The Muslim Threat<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Kerby <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Anderson
 
 
            How significant is the threat from radical Islam? The answer to that question depends on the numbers and percentages. All of us would agree that most Muslims in the U.S. are peace-loving. They are here because they want to enjoy the same benefits of a free society that the rest of us enjoy.
 
            So what is the percentage of those who mean us harm? Columnist Douglas MacKinnon has some chilling statistics. While he recognizes that most Muslims in the U.S. are peace-loving, he begins to break down the percentages. For example, he says that if we "accept that there are six million Muslim-Americans in our country, and 99 percent of them are law abiding citizens who are loyal to our nation, then that means that there may be one percent who might put a twisted version of Islamic extremism before the wellbeing of their fellow Americans."
 
            When I have talked about Islam and asked people to estimate how many Muslims in the U.S. would fit the definition of radical, the estimates are usually in that ballpark. But even a low percentage like that leads to some startling conclusions. It turns out that one percent of six million is sixty thousand individuals!
 
            Imagine if you are the Secretary of Homeland Security and have to pay attention to sixty thousand individuals. That is an overwhelming number when you begin to consider what many people could do in this country.
 
            So some people suggest that even one percent is too high a percentage. So they suggest that the percentage is perhaps one-tenth of one percent. As Douglas MacKinnon puts it, let's "say that 99.9 percent of all Muslim-Americans would never turn on their own government." That would still leave a questionable one-tenth of one percent – or six thousand potential terrorist sympathizers.
 
            Let's once again acknowledge that most Muslims in this country mean us no harm. But it is the remaining percentage that concerns government officials. So we need to pray for those in authority that they will be wise and use discernment when it comes to dealing with radicals among us.
 
            I'm Kerby Anderson, and that's my point of view.