(Editor's note: The opinions of retired FBI agent J. Gary DiLaura are his own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of this publication. During his career as an federal agent, DiLaura noticed that groups promoting violence referred to themselves as Muslims and sought religious protections that thwarted proper investigations. DiLaura is promoting the adoption of a constitutional amendment that would exclude religious protections to any organization that promotes violence, even if they call themselves a religion.)
I am not a scholar of our Constitution nor am I an attorney but I do have a pretty good understanding of our "Rule of Law". Our Constitution provides us with what we all call "freedom of speech". That freedom is not unlimited but is within our rule of law. You are not free to say anything you want anytime, anywhere! If you were on a plane and said "I have a bomb", and a sky marshal were on board, he would shoot you and if you survived you would face severe charges for a multitude of crimes. If you were in a crowded theater and falsely yelled, "fire" which caused a panic resulting in injuries, you would be charged with several crimes. If you slander someone you can be held liable for that as well. So you see it is not unrestricted "free speech".
It is the same regarding freedom of religion. You cannot carry out acts, in the name of any religion, that are in violation of our Constitution or, that violate our "rule of law". You may claim your religion believes in human sacrifice but our laws won't allow human sacrifice. You may claim your religion calls for the killing of others who do not believe in your "religion" but our laws won't allow it. You may claim your religion allows for honor killings if a family member disrespects the family or death for unfaithful wives but our rule of law prohibits that as well. So if those are your beliefs, and the country you came from believes in that, you should have stayed there where you may practice those beliefs as we will never allow it here. If you want to stay here, comply with our laws.
What our country MUST do, and I believe will do, is define "religion" as stated in the First Amendment as a "peaceful display of faith" , either through an Amendment to the Constitution (see 28thconstitutionalamendment.com) or a bill doing the same. Define any group that preaches or practices violence under the guise of religion as a criminal organization
Muslims have hidden behind the ignorance of people for too many years. People like me are reading the English interpretation of the Koran and are no longer ignorant in the teachings of Islam! There is no distinction between Radical Islam and "peaceful" Islam in the Koran. There is no distinction between good and bad Muslims except that, according to the Koran, bad Muslims are those who don't believe in all the teachings of the Koran! There is NO peaceful Islam according to Mohammad in his Koran!
If you are a peaceful Muslim who does not follow the violent teachings of Mohammed then show us your beliefs in the English written prose of your religion. Show us your "Bible" or "Koran" or "Manuscript" espousing your religious beliefs. Don't tell us it's in the Koran by Mohamed as we have read it and beheading Unbelievers is not peaceful, even if Mohammed thought it should be. Evil countries like Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and many more practice those beliefs.
If the "majority" of the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world are peaceful then show us what book of faith they follow! It's that simple. Don't try to pass off the Koran by Mohammed as peaceful as it won't work anymore unless you're dealing with really stupid people. You may fool our President that Islam is a religion of peace but not us!
Here's a quote from John Quincy Adams (1767 – 1848) the sixth President; In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar [i.e., Muhammad], the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE [Adam's capital letters]….Between these two religions, thus contrasted in their characters, a war of twelve hundred years has already raged. The war is yet flagrant…While the merciless and dissolute dogmas of the false prophet shall furnish motives to human action, there can never be peace upon earth, and good will towards men. ( Wikislam)