America is soaring to new levels of lunacy, with Tennessee at the forefront.
A bill has been proposed in both the Tennessee House and Senate by state Rep. Judd Matheny (R) and state Sen. Bill Ketron (R) that would make practicing or adhering to Sharia, the moral code of Islam, a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
In the war on our terror, paranoists are pulling out all the stops.
Oklahoma was one of the first states to propose a bill against Sharia law, using misconceived notions about Islam to scare people into passing it. That bill would amend the state’s constitution to forbid courts from using Sharia law. The bill passed with overwhelming public support, with some 70 percent of voters in support. A federal judge has since issued a permanent injunction against the bill.
Apart from being frivolous, courts in Oklahoma already rely on federal and state law when making decisions, not any given religious moral code. And, besides the fact that the bill is unconstitutional, the overwhelming support that the bill received provides an ignorant precedent for states across the country to pursue similar courses of fear.
Tennessee’s bill is a new beast.
Actually drafted by a conservative advocacy group, the Tennessee Eagle Forum, the bill would give the attorney general the power to “designate an organization as a sharia organization.” Any individual who “provides material support or resources to a designated sharia organization … (will be charged with) a Class B felony, punishable by fine, imprisonment of not less than 15 years or both.”
The bill is a document swirling with prejudice, misconceived notions and half truths.
Essentially, the bill lays out Sharia law in terms to frighten citizens. This is done using such catch phrases as “terrorism,” “Jihad” and “authoritarian.” What the bill fails to describe is how complex Sharia law is and the many ways it is interpreted by Muslims.
Almost every religion has a set of moral guidelines for its followers. Christianity has the Ten Commandments, among other things. Judaism has the Torah. All of these guidelines advocate fundamental precepts, such as not stealing and gambling. They represent early efforts near the beginning of civilization to structure what is right and what is wrong. Every religion has its share of fundamentalists who adhere to these principles to the letter without making appropriate concessions for issues generated in the modern world.
People opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage are generally driven by some sort of religious moral guideline.
Islam is no different from other religions, and Sharia law is its attempt to lay out a set of moral guidelines. In many ways, the morals advocated by Sharia are very similar to Christianity and Judaism. This shouldn’t come as any sort of shock. Most people, despite geographical distances, have similar beliefs about what is right and what is wrong, i.e., you probably shouldn’t kill your neighbor. Are there troubling aspects of Sharia? Yes. For one, polygamy is acceptable. But many Muslim states have outlawed that practice, demonstrating an evolution of Sharia along with changes in morals across the globe.
Sharia law, like other religious moral codes, is exceedingly complex, largely because individuals will interpret it in different ways. Some will follow it closely; others will view it more as a set of guidelines than a real set of laws. It should be apparent, again, that this is in no way different from any other religion. Fundamentalists of any religion are generally out of step with the modern world, adhering to customs and practices set forth thousands of years ago. A predominance of people understand this. Most people who follow a religious moral code understand that the world has changed dramatically and make their own interpretation on what is morally correct.
What the Tennessee bill is attempting to do is to lump all Muslims into the “fundamentalist” category. It uses words propagated by our media to create a shroud of fear and misunderstanding that the typical U.S. citizen doesn’t understand. This tactic isn’t new, and it isn’t unheard of. The frequency with which it is being used and the success of it (see Oklahoma), however, is cause for general concern. Instead of passing laws that threaten and alienate a minority, we should devote time and resources toward understanding that group more thoroughly. Through this process, fear and prejudice are removed.
If the Tennessee law passes, it will be quickly challenged and most likely found unconstitutional. The threat of the law actually being enforced is therefore relatively small. But the fact is that such a notion — literally imprisoning people because they adhere to a given religion — is immensely troubling. The bill points out that it will exempt peaceful practices of Islam, but, transitively speaking, this means that anyone who adheres to Sharia law is violent, which simply is not true. Radicals from any religion or group should never represent the beliefs of the majority.
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Tellam: Alienating minorities a poor use of time and resources
Daily Emerald
March 7, 2011
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