I did not know Thomas Jefferson, and I am no Thomas Jefferson. But Jefferson rightly foresaw that slavery and the question of its morality and expansion would be America's “firebell in the night.” We are still coming to terms today with the awful legacy of slavery in a free land.

However, Islam represents today's “firebell in the night.” The so-called “religion of peace” stands as a small, but growing, presence in America, and its slowly increasing demands for accommodation have thus far generally met with acquiescence and ignorance. One cannot help but wonder how long it will be before America awakens to the very real threat within its own borders, a threat not only to life but to freedom as well.

Rifqa Bary provides the latest demonstration that Islam's core DNA is incompatible with Western society. Meanwhile, America continues to heap politically correct platitudes on Islam as if it were merely a misunderstood religion, whose aims are like any other religion. Every so often, I sound the “firebell in the night” as a warning that our failure to assess Islam properly places our very freedoms in peril. Despite my warnings, Islam continues like colonial and antebellum slavery as an issue long-ignored or glossed-over.

Seventeen-year old Rifqa Bary sits in the custody of the state of Florida, awaiting a ruling to determine her fate. Either she will be allowed to remain in Florida on her own or she will be returned to the custody of her parents in Ohio, from whom she fled after receiving death threats for converting from Islam to Christianity. She now seeks refuge with a Christian family in Orlando. Rifqa claims that, upon discovering her conversion, her father began to threaten to kill her as prescribed in Islamic law. Thus, Rifqa claims her life literally hangs in the balance. It is clear in her mind that, if she is returned to her parents, she will be killed.

The real question is, “Does anyone care?” When Rifqa appeared in court last week, her father was present. Rifqa curled up in a fetal position in fear of confronting her father and possibly facing a return to her parents in Ohio. Rifqa awaits her fate. The world awaits the ruling.

At first blush, this appears to be a family feud, where miscommunication has filled a teenage girl with anxiety and fear.. By drilling a little deeper, the obvious reveals itself: Muslim women live a perilous existence, even in America, the land of the free. Rifqa's situation provides insight into key areas where Americans are shockingly ignorant about Islam.

First, America has already experienced the Islamic custom of “honor killing,” where the men in a Muslim family murder one of their own female relatives for having done something that brought “shame” to the family, like being raped or rejecting an arranged marriage. Documented recent examples in Texas, Michigan, New York, and Georgia illustrate the reality of honor killing in America. Most recently, the bodies of seven Muslim girls and women arrived in the morgue of Kingston, Ontario, after having been victims of drowning, with the male members of their own families being the primary suspects for the murders.

Of course, little has been made in the press of these honor killings in America and Canada because it is politically incorrect, even insensitive, to point out the horrors of Islam, even when they occur in North America. To offer a critique of Islam is not only politically unacceptable, it can be dangerous. Witness last week's announcement that the esteemed Yale University Press will not reproduce the famous Danish cartoons of Mohammed in a book they are publishing about, well, those very cartoons. Readers of The Cartoons that Shook the World will find themselves in the unenviable Orwellian position of reading thoughts about cartoons they cannot view. Yale Press said the risk of “instigating violence” was simply too high.

Meanwhile, Islam continues its slow, kuzdu-like creep into American freedoms. The reality is clear. First, prevent freedom of speech by stoking the fear of violent reprisal. Second, squelch the equality of women by slaying those who fail to remember their place and role in the family. Finally, crush freedom of religious expression by executing those who would dare leave Islam for another faith. Continued...