My grandfather is a good person. I've never seen him do harm to another soul, look down on anyone else, or do anything negative in his entire life. I like my grandfather a great deal, and it's hard to reconcile the funny, easygoing man I've known all my life with the same person who forwards this type of shit to me by email. It fosters hatred and ignorance and is fearmongering bullshit. I wish I could understand why he thinks this is okay, or why he thinks that this is smart, or good, or even a Christian thing to do. I've pasted his latest forward below, with my comments in bold*. I've gone ahead and fixed the numerous grammatical issues out of courtesy:

CAN MUSLIMS BE GOOD AMERICANS?

(This is certainly 'food-for-thought'.. What do you think?)

This is very interesting and we all need to read it from start to finish. And send it on to everyone. Maybe this is why our American Muslims are so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities.

Can a good Muslim be a good American?

This question was forwarded to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years.

Oh, well, since he worked there for 20 years, he's obviously an expert. Or just an idiot with a construction job.

The following is his reply:

Theologically – no.. . .
Because his allegiance is to Allah, The moon god of Arabia.

Muslims worship the same God as Jews and Christians. And doesn't the second commandment prohibit no other god? That sounds like allegiance to me.

Religiously – no. . .
Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah Except Islam (Qur'an, 2:256)(Koran)

The line quoted translates to say, explicitly: "Let there be no compulsion in religion." That sounds like the complete opposite. And, once again, the second commandment of the Bible seems to imply that Christians also can't religiously be good Americans.

Scripturally – no. . .
Because his allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran.

Not all Muslims follow the five pillars. In addition, they only say, in an extremely summarized translation, "1. No God except for God with Muhammed as his messenger, 2. Pray to God 5 times a day if you can, 3. Give alms to the poor, 4. Fast from dawn to dusk for a month, 5. Make one pilgrimage to visit Mecca.". Maybe I'm just really dense, but I can't see how this could be a barrier to being American in any way.

Geographically – no…
Because his allegiance is to Mecca , to which he turns in prayer five times a day.

Is this like a Catholic's allegiance to the Pope and the Vatican? Or a Jew's allegiance to Israel? In other words, bullshit.

Socially – no. . .
Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.

No, the Qur'an says that Muslims should avoid being friends with treacherous unbelievers. The fact that someone isn't Muslim does not make them de facto treacherous.

Politically – no. . .
Because he must submit to the mullahs (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America , The great Satan.

This is just fear-mongering at its finest. The Qur'an doesn't require anyone to submit to a mullah, which is in many ways the same thing as a rabbi.

Domestically – no…
Because he is instructed to marry four Women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34)

Let me just throw a few Bible verses your way:

"Women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak, but should be submissive, as the law also says." (1 Corinthians 14:34)

"If any man takes a wife, and goes in on her, and detests her, and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, 'I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin…" (Deuteronomy 22:13,14)

"But if … evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones…" (Deuteronomy 22:20,21)

"Slaves are to be submissive to their masters in everything, and to be well-pleasing, not talking back ." (Titus 2:9)

I think this makes my point. If we were to take every Bible verse literally, how many women would have been stoned to death shortly after they were married?

Intellectually – no…
Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.

Hm. Muslims believe the Bible to be flawed. But since the Constitution makes absolutely no mention of God or the Bible anywhere, it's a moot point.

Philosophically – no…
Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran does not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

See above (Qur'an 2:256) – saying there can be no compulsion in religion sounds awfully similar to freedom of religion and thought. The latter statement about every Muslim government being either dictatorial or autocratic is just factually incorrect. Turkey is an example of a Muslim democracy. Many Muslim-dominated countries are also democratic.

Spiritually – no….
Because when we declare 'one nation under God,' the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as Heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names.

Another completely incorrect statement. While the Qur'an may not refer to God as the "heavenly father" (And why the fuck does that matter at all?), words like "forgiving", "kind", "loving" "merciful" are attributed to Allah throughout the Qur'an.

Therefore, after much study and deliberation…. Perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. – - – They obviously cannot be both 'good' Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish, it's still the truth. You had better believe it. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future.

Maybe we should be suspicious of ALL CHRISTIANS! I mean, if they're going to show allegiance to God and a Bible and stone women who aren't virgins and keep slaves and tithe and require baptism, surely that's completely anti-American, isn't it? I mean, you obviously can't be a good Christian and a good American!

The religious war is bigger than we know or understand. ….

No, the concept of religious freedom is obviously too confusing for you to understand.

Footnote: The Muslims have said they will destroy us from within.

So maybe they're the ones who are sending out these propagandizing emails. It's all part of their strategy to create this foundation of fear and hatred and distrust so that we destroy each other.

Debunking this took about 15 minutes of time and a spoonful of common sense. And it frustrates me to no end to think that my grandfather thinks that this is reality. That he should be suspicious of someone because they're different. And I wish I could show him how ignorant and wrong that really is.

Papa, if you're reading this, I love you and I'm sorry, but UNSUBSCRIBE.