A New Amendment to the Constitution: Re: Islam

A poster at Jihad Watch (who goes by the name “robscottw”) posted there today (June 15, 2007) an interesting proposal:

“A Proposed Constitutional Amendment: Background and justification to Amendment 28”.

I now reproduce it here. My additions will be in brackets and blue font, while my suggested corrections will appear after the poster’s word in CAPS and in brackets (in black font). (At the end of the presentation, I will add my concluding comments.)

Here is the proposed Amendment:

Whereas Religion is defined as an institution dedicated to improving social conscience and promoting individual and societal spiritual growth in a way that is harmless to others not participating in or practicing the same;

Whereas the United States of America was founded on the ideals of individual rights, including the individual right to practice one’s religion of choice, or no religion, and that there would be no compulsion of religion, nor state sanctioned religion, nor a “religious test” for participation in the body politic;

Whereas Islam includes a complete political and social structure, encompassed by its religious law, Sharia, that supersedes any civil law and that Islam mandates that no secular or democratic institutions are to be superior [or equal] to Islamic law;

Whereas Islam preaches that it and it alone is the true religion and that Islam will [SHOULD] [in time before the Last Days] dominate the world and supplant all other religions and democratic institutions;

Whereas Saudi Arabia, the spiritual home of Islam does not permit the practice of any other religion on its soil and even “moderate” Muslims states such as Turkey and Malaysia [and Indonesia] actively suppress other religions;

Whereas Islam includes as its basic tenet the spread of the faith by any and all means necessary, including violent conquest of non-believers, and demands of its followers that [wherever possible] they implement violent [DELETE “violent” PER FOLLOWING CORRECTIVE] jihad (holy war [SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE THAT INCLUDES MILITARY AND OTHER SMALLER-SCALE TYPES OF VIOLENCE]) against those unwilling to convert or submit to Islam, including by [AND ALSO INCLUDING] deception and subversion of existing institutions [and campaigns of demographic conquest by means of immigration and using their women as ‘baby factories’];

Whereas on 9/11/2001 19 Muslim hijackers acting in the name of Islam killed 3,000 Americans, [and a number of terrorist plots to kill Americans have been foiled after 911] and numerous other acts of terrorism have been directed at the American people around the world;

Whereas representatives of Islam around the world including Osama Bin Laden (architect of 9/11), the government of Iran including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, HAMAS, Hezbollah, and other Islamic groups have declared jihad (war) on America, and regularly declare that America should cease to exist;

[Whereas many of the above-mentioned representatives of Islam have also declared jihad (war) on many other regions of the world (including the Philippines, Southeast Asia, India, the Balkans, Spain and significant parts of Africa) which together and individually constitute ongoing partners of America in its geopolitical and economic interconnection with the rest of the world;]

Whereas there is no organized Islamic opposition to violent proponents of [expansionist] Islam [which includes the imperatives of jihad and of the superiority of Sharia over all non-Muslim systems of law];

Therefore: Islam is not a religion, but a political ideology more akin to Fascism and totally [FUNDAMENTALLY] in opposition to the ideals of freedom as described in the United States Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights.

Be it resolved that the following Amendment to the Constitution be adopted:

Article I

The social/political/ideological system known around the world as Islam is not recognized in the United States as a religion.

The practice of Islam is therefore not protected under the 1st Amendment as to freedom of religion and speech [EXCIZE THE WORD “SPEECH”—IF NEED BE, A SEPARATE PROVISION (LET ALONE A SEPARATE AMENDMENT) WOULD HAVE TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM OF THE OFFENSIVE AND DANGEROUS NATURE OF ISLAMIC SPEECH, WHICH PERHAPS CAN BE SUBSUMED UNDER THE RUBRIC OF “TREASON” AND “SEDITION”].

Article II

As representatives of Islam around the world have declared war, and committed acts of war, against the United States and its democratic allies around the world [and as it would be imprudent given the nature and scope of the threat presented by these representatives of Islam—whom we have rationally determined cannot be sufficiently distinguished by those representatives of Islam who seem harmless—], Islam is hereby declared an enemy of the United States and its practice within the United States is now prohibited.
Article III
Immediately upon passage of this Amendment all mosques, schools and Muslim places of worship and religious training are to be closed, converted to other uses, or destroyed. Proceeds from sales of such properties may be distributed to congregations of said places but full disclosure of all proceeds shall be made to an appropriate agency as determined by Congress. No compensation is to be offered by Federal or State agencies for losses on such properties however Federal funding is to be available for the demolishing of said structures if other disposition cannot be made.
The preaching of Islam in mosques, schools, and other venues is prohibited. The subject of Islam may be taught in a post high school academic environment provided that instruction [be quantitatively and qualitatively balanced to] to include [alternative points of view bearing on the] discussion of Islam’s history of violence, conquest, and its ongoing war on [STRUGGLE AGAINST] [liberal,] democratic and other non-Islamic values.
[Note: The following provision bears upon the questionable inclusion of “speech” as noted above and falls under our objections as noted above]

The preaching or advocating of Islamic ideals of world domination, destruction of America and democratic institutions, jihad against Judaism, Christianity and other religions, and advocating the implementation of Sharia law shall in all cases be punishable by fines, imprisonment, deportation, and death as prescribed by Congress.

[Note: The following, however, relates to violent action and support of same, therefore falling outside the problem of “speech” and our objections to that]

Violent expressions of these and other Muslim goals, or the material support of those both in the United States and around the world who seek to advance these Islamic goals shall be punishable by death.
Muslims will be denied the opportunity to immigrate to the United States.
Article IV
Nothing in this amendment shall be construed as authorizing the discrimination against, of violence upon, nor repudiation of the individual rights of those Americans professing to be Muslim. The individual right of conscience is sacrosanct and the practice of Islam within the privacy of home and self is strictly protected to the extent that such individuals do not violate the prohibitions described in Article III. [Note: this allowance touches on our objections to the category of “speech” otherwise apparently ignored by this Amendment.]

Concluding Comments:
Of course, such an Amendment should be scrupulously footnoted with multiple sources to back up every one of its claims.

This Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America pertains only to the USA, of course. Something similar should also be instituted throughout the West.

This kind of Amendment, while dearly exigent in our time, remains currently a pipe dream, because of Political Correctness. However, its wording and deference to existing Constitutional process does garner it some incremental advantage—at least to put the idea near the table of public discussion, if not on it, where it belongs.

Why is not Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch lending his support to this? This is not the first time that, in my experience of perusing the comments sections of Jihad Watch, this particular poster, “robscottw”, has posted this interesting proposal on Jihad Watch.