I personally think we need to be very strict with our immigration policies - not based necessarily on religion or culture, but on ideology and willingness to be a legal, law-abiding citizen of the United States. A problem there seems to be, being able to effectively sort through that, given many of the mixed messages within Islam, for example. I personally know people of Middle Eastern descent, including Muslims. Most of the ones I know are peaceful, law-abiding citizens. What I don't know is, what's "secretly" built into their religion and belief system, that under "what" circumstances might they be influenced "against the infidels". I'm not saying I know that, I'm saying I don't know, that concerns me. If forced to, I'd probably say the ones I know, with one notable exception, are probably mostly trust-worthy. But there is apparently a LOT of evidence that there are many expectations within the Muslim religion that could indeed be detrimental to America, given the "right amount" of the population becoming Muslim, as well as certain allowances made within societies that allows them to gain power, make demands, and begin to undermine the societies within which they proliferate (not assimilate, proliferate). It's more than I want to get into, I'd have to dig too much for exact numbers. But there is much evidence that based on what percentage of a society becomes Muslim, there are increasing demands and expectations regarding Sharia Law for instance, and the damage and chaos to a society that can be incurred. I've looked at those numbers, I can't recall them exactly off the top of my head. But I'll guess WW can testify to at least some of that, as The Netherlands have been a testing ground for some of the above. Bringing this full circle, I said we should not discriminate (as in totally disallow) against other cultures and religions. The caveat is, based on hard evidence, this should be controlled, limited, and monitored very closely - not just "come one, come all, do whatever you please - we'll bend over and bow to your wishes". So the laws and culture of America, IMO, should be staunchly maintained. My concern is, I believe there is evidence of danger(s), as witnessed by a couple of the articles I've personally posted in this thread. So yes, everyone should have their rights, liberty, respect - but within certain parameters, expectations, and controls including an insistence on the law of the land being followed, and immigration being tightly controlled - North, South, East and West.
Briefly, any vestige of Sharia Law should not be given ANY foothold in our society at large. It's not our law, it's based on a (perverted) religion, and is dangerous. I see a problem that a foothold is being given, ground is being surrendered, the alert is not high enough, people need to wake up and not fight against our values, but uphold them - carefully, lovingly, not indiscriminately - but very clearly and strongly just the same.
Honestly, I don't think we'll get this done, unless God steps in, wakes people up, and provides us with His guidance and mercy to do it. Humankind as a whole is too inept, divided, blinded, and sin-damaged to run a society as God would have it run. We can't even run our own lives without divine intervention, much less a whole society. History is littered with the evidence, including within the scriptures themselves.
So bottom line, honestly, I'm personally probably somewhere in the middle. I think there's more of a concern and more frightening issues involved that what I PERCEIVE as you presenting Byron, yet I also don't think we need to totally isolate, shut everyone else out, discriminate, etc. against others that are different. We're called to be salt and light - yet, as a nation, I believe we also need to use some discretion and set limits. But we can only do that if we look to God, follow His ways, and seek Him to heal us and heal our land.
Those are my thoughts, my opinions, if something's not clear, please don't assume or extrapolate. I typed this quickly, I may have mis-spoken somewhere, I may need to clarify or re-think something. Many of my beliefs, in many areas, are in flux and have been for some time. These are my thoughts right now.
James.
