Sharia in NJ? More crazy talk from Gingrich and Co.
8 November 2010
One Comment
Gingrich has aligned himself with the wackos.
Sharia in NJ? More crazy talk from Gingrich and Co.
The small cadre of hysterical conservatives who’ve been stirring up local fear of Islamic law like to point to New Jersey.
That’s where they found their one — and only — example of “creeping Shariah” in our courts. In 2009, a Hudson County judge gave too much weight to the religious beliefs of a Moroccan man accused of sexually assaulting his wife. The decision was overturned on appeal, and now the convicted defendant, who lives in Bayonne, faces up to 20 years in state prison.
But no matter. Commentators like Newt Gingrich, who wants a federal law banning Shariah, still use this case to insist that Islamic law is taking over. He talks only about the trial judge, who wrongly ruled this wasn’t assault because the man was motivated not by criminal intent, but by his cultural belief that a wife must yield to her husband.
As with other clearly bad decisions, it was promptly reversed by appellate judges. Religious beliefs do not trump U.S. laws, just as they don’t in cases of Mormon men defending their right to polygamy, or Jehovah’s Witnesses refusing blood transfusions for children, they ruled.
Still, the case was used to fan anti-Muslim fervor across the country, with Nevada tea partier Sharron Angle wildly claiming that Shariah law had taken hold in Michigan and Texas, and Oklahoman voters approving a ballot measure banning Shariah in their state.
Oddly, no one seems worried about a similar takeover by polygamists. Just wait ‘til Gingrich tunes in to that HBO series, Big Love.
Original post: Sharia in NJ? More crazy talk from Gingrich and Co.
Does Mr. Gingrich really believe this horse hockey, or is this some cynical ploy to build up a support base for his next run for office?
I’m astonished that anyone with a modicum of intellect would continue to push an agenda that at it’s root has an intrinsic flaw. It is obvious to even the most ignorant among us that the 1.5 billion people who espouse Islam are not all terrorists nor do they all espouse terrorism.
I’ll keep praying that people wake up to the fact that there are some very serious national issues that are not being addressed because small minded individuals have taken up the hue and cry against Muslims so that they can sweep those issues under the proverbial rug.
Wake up America, and insist that these bigoted bozo’s who insist that only they can run our country, take care of the specific issues that most need addressed… like jobs, like the banking industry which, even after being bailed out by our tax dollars, continues to rape and pillage us, like the stock market… same story; like our broken health system which allows people to die because they can’t afford egregious amounts of money for health insurance.
Allowing ourselves to be placated by the idea that our problems are caused by ‘the other’ shows a failure to learn from history. Those who scapegoat the ‘other’ are bound to face ultimate defeat. Then, like Germany after WWII, we will have to rise up out of the ashes and rebuild. Personally, I’d like to avoid the conflagration!
9 November 2010 at 7:16 am