I am old enough to remember the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, first without “Under God” in the pledge and then in the 1950s while I was in grade school, seeing that “Under God” was instilled in the pledge.

This was done because of Sen. Joe McCarthy and his quest to rid the government of suspected communists under the Eisenhower administration. For communists did not believe in “God” and therefore would not sign a loyalty oath when seeking employment in city, county, state or federal government. The country at that time was caught up in the fever of the “Red Menace” and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

I was a young man in my early twenties and witnessed the total abuse of a race of people, especially in the Deep South. This disregard for one’s intellect was based on their skin color and fueled by persons such as Strom Thurmond, George Wallace and Robert Byrd, who formed the basis of the “Dixie Democrats.” With resolve to restore the dignity of these people, Dr. Martin Luther King and others took tremendous amounts of abuse until the issue was resolved and we became “One nation under God,” much to the disgust of many in our republic.

Today some bias still exists in this country and that cannot be helped. But each individual today is endowed by their “Creator” with the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that is codified in the Civil Rights Act of the 1960s. No government regardless of how big or small is going to be able to gratify the wants and needs of all of its people. But it is the job of government to ensure that each individual has the opportunity to pursue his or her ambitions.

Today, America faces huge problems from within and outside our national boundaries. When this country first took its baby steps on the way to adulthood, our Founding Fathers determined two things: One, we were unique as a nation of people, for we have thrown off the yoke of royalty and the divine right of kings. Two, we believed that our destiny was determined by our hands and the hands of our Creator.

To historians, the letters written by Washington, Jefferson and Adams reinforce that premise that all men are created equal under the eyes of the Creator and in our Judeo-Christian faith, that Creator is God.

Today; we are faced with the influence of a theocratic rule, a rule that is so strict that if you deviate from it, you can be put to death. I am talking about the theocratic rule of Islam, which now controls all the Middle East with the exception of the state of Israel. Moderate or radical, it makes no difference, for Islam cannot and will not live side by side with Jews, Christians or any other faith, they must ultimately control the masses with strict adherence to “Allah” and the Prophet Muhammad.

In the course of centuries since “Christ” walked among the people, our “faith” has changed with the times and our belief system has divided into several sects, but still embraces the over-all belief in “God.” We believe in the forgiveness of “sin” and that man can be redeemed. But with Islam, if you “sin” you pay a heavy price for it and that price can be death. In our Judeo-Christian belief system, women are treated equal in the day-to-day practice of our faith. And even within governing bodies of the church, women are succeeding to positions of authority. But not with Islam, where women are placed in positions of second-class individuals and in some Middle Eastern countries they are placed below cattle.

Since the end of the Second World War, Europe has experienced the influx of Muslims into their countries, the biggest being France. Today, France is awash with Muslim communities within the country and within these communities strict “sharia law” is applied to all who reside within the community and this has brought about several armed clashes between French authorities and the Muslim community.

By and large, those in these communities will not assimilate into the culture and the customs of the “host nation” and the same is now taking place here in the United States. Dearborn, Michigan, is a classic example of how aspects of “sharia law” are being applied within the Muslim community and sharia courts have been set up.

This flies in the face of all that our Founding Fathers struggled to achieve: “That all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with the Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” To invoke a modern terminology: We have evolved in our religious tolerance over the course of our existence; on the other hand, Islam has not evolved and has remained the same as it was when first introduced around the seventh century.

Today there is a growing resentment towards allowing more Muslims into our country, and our leaders, including the president, seem to ignore this resentment from the people. Thousands upon thousands of Muslims have once again descended into Europe and are now creating a situation equal to the displaced persons or refugees of Second World War Europe. But more troubling is the overriding fact that a large number of these Muslims may be radical ISIS fighters hell-bent on destroying Western civilization.

If we are to take any of these refugees, they should be the Coptic Christian refugees from Syria and Iraq who have been driven out of their homelands by radical Islam. For we are a Judeo-Christian nation and we do have the common religious thread. But if we continue to allow thousands into our country without qualifications, we will destroy the very foundation that has made us unique among the nations of the world — our ability to seek our own “happiness” and pursue our own “dreams” without the control of a centralized government or religion, for that was the basis of our Declaration of Independence.

Jim Garvey is a resident of Kalispell.