Quarantining Islam

By Dan Popp

Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and intolerance, must always exert a modifying influence on men's passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since, its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness. – Winston Churchill

Presidents Bush (43) and Obama have illustrated two opposing philosophies on how to deal with those who murder in the name of Allah: the war theory, and the crime theory. Self-styled jihadis certainly believe they're at war with the rest of humanity, so the first theory seems more realistic. And we know it's more realistic because it works better.

But there are problems with both concepts when implemented in the real world. The crime theory limits our possible responses, puts us on perpetual defense, unjustly grants evildoers "rights," and doesn't seem to deter anyone. On the other hand, preventing attacks under the war theory demands a level of surveillance that many Americans find unacceptable. The problem common to both these models is that they require us to separate good Muslims from bad Muslims. And this is impossible.

There's another theory that's often applied when we're threatened with a deadly outbreak, and we can't tell who may pose a danger. That is the disease theory. Just like a lethal virus, radicalization may happen to any Muslim at any time. And we don't know who is currently infected, and who is immune.

The sane thing we do in those cases is to isolate the disease. We quarantine as small an area as we can, making sure that the contagion is contained within that boundary. Yes, this unfortunately treats all categories alike: exposed, incubating, immune and symptomatic. But if Muslims will not eradicate this disease from among themselves, I think the best we can do is to keep all of them away from potential victims.

Under this protocol we certainly don't allow anyone exposed to the extremist virus into the country. Keeping a database on "who is where" is nothing but common sense. We actively deport Muslims, the latest arrivals first. We shut down places where the virus might spread, like those mosques from which terrorists have already come. And we keep deporting Muslims and shutting down mosques until the threat is minimized.

Applying disease theory to Islam carries its own danger, though, at least right now. The current government of the United States could be better described as an anti-government. Real governments protect the innocent and harass the guilty; our federal crime syndicate promotes the murder of babies while freeing criminals and terrorists, and robbing everyone. Such an anti-government could easily use the disease theory to ramp up its persecution of Christians, and to close churches. Remember that it's those gun-clinging, Bible-believing Christians – not the knife-wielding, bomb-blasting Muslims – who keep Barry and Hillary awake at night.

So what is my conclusion?

I think the conclusion must be that the greater threat to innocent lives, livelihoods, property, health, prosperity and posterity is unconstitutional government. Until we remove our cancer of lawlessness, our strategies against the lesser epidemic of Islamic terrorism will be ineffective.

© Dan Popp