Qutb wrote that the goal of proper Islam is to place power completely in the hands of Allah and remove it from governments that attempt to place “man over man.” Bin Laden envisioned a total theocracy, a concept he incorporated into the constitution of Al-Qaeda: “to establish the truth, get rid of evil, and establish an Islamic nation.” Now is the time to remove freedom of religion from the ongoing debate and view radical Islamic terrorism for what it truly is: a political faction.
Radical Muslims twist our Constitution to protect their actions and intentions. They walk among us as they infiltrate our country. It is time to enlist the service of true American Muslims who can recognize the radical enemy in their ranks. They can spot the Muslim who isolates himself from American culture. Who begins strictly adhering to the stated lifestyle of Sharia Law. Who begins attending a politically-charged mosque. All Americans, whether they be Christian, atheist, or Muslim, must join together by acknowledging religion is not a factor in this threat; rather, it is the political ideology of these radical Muslims that seek to destroy our way of life. Each and every one of us is charged with a patriotic duty to our country. As Americans, we must be on the lookout to protect our liberty and our Constitution. The Founders initially gave us this duty in order to keep our own government in check. But today, our charge has grown to protect our liberty, our Constitution, and our government from the evil that lurks in the shadows, seeking to destroy it.
The Founders most likely did not have Islam in mind when they first drafted the Bill of Rights, including the right to freedom of religion. However, as this is now the current threat the U.S. faces, there needs to be a greater understanding of the true problem at hand and the Founder’s reasoning for freedom of religion. Jefferson once said, “I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” The sworn intent of radical Islamic groups, such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, is to impose their form of Islam upon every person of the earth. Americans need to remove the context of religious liberty from this national security issue, as the Islamic faith is not the true enemy; the political institutions manipulating it for their political gain are the true threat. America is a safe haven for the religiously persecuted and those people who desire to practice their faith in peace, while following the law of the land: the U.S. Constitution. Al-Qaeda and ISIS are not peaceful, practicing Muslims. These organizations are made up of radical politicized Muslims whose ultimate desire is to place all nations under the control of their Islamic theocracy. The fight needs to be centered on the true enemy, radical politicized Islamic groups, and not the broad assumption of the Islamic faith. Until these terms are fully defined and the American people understand the true threat, the First Amendment will act as a stumbling block, causing citizens to question if it is the kryptonite to U.S. national security.
To find out more about the rise of radical Islam, please check out Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
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