since 9/11, the American people have learned a lot about Islam. It’s not a pretty picture. Islam is not just a religion. Its most sacred document, the Koran, is a blueprint for how to run a nation - a nation alien to our most cherished political beliefs.

In many respects, Islam is incompatible with our entire concept of republican democracy. The basic rights that we cherish - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal rights for all - have a low priority for Muslims. It is a fundamental incompatibility that we must face.

It’s great to talk about freedom of religion in America, but when a religion wants to supplant the very foundations on which our country is built, the waters become murky and the responsible course becomes unclear.

Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Shintos and most religions are concerned with spiritual issues, not governmental ones. Religious freedom is a simple individual choice for these people.

As Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” There could be no clearer endorsement of the separation of church and state. Christianity deals with the issues of the heart and God and our souls. It doesn’t tell us who to elect or how to administer the courts.

Global peace would be much easier if the Muslims took the same approach. But the Koran is a blueprint for how to run a country and its government. It is detailed and specific. There is no rendering unto Caesar. The Koran demands a nation use a form of justice called Shariah law. Shariah law isn’t anything Americans want to experience.

There is no freedom of religion under Shariah law. For instance, attempting to convert a Muslim to Christianity is punishable by prison or death. Non-Muslims are second-class citizens and subject to special taxes.

Shariah law is not some fringe element of the Muslim religion. Shariah courts are a reality in Muslim countries today, at this very minute.

Take for instance, Malaysia, considered to be one of the more moderate Muslim countries. I quote the Council on Foreign Relations, writing about the case of Lina Joy.

Lina Joy, born an ethnic Malay Muslim, appealed to the nation’s highest court to be recognized as a Christian, the faith of her Indian boyfriend.

The 43-year-old Joy took up the Catholic faith in 1990, was baptized eight years later, and changed her name to Azlina Jailani in 1999. The next year, Joy sought to remove the word “Islam” from her identification card - that way, she could legally marry her boyfriend - but the lower civil courts ruled that only Shariah courts could officially sanction her conversion.

Under Shariah law in Malaysia, Joy could face criminal prosecution for apostasy, punishable by imprisonment, a hefty fine, or time spent at a “rehabilitation” camp.

Last year, she fled into hiding, worried for her safety. Malaysia, though a multiconfessional state whose constitution guarantees religious freedoms, has seen rising religious tensions in recent years between its Muslim Malay majority (about 60 percent of its population) and its mostly Indian and Chinese Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian minorities. Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators flanked the federal court building during the decision, shouting “God is great.”

It is one thing to be tolerant of other religions. I wholeheartedly support religious freedom. It should be a personal choice. But when the other religion is determined to wipe away everything you and your country believe in, then we’ve got a serious problem.

We’ve got to quit being politically correct and wake up to a real threat to our way of life. We’ve got to call a spade a spade. The Muslim religion is a threat to our fundamental beliefs on individual rights and democratic freedom.

Fortunately, I don’t have to lay out a bunch of facts and studies to prove my point. We all have access to the Internet now. The truth is readily available. Spend an hour researching Islamic law and government on the Internet and you’ll see what I mean.

Shariah law is not a pretty sight. Women are subjugated. Men can have multiple wives. Mullahs become tyrants. Individual rights are tossed. Democracy is meaningless. People are executed by Shariah judges with minimal due process. Public intoxication is punished by flogging. Adulterers are stoned to death.

Turkey is a rare secular state with a Muslim population. It is being torn apart as we speak by this epic battle between secularism and Shariah law. Only military rule has staved off the rule of the mullahs. There’s no happy resolution.

Europe is being gravely threatened by this titanic struggle. There are huge Muslim minorities and they are gaining power. Entire neighborhoods in Paris are under the control of Shariah law. The election of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as president of France underscores that even the liberal French have awakened to the threat. The European Court of Human Rights has determined that “Shariah law is incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy.”

This is not unlike our battle against communism. Communists wanted to overthrow our republican democracy and usher in a “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Fortunately, the communists failed in the U.S., but they did succeed in much of the world, causing untold misery, death and destruction before the collapse of its absurd ideology.

In Venezuela, Caesar Chavez was popularly elected several years ago, but he is now dismantling that country’s republican democracy and replacing it with a Castro-style dictatorship. We should learn from their mistakes. You cannot allow the fox into the henhouse.

We must protect our country and its Constitution. That means fighting parties, religions and ideologies that actively support the abolition and overthrow of our government and Constitution. Individual rights don’t give you the right to murder. Religious freedom doesn’t give a religion the right to persecute “apostates.”

This is a slippery, slippery slope. Nevertheless, it is a slope we must navigate. When American communists actively supported the overthrow of our government, we drew the line in the sand. We must do the same with Islamic fascism. There’s no point in pussyfooting around. The white elephant is in the room and we must acknowledge it.

There are, no doubt, moderate Muslims in our country. Perhaps there is hope the Muslim religions can undergo a moderate reformation. Until then, mainstream Islam in the world today is mutually incompatible to the American concept of freedom and liberty.