The "Threat" of Sharia Law

There is a group of religious people in the United States. They are a minority and they are disliked by a large number of bigots. These people have a law system in place in the United States. These people have a religious court established in the United States and many of them use this court to settle civil disputes rather than using the American court system. It is a mediation system in which both parties in the dispute must agree to the courts ruling or the ruling is not legally binding. People who do not follow this religion cannot use these courts.

What is the religion? Judaism.
What is the court system? Beth Din.

In fifteen states in the United States, there is an ongoing effort to make Sharia law, the Muslim equivalent of Beth Din, illegal. It is a wave of Islamaphobia but Sharia is not very different than Beth Din. Non Muslims cannot participate in the disputes and both parties must accept that the Sharia court is legitimate. People argue that Sharia law is a means for Muslims to take control of the United States and make it an Islamic state. This is false.

First of all, Sharia can never be a part in our laws, just like Beth Din cannot be a part in our laws. The First Amendment makes both Sharia and Beth Din invalid court systems under Federal and State laws. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." Thus Sharia can only be a private court system between two parties and it cannot be enforced legally. Already, due to the First Amendment, creating laws to ban Sharia is unnecessary, Sharia is not a threat due to the First Amendment

Secondly, bigots claim that if Sharia law goes into effect, there will be corporeal punishment, stonings and amputations and stuff like that. But as I said earlier, Sharia cannot be state or federal law and therefore whatever punishments the courts dish out cannot be illegal. Last I checked, things like stoning is illegal. It doesn't matter of a Sharia court orders a stoning, stoning is still illegal.

Not to mention that Sharia law courts, much like Beth Din, is in place for civil disputes, not criminal disputes. Such disputes aren't going to lead to corporeal punishments and even if they do, those punishments are STILL illegal.

The islamophobia in the US is disgusting. It just as wrong and bigoted as the laws against black people in the pre-1960s. It doesn't matter that this is not about skin color, this is the type of stuff that Martin Luther King lead massive protests about. Americans need to stop being afraid of Muslims. There are a billion and a half Muslims and I assure you of those billions, the ones engaged in terrorist activities are an extremely small minority.

This is the United States, a nation built on the idea of freedom and equality. That freedom and equality does not only apply to white christian males, but to every human being on the planet. Stop being afraid of Islam. It is no different than any other religion.

"But it's violent!" Go read the Bible and tell me it isn't violent.

J Kuhl Signing Off