Whose Religion is Extreme? (7-26-04)

Ethics Daily has posted a RNS news story about the Federal Bureau of Prisons taking steps to prevent "religious extremism." The story says "more than a dozen changes" have been made "in its selection and supervision of Muslim religious services." Apparently the Justice Department's office of the Inspector General advocated the changes "to increase security and prevent the potential spread of anti-American ideology."

I am absolutely amazed that the Justice Department has discovered that it has the authority to determine whether certain Islamic beliefs and convictions are "anti-American." Federal prisons have been breeding grounds for a Neo-Nazi, White Supremecist, Christian Identity ideology for decades and the Justice Department never claimed the authority to determine whether their beliefs and convictions are "anti-American" -- even after "Christian" ideologues killed 168 people blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City.

The Justice Department's actions make perfect sense if you believe that America is a "Christian Nation" and that the First Amendment applies only to "Christian" sects. How long will it be before the Justice Department decides that church-state separationists are a "potential" threat to national security because we spread an "anti-American ideology" about the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion to everyone -- to people of all faiths and to people of no faith?