Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Dangers of Anti-Sharia Laws
In the new issue of First Things, I have an essay on the anti-Sharia movement. Here's an excerpt:
Even though the First Amendment has now forced anti-Sharia advocates to frame their proposed laws so broadly as to be meaningless, these initiatives should be vigorously contested by the defenders of religious liberty. When state legislators across the country line up behind such bills, the aim is not primarily legal reform—it is political grandstanding aimed at reassuring nervous constituents that Sharia law will be kept out of our courts. This serves only to fan the flames of religious intolerance while nurturing public acceptance of the notion that the religious commitments of our citizens have no place in our courts. Law has a pedagogical function—as cases such as Roe v. Wade have painfully taught us—and anti-Sharia legislation harms the social fabric by its very premise: the presumption that the deepest core values and convictions of religious Americans threaten the legal order by virtue of their source, without reference to their substance.
Comments are welcome. Also be sure to check out pieces in this issue by Rick Garnett and Carter Snead.
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2012/02/the-dangers-of-anti-sharia-laws.html
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As a Nation that professes to be One Nation Under God, The Law does have a pedagogical function. To recognize that this Nation's founding was in the name of The Most Holy and Undivided Trinity, is to recognize that although we may worship God differently, our different ways of worshipping God should be consistent with The One Word of God, The Truth of Love.