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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse *

Anyone who follows politics and is even remotely aware of 20th Century history would be loath to disagree that there is a definite American movement that seems Hell-bent on repeating the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany. Of course, the movement is firmly ensconced in the conservative movement with willing participation by the religious right that is as close in proximity to the leanings of Adolf Hitler as neo-conservatives in the Republican Party. It seems there is no demographic in America that is safe from conservatives whether they are the poor, people of color, women, the LGBT community and particularly non-Christians. In fact, over the course of the past ten years no group has absorbed more hatred and vitriol than Muslim adherents and that was long before Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump came on the scene.

No matter how harsh and hateful Donald Trump has been in portraying Muslims as the epitome of evil, he has not called for a “final solution” to rid the world of a billion or so adherents to one of the world’s three Abrahamic religions. As if Trump’s hateful rhetoric against Muslims was inadequate to express some Americans bigotry, ignorance and sheer hate, an Oklahoma Republican has come up with “the final solution” to Islam that entails the Nazi-like “final solution” to the existence of Jews.

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The Republican monster, some hate-monger from Oklahoma by the name of Pat Ownbey, is a state representative from Ardmore and he came up with a final solution to deal with Muslims that would give even Donald Trump reason to pause. Ownbey posted on Facebook and promoted an article over the weekend calling for a “final solution” regarding “radical Islam.” The article proffered an incredibly lame argument that “the 1,400-year-old Islamic faith is not a religion” and therefore its adherents or the religion is not afforded any protections under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

According to Think Progress, Ownbey “re-published an article entitled “Radical Islam – The Final Solution.” Apparently Ownbey copy-and-pasted the original article published by Paul R. Hollrah, a fellow Oklahoman claiming to be a former government relations executive, whatever that means.

Think Progress implied that the author was not aware that “final solution” was the Nazi term for what the rest of the world knows as “the Holocaust,” but that is as absurd an assumption as saying that Republicans are unaware that easy access to battlefield assault weapons contributes to the massacres of innocent Americans on a regular basis. However, kudos to Think Progress for not presuming the worst where religious bigotry and ignorance is concerned. This author is not so restrained by such comity, especially not where religious bigotry is concerned.

According to Ownbey’s re-published article, since an anti-LGBT man who was also a Muslim slaughtered 49 people at a gay nightclub, Islam can no longer be categorized as a religion in America or the rest of the Western world for that matter. The article states:

“…if we in the west are to protect our children and grandchildren from the horrors of a worldwide Islamic caliphate, we must first dispense with the cruel fiction that Islam is just another religious denomination, subject to all of the legal protections afforded legitimate religious sects. Islam is not a religion, subject to First Amendment protections.”

The article’s original author also contends that Donald Trump’s opposition to allowing Muslims to emigrate to America falls well short of the ‘final solution’ and took the low road by assailing Christian denominations such as the Catholic Church for welcoming Muslims; he said Catholics and Christians are monumentally naïve; likely for following Jesus Christ’s commandments . In fact, the author also said that Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims is no different than the Communist Control Act (1954) and insisted that it was time for the West to quarantine all Muslims away from civilization. It is noteworthy that just citing the word “Muslim” is admitting that Islam is a religion, but that’s an insignificant detail to the purveyors of religiously-driven hate.

As nasty as Ownbey is for promoting a hate-inspired religious screed as a “final solution,” there was a glimmer of a damn good idea that he or the original author never set upon. This author is not so inclined.

According to Ownbey’s re-published article,

“Since the 95% of Muslims who are described as either ‘moderate’ or ‘un-radicalized’ appear unwilling to play an active role in keeping their radicalized brethren in check, we have no long term alternative but to quarantine them… prohibiting them from residing anywhere within the civilized nations of the Earth.”

Now, on its face that does sound a tad harsh to most people, quarantining all Muslims from living in any civilized nation because they cannot “keep their radicalized brethren in check.” However, if being unwilling, or unable, to keep the radical fundamentalists in check is the standard for quarantining a particular faith’s entire population, then America should begin rounding up and quarantining every Christian in America and send them away from civilization to the most remote, deepest and darkest part of Africa.

Throughout recorded history “un-radicalized” Christians have shown themselves to be “unwilling to play an active role in keeping their radicalized brethren in check” whether it was during the Crusades, Europeans invading America, Brits colonizing Australia, Hitler in Nazi Germany, George W. Bush’s “crusade” in Iraq, or the anti-everyone evangelical sect decimating freedoms and equality in 21st Century America.

What is stunning really is the insinuation that Islam is not a religion but simply a political ideology. This is sheer ignorance and little else. Obviously the malcontent that penned the original article has no comprehension that Islam is, like Christianity and Judaism, an Abrahamic religion founded on the deity of the Old and New Testament and reveres the likes of Adam, Noah, King David, Moses, Solomon, the prophets and Jesus Christ on the same level as the Prophet Mohammed. The fact that some Islamic adherents are violent is no different than the lot of American Christians who believe war is good, killing innocent civilians is ‘godly’ and actively reject Jesus Christ’s commandment to “love thy neighbor.”

It is unclear exactly who in America bestowed authority on a couple of Oklahoma Republicans to decide what is, and what is not, a “real” religion. The Founding Fathers certainly made no distinction in writing the First Amendment. They did, however, state by unanimous consent that not only was America “not in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,” but that this country was not at war and bore no enmity towards the Islamic religion.

If Americans who want all Muslims banned from America, or quarantined away from Western civilization, or held accountable for the actions of a few maniacs with a Hitler-esque “final solution” had an ounce of humanity, they would insist on banning all religious maniacs from the country. Now that is a final solution no small number of Americans would support enthusiastically – except for that pesky First Amendment that grants freedom of religion to all Americans including Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Heathens and even those hateful, bigoted, and inherently violent evangelical fundamentalists.