Yes, I know that most Muslims are good people. I’ve said that a million times around here. But I can’t help but be struck by the constant appearance of stories like this one that indicate that there is a serious problem with religious/political violence against the civilized world coming out of the religion of Islam FROM WITHIN THE UNITED STATES.

After all, in the last 24 hours I’ve seen the following stories.

• Chicago Muslims arrested for planned murder of Muhammad cartoonist
• Al-Qaida sleeper agent to be sentenced in Illinois
• Detroit imam killed in FBI shoot-out during jihad arrests

It seems like not a week goes by that we don’t have a series of such stories about jihadis among us, ready to do us harm in the name of Islam. And yet some among us still don’t even want to name the source of the problem for fear of hurting feelings or stigmatizing minorities.

But the reality is that that make me wonder – can we afford to allow Islam to continue grow unmolested in our nation? In light of the clear strain of violence and supremacism that has infected too many Muslim communities in America, can we treat Islam like any other religious faith in this country? And in the scariest part of my musings, I fearfully consider at this means for the future of the First Amendment in America and if stopping the jihadis among us in this “sweet land of liberty” will ultimately destroy the very freedoms that they want eradicated.