Sometimes people say things that get so close to the line that you can’t tell if they’ve crossed it.

That’s true with the written word. Letters to newspaper editors at times get so close to that line that you have to wonder that very thing. One such letter appeared recently in the Amarillo Globe-News. It came from someone with whom I am acquainted. I’m still scratching my head over it.

This woman wrote that Muslims need special scrutiny if they seek to enter the country. The trigger for that comment was the Boston Marathon bombing allegedly committed by two brothers, both practicing Muslims. One of them is dead, the other is being held in a federal holding facility.

“All immigrants, Muslims in particular, allowed in America must be thoroughly vetted prior to entry, regardless of cause. They also must accept American laws – sharia law has no place here – and they must be monitored periodically for attitude changes. No citizenship can be allowed until assimilation is complete,” she wrote.

Setting aside the idiocy of trying to determine “attitude changes,” or determining whether someone’s “assimilation is complete,” the letter drips – in my eyes, at least – with hatred.

The letter writer asserts that although “not all Muslims are terrorists” she said “most terrorists are Muslims.” Oh really?

I guess she knows something none of the rest of us knows about every act of terror committed in this country. Assassination of abortion providers or the bombing of abortion clinics? Mass shootings at, say, an Arizona political event, a Colorado movie theater, a Connecticut elementary school? Were those acts of terror done by Muslims?

How about the myriad threats made against, oh, the president of the United States that the Secret Service must investigate? Done by Muslims?

I am not condoning any singular dastardly act done by Muslims or by any other cowardly individual or group. But these kinds of missives from individuals who seek to single out people based on their faith – even if their faith has been hijacked by religious perverts – sicken me to the max.

Then she concludes her note with this: “I believe President Obama – a supposed Christian – does not think it would be difficult to turn America into a Muslim country. In this regard, I believe all doubt is gone.”

Did this letter cross the line into outright hate speech? If it didn’t, it’s too close to call.