re: #3 Son of the Black Dog

The more I learn about Islam, the more strongly I believe that it IS primarily a political institution, dedicated to social control, but wrapped in a thin veneer of religion. Not that I think we should ban it, but it does need to go through a reformation.

I think this is exactly right. And, Islam is in good company. Not too many centuries ago, it could be argued that the Roman Catholic Church was primarily a political institution. As far as religions go, Islam is quite young and seems to be acting it’s age.

While I’m sympathetic to some of the European concerns about growing Muslim populations not endeavoring to assimilate into their host’s culture, I think that they (the European countries) have to approach it in a more open-minded fashion giving greater deference to basic human rights. Until that happens, they won’t be in a very strong position to more leverage their goodwill for more substantive change within their respective Muslim immigrant communities.