Islam

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, U. S. Army (ret.) was an adviser to candidate Donald J. Trump and remains an adviser to the President-Elect.  Interviewed Business Insider in July 2016, Flynn said, "Islam is a political ideology based on a religion."

In 2010, residents opposed to the construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee made a similar claim.  Joe Brandon Jr., an attorney for mosque opponents, tried to argue that First Amendment guarantees of freedom of religion, like the freedom to build a house of worship, should not extend to Muslims because Islam is not a religion.

In the 2010 court case over the mosque, the United States Department of Justice submitted an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief asserting that Islam is a religion.  In an October 18, 2010 press conference, U. S. Attorney Jerry Martin remarked, "Presidents as far back as Lincoln and Jefferson...have publicly recognized Islam as one of the world's largest religions."

In her 2013 book, Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an: Islam and the Founders, Denise A. Spellberg proposed that USA Founders like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington "defended Muslim rights for the sake of 'imagined Muslims,' the promotion of whose theoretical citizenship would prove the true universality of American rights."

In 2010, Brandon answered such claims by saying, "The federal government cited Thomas Jefferson in their press conference, and he owned slaves.  Is that who they want to cite as an authority?" While Jefferson did not free his slaves, Washington did leave instructions in his will for the eventual liberation of all his slaves, and offering immediate liberation to William Lee for his "faithful service" throughout the American War of Independence.  Whatever their foibles, Jefferson and Washington are authorities on religious liberty and what we might call American ideals.

Courtesy and Kindness

     In the 1930s, the California resort at Byron Hot Springs drew legendary Hollywood stars like Clark Gable and Mae West. After the USA entered World War 2, however, the resort hotel and spa became "Camp Tracy."
     American interrogators welcomed Japanese Prisoners of War to the California spa and offered meals prepared by Japanese chefs.
     US Army Major Alexander Corbin researched the interrogations at Byron Hot Springs.  As reported by Brentwood, California newspaper The Press, Corbin told a crowd gathered at the remnants of the resort hotel in 2010, "Courtesy and kindness overcame the most reticent prisoner."
     Alex Corbin wrote the book, The History of Camp Tracy: Japanese WWII POWs and the Future of Interrogation.
     During the course of World War II, the forces of the Empire of Japan became notorious for religious extremism and gruesome decapitations.  Near the end of the war, Japan even employed kamikaze suicidal pilots.  The cruelty of an indoctrinated enemy, however, was no excuse for unkindness to prisoners. 

Fortune of War

   George Washington repeatedly referred to Prisoners of War (POWs) as people whom "the fortune of War" had thrown into their enemy's hands.  Captivity was not a moral judgment on the prisoners.
   In a March 1777 letter to British military commander Sir William Howe, for instance, Washington wrote of "my wish that every reasonable indulgence and act of Humanity should be done to those whom the fortune of War has or may put into our hands."
   Unfortunately, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump spoke of military captivity as a mark of failure in a soldier, sailor or airman.  Especially unfortunate is the fact that Trump's remarks came at the expense of Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona).
   Born in 1936, McCain represents a generation of Americans with a marked aversion to torture.