Sharia law and Oklahoma

Recently a federal appeals court upheld a block on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban Sharia law in Oklahoma courtrooms. There have been howls of outrage from the Right, stating that the will of 70% of Oklahoma voters is being thwarted. The court ruled that since the only religion referred to in the amendment was Islam, that religion was being singled out, hence the unconstitutionality.

Not to blow my own horn, but I’m a pretty intelligent person and up until now, I really had no idea what Sharia law entails. Truth to tell, I still don’t know a whole lot but what I have discovered in a search for information is that Sharia mostly covers contracts, hygiene, diet, prayer, fasting, as well as crime, politics and economics. I read through several arguments made by attorneys who argued the case to block the amendment and their arguments boiled down to it is sometimes necessary to know Sharia law in order to understand the litigants in any given case in the event said litigants are Muslim. Makes sense to me. Nobody said that Sharia law was going to be enforced. Indeed no one on the other side of the issue could point out so much as once instance where Sharia law had ever been applied in the state of Oklahoma. But I do understand the efficacy of being aware of cultural differences when arguing, understanding and making judgments in any given case.

There are a few things that I sure wouldn’t want to be subjected to, for instance female circumcision, which to my way of thinking is beyond barbaric. However, there are arguments within Islam about that being a law or something less than law.

All that said, here is my point. There are parts of Sharia law that one would think the Right would LOVE! For instance, Sharia law defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. Homosexuality is strictly forbidden. Abortion is also forbidden except in instances of medical risk to the woman. That actually sounds a bit more humane than the stance taken by the Right. Sharia states that all the answers to any questions can be found in the Koran, much as the Religious Right claims all the answers are in the Bible. Now, I’m not an authority on the Koran but I do know that it and the Bible overlap in places. With so many similarities, one would think the Right would have embraced Sharia law rather than demonize it. This just tells me that people don’t have a clue what Sharia law is or isn’t but they marched in lockstep to the polls to outlaw something they knew nothing about.

I believe that religion has no place in government and I’m talking ANY religion, especially the misogynistic, violent and hateful brand of Christianity espoused by so many on the Right. To them I have only one comment: Jesus would weep.