When you hear the words, “Sharia Law,” what immediately comes to mind?\u00a0 If you said an Islamic legal code that is incompatible with the laws of our nation and states, you would probably be in “good” company, at least in Oklahoma.\u00a0 Whether or not you would be 100% correct\u00a0is debatable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I must admit that when I hear “Sharia Law,” I do not have a positive dispostion toward this Islamic code.\u00a0 I suspect this is the case with many people, including many Southern Baptists.\u00a0 Our reticence\u00a0in allowing Sharia Law to be used AT ALL\u00a0in the United States may\u00a0stem from its\u00a0misuse in\u00a0foreign\u00a0lands, countries\u00a0which simply lack the freedoms that we enjoy here\u00a0in America.\u00a0 Our sensibilities — rightly so — are offended when we hear\u00a0stories of\u00a0what most Americans would consider cruel and unusual punishment.<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n To give you a general overview of Sharia Law, it can be divided into two main sections<\/a>:<\/p>\n I will not spend much time on the first section — Acts of Worship.\u00a0 I would hope that most people, including Southern Baptists, would recognize and accept that Muslims have a First Amendment right to worship however they see fit.\u00a0 Even when we disagree with the tenets of Islam (or any other religion), we should at least be willing to\u00a0recognize that Muslims have\u00a0the same religious\u00a0freedoms that Southern Baptists do in this country.\u00a0 We may not have to like what others believe or where they build mosques<\/a>, but the moment we begin to\u00a0limit others’ religious liberties (barring some clear violation of the law)\u00a0is the moment\u00a0when we walk away from not only our Baptist roots but our conservative values.\u00a0 And, it becomes the moment when we open ourselves up for our own religious liberties to be violated.<\/p>\n But, when we so dislike a religious minority that we\u00a0begin passing laws which single this minority out for special approbation, then we are dangerously close to violating principles that we should hold dear.\u00a0 Oklahoma’s “Save Our State”<\/em> amendment does just that.\u00a0 Placed on the ballot by the state legislature, 70% of Oklahoma voters approved the amendment on November 2, 2010.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n What does Oklahoma need saving from?\u00a0 Apparently Sharia Law.\u00a0 What does the actual text of State Question 755, popularly known as the “Save Our State” amendment say<\/a>:<\/p>\n The Courts provided for in subsection A of this section, when exercising their judicial authority, shall uphold and adhere to the law as provided in the United States Constitution<\/a>, the Oklahoma Constitution<\/a>, the United States Code<\/a>, federal regulations<\/a> promulgated pursuant thereto, established common law, the Oklahoma Statutes<\/a> and rules promulgated pursuant thereto, and if necessary the law of another state of the United States provided the law of the other state does not include Sharia Law, in making judicial decisions. The courts shall not look to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures. Specifically, the courts shall not consider international law or Sharia Law. The provisions of this subsection shall apply to all cases before the respective courts including, but not limited to, cases of first impression.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n From a legal standpoint, there are multiple problems with the way the amendment was written, not least of which it singles out Islamic Sharia Law as the only religious code that cannot be used in the Oklahoma judicial system.\u00a0 That explains at least one reason\u00a0why a Federal Judge enjoined the law from going into effect.\u00a0 In beginning her November 29, 2011\u00a0opinion, Chief District Court Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange\u00a0quoted from a U.S. Supreme Court case<\/a>:<\/p>\n The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One\u2019s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.\u00a0 W. Va. State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 638 (1943)<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n While no religious\u00a0beliefs or tenets\u00a0of faith\u00a0— be they Muslim, Jewish, or Christian — should replace or otherwise conflict with the laws of the states and nation, why should Islamic law — and Islamic law only —\u00a0be singled out by the Oklahoma legislature for complete and utter rejection within the legal system?\u00a0 If your answer to that is “Because it’s Islam and Muslims who are affected, not Christians,”<\/em> then we maybe heading down a slippery slope — however well-intentioned — to a place with unintended consequences.<\/p>\n Are there parts of Sharia Law which are incompatible with the Constitutional framework of the United States and the 50 states?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 When Sharia conflicts with the laws of our nation or state, should we\u00a0continue to use the laws of our nation and state\u00a0to protect the rights and safety of our citizens?\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 The laws of the state and nation should always trump Sharia Law (or any other religious laws that groups might live by in their private lives).<\/p>\n But, are we now saying that\u00a0NO\u00a0aspect of Sharia Law is compatible with the legal system that we have in place in this country<\/a>?\u00a0 Are we willing to say that religious tenets of faith — in this case Sharia Law — simply cannot be used anywhere, anytime, anyplace, even if\u00a0the specific\u00a0religious principle does not conflict with the laws of the land?\u00a0\u00a0Before you answer those\u00a0questions, do you also want to take that same approach with Christian religious principles integrated into contracts and what has come to be known as “Christian mediation?”\u00a0 Southwestern Seminary and Tarrant Baptist Association might have different answers to that question<\/a>, but we must be consistent with how we view “religious law” as it relates to our legal jurisprudence.\u00a0 Apparently Dr. Richard Land, the President of\u00a0the SBC’s\u00a0Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, also believes the voters of Oklahoma got it right when they exercised their “people power” in democratically rejecting Sharia Law.<\/a><\/p>\n Are we no longer willing to accommodate people’s religious preferences and beliefs within our jurisprudence, even when these preferences and beliefs do not conflict with our laws?\u00a0 It seems that we want our own religious beliefs accommodated, but with Islam, we are simply unwilling to grant them what the Constitution already does.\u00a0 Maybe we arrive at these views because we (in the sense of Christians) have been in the majority for so long.\u00a0 We do not see the need to accommodate others’ religious beliefs and practices because, with rare exceptions, we don’t need anyone to accommodate ours.\u00a0<\/p>\n At least not yet.\u00a0 There may come a day when Southern Baptist Christians are singled out for special approbation by the government.\u00a0 That day maybe here sooner than we think.\u00a0 If we fail to stand up for the rights of religious minorities today — even those folks\u00a0who we strenuously disagree with — can we really expect anyone to stand up for our rights when\u00a0we come under attack?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you hear the words, “Sharia Law,” what immediately comes to mind?\u00a0 If you said an Islamic legal code that is incompatible with the laws of our nation and states, you would probably be in “good” company, at least in Oklahoma.\u00a0 Whether or not you would be 100% correct\u00a0is debatable.\u00a0 I must admit that when…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,21,29,30,35],"tags":[96,156,220,3370,251,354,381,3379,410,3388,531,3389,687,739,3392,826,839,867,868,899,3393,924,938,955,962,1016,1028],"class_list":["post-2156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freedom-of-religion","category-freedoms","category-islam","category-law","category-religion","tag-anti-sharia","tag-bill-of-rights","tag-christian-mediation","tag-christianity","tag-constitution","tag-ethics-religious-liberty-commission","tag-federal-law","tag-freedom-of-religion","tag-freedom-of-worship","tag-islam","tag-islamic-law","tag-law","tag-muslims","tag-okalahoma-legislature","tag-religion","tag-religious-liberty","tag-richard-land","tag-save-our-state-amendment","tag-sbc","tag-sharia-law","tag-southern-baptist-convention","tag-southwestern-seminary","tag-state-question-755","tag-tarrant-baptist-association","tag-tenets-of-faith","tag-u-s-supreme-court","tag-vicki-miles-lagrange"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-yM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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