When I first heard of the Fort Hood shootings last week, I was horrified.

When I heard that the alleged perpetrator was a Muslim, I felt even worse. Even if the killings were just the work of one deranged man, even if they had nothing to do with Islam or terrorism, how could they do anything but make Americans even more leery of the Muslims who live among us?

[caption id="attachment_101" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The war at home"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-101" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/varvel-300x216.jpg" alt="The war at home" width="300" height="216" />[/caption]

No one seems to know exactly how many there are, but various sources have quoted the figure at about 7 million. Most of those folks aren't radical Islamists, just as most Christians aren't people who bomb abortion clinics. But there is a <em>differentness</em> to Islam that seems to make many Americans uneasy, and just as I felt Osama bin Laden could have left us far more nervous had he attacked two small towns at random instead of picking New York and Washington, the shootings at Fort Hood trouble me.

After all, most of us don't live in New York or Washington, but if the terrorists had attacked Sioux Falls, S.D., and Spartanburg, S.C., that might have left us with a feeling that they could hit us anywhere.

The problem we have faced ever since Sept. 11, 2001, has been a complex one. How do we provide people the feeling of safety they need without surrendering what makes us Americans? How do we target Muslims without shredding the First Amendment right of freedom of religion?

In 1290, King Edward I of England <a title="England expels the Jews" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Expulsion" target="_self">expelled all the Jews</a> from his country, mostly in an attempt to end the practice of lending money at interest. It wasn't until 1656 that edict was reversed.

Could we even consider doing anything like that? It would be awfully difficult, especially when you consider that many of the Muslims people would seek to expel would be law-abiding Americans who were born here and have spent their whole lives here.

Could we outlaw a religion? If you get rid of Islam in America, then what about Scientology? Or what about any religion practiced by a very small minority?

I feel absolutely awful for the victims of the Fort Hood shooter and their families, and I certainly want the shootings investigated and whoever is responsible punished to the full extent of the law. But even if it does turn out to be a terrorist act, and not just the actions of a sick, deranged individual, you don't protect America by destroying what it stands for.

Remember, we are the land of the free and the home of the brave.

It seems as if a lot of people are forgetting that second part these days.