Is Islam a religion? Iconoclast says no.

Islam has a very large, even dominant, political component and in fact requires territorial sovereignty - as no other religion does. It is self-segregating, fosters ideas of Muslim supremacy and thereby sows seeds of social discord. Even its tradition of charitable giving is solely for the benefit of fellow Muslims. Islam is the duck-billed platypus of belief systems - a religio-socio-political ideology. It covers every aspect of life - personal, social, political and geo-political. The word religion, is not adequate.

And it is certain that the US Founding Fathers, when they wrote about "religion," were speaking of religion in the Judeo-Christian context. They did not mean to protect a religion that would do damage to their infant republic. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously to uphold the banning of polygamy in 1878 and as Norman Berdichevsky has pointed out (see below), religious freedom is not, and has never been, an absolute in this country.

http://newenglishreview.com/blog_months.cfm/d/1/m/2&y=2006

Norman Berdichevsky:

The American Constitution does NOT ABSOLUTELY guarantee Freedom of Religion and both Federal and State Law have taken action against the practices (not the beliefs) and consequences of dangerous and immoral behavior. This was the issue that forced the confrontation of the government against Brigham Young and the elders of the Church of the Latter day Saints (Mormons) to alter their “religion” and accept that American law and citizenship were not congruent with plural marriage or the exploitation of young teenage girls. The Utah territory would not have entered the Union without this confrontation when state power forced a “religion” to change its practices.

The same has been true in many Appalachian states, especially Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Arkansas, West Virginia and North Carolina where state authorities forbade the practice of the so called serpent churches among several Pentecostal denominations after the deaths of numerous individuals handing venomous snakes. The states forced churches and church members to accept that the state had a priority to protect individuals from reckless behavior and protect human life in spite of the claims of “religious freedom.”