Robert Spencer

Robert Spencer is the author of Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World’s Fastest-Growing Faith, from which the following viewpoint is excerpted. In it he considers what might happen in the United States if Muslims become the majority population. He contends that America would be fundamentally changed because Islamic values are foreign to American and Western concepts of democracy. In contrast to the practice of most democracies, which separate religious and political affairs, Islam prescribes a comprehensive system of law and government in which all aspects of life are subject to religious oversight. Islam and democracy may be ultimately incompatible, Spencer concludes.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What attempts in history have been made to establish democracy in an Islamic context, according to Spencer?
2. How did the...