Is Islam a religion? A political movement? Both?

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain has been taking a bit of heat lately for saying that communities have the right to ban mosques.  Cain made the statement on Fox News Sunday in discussions about a controversial mosque in Murfreesboro, TN:

“Our Constitution guarantees separation of church and state. Islam combines church and state,” Cain argued, as host Chris Wallace maintained that separation of church and state permits mosques to exist in any community. To Cain, however, the problem was not Islam as a religion, but Islam as a set of laws. “American laws in American courts,” he repeated, a mantra he used in the latest Republican primary debate. “It is not just a mosque for religious purposes.”

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