OK says NO-GO to Shariah Law – But Judge says NO-GO to OK

This month, Oklahoma’s anti-Shariah legislation was thrown out and ruled unconstitutional.

 

Tulsa World reports: An Oklahoma constitutional amendment that would bar the state’s courts from considering or using Shariah Law was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in Oklahoma City.  In finding the law in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s ‘establishment clause,’ U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the certification of the results of the state question that put the Shariah Law ban into the state constitution.  “While the public has an interest in the will of the voters being carried out, the Court finds that the public has a more profound and long-term interest in upholding an individual’s constitutional rights,” the judge wrote.

 

How can a state constitutional amendment that prohibits the rule of Islamic law (that governs all of life for radical Muslims) be considered “unconstitutional?”

 

The ‘establishment clause’ is the phrase of the 1st Amendment which reads – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”  So again: How are we establishing or “favoring” one religion over another by trying to keep Shariah Law out of court decisions?  This is not our law any more than Canon Law (law governing the Catholic Church and several others) is our law.

 

This judge has just ruled against something in keeping with the original intent of the U.S. Constitution and claimed it was to protect the rights of citizens.  So, if the judge’s daughter marries a Muslim man and he beats or “disciplines” her … which is perfectly acceptable in Islam, and protected by Shariah Law … then it does not violate her daughter’s rights?  That’s absurd; of course it is.  This is America where women are equal.  

 

Our obsession with ‘political correctness’ in this country is killing us.  We continue to cater toward Islam, and no one seems to be willing to stand up, at the federal level, and say enough is enough.

 

The truth is that none of these ‘religious’ laws should be considered in court decisions.  The law of the land is what it is.  This judge has just left a door open that should have been slammed shut.

 

If we can’t make a law like this stick in Oklahoma, then we’ve really got a problem!  And I’m not sure which the greater problem is: Is it Shariah Law or activist judges ruling from federal benches?  Both are real threats to America’s rule of law.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel