In his recent biography of George Washington, historian Paul Johnson discusses President Washington’s missed opportunity to end slavery in our new nation. Washington feared losing slave-state support in ratifying the Constitution if it meddled with slavery, and “a chance was missed to save the America of the future a vast burden of misery, and it was on Washington’s watch that the opportunity was lost. That, it can be agreed, was his one great failures.”

We know and still experience the tragic results.

Our country is faced with a similar issue with Islam. At stake is the health of our nation and its continued fruitfulness in serving others.

It is clear that parts of the Quran are seditious. Surah 9 provides several good examples of the Quran’s commands to kill idolaters. It’s also clear that millions of Muslims understand jihad – struggle – to mean violence against non-Muslims as commanded in the Quran.

We must find a way to graciously welcome Muslims, but not what the Quran teaches. That will obviously require making some hard decisions. Most public discussion of Islam proclaims its peaceful nature and, amazingly, goes almost entirely unchallenged in any thoughtful or educated manner.

Perhaps we’ve missed our most opportune time to deal with Islam, but the sooner we begin to seriously address the obvious problems with the Quran’s teachings, the better off our nation will be, now, and in the decades and centuries to come.

Neil Berry, Durham