Indeed she frames several of her objections to Islam in terms of the U.S. Constitution. Islamic teachings advocate murder of non-Muslims, she charges, putting the religion at least partly outside the protection of the First Amendment, which is also contravened by Islam’s goal to “Islamize the entire world,” as she puts it. Islam’s oppression of women, she contends, violates the Constitution’s equal-protection clause.

On her website and in person, Torgerson stresses that she doesn’t mean to hurt or offend anyone. Rather her intention, she writes, is “to advance the protection of freedom of speech and religion in America.”

“I think we as Americans are very tolerant. I’m very tolerant,” Torgerson told MnIndy. “There’s a problem of a good number of Muslims being intolerant. … They need to become tolerant of us.”

She cited examples such as the uproar in 2005 and 2006 over the publication of editorial cartoons depicting Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. Criticism of Islam “is pure speech,” she said. “It’s protected. Nobody gets to riot because of it. Nobody gets to kill people because of it.”

Torgerson cites as well the 2004 assassination of Dutch director Theo Van Gogh for making a short film based on Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book “Infidel.”

Muslims “have teachings that are essentially criminal,” Torgerson said. She didn’t have a ready citation from the Quran but followed up by email to MnIndy:

http://minnesotaindependent.com/51029/torgerson-ellison-5th-district