What You Talkin Bout Willis?

The irresponsible attempts to scare citizens with the idea that Sharia law might be infiltrating our government are maddening. In SC, State Sen. Larry Grooms proposed a bill to prevent the use of "foreign law" in SC courts.

According to a 2019 article about the bill by Tom Barton:

Critics of the legislation argue Sharia is as much a threat to U.S. constitutional rights as Old Testament Bible verses calling for the stoning of adulterers.
The American Bar Association opposes such legislation, stating it is “duplicative of safeguards that are already enshrined in federal and state law.”
“American courts will not apply Sharia or other rules (real or perceived) that are contrary to our public policy, including, for instance, rules that are incompatible with our notions of gender equality,” the Bar Association wrote in a 2011 resolution.

No court in SC has ever applied Sharia law. Rep. Grooms pointed to an overturned NJ case where Sharia was cited by a trial court in a sexual assault case involving a Muslim couple. Grooms, whose bill does not mention Sharia specifically, says his bill would ban SC courts from considering all religious laws whose application would violate rights established under the SC and US constitutions.

According to Ing.org (an non-profit persuing peace and countering all forms of bigotry):

Some people falsely equate Sharia with criminal or huddud laws, which are centuries-old specific punishments for major crimes such as killing, adultery, or theft. Huddud laws are only a tiny part of Sharia and can only be applied by an Islamic state; it is questionable if any of the nations claiming to be “Islamic states” actually fit that description morally or structurally, so these laws are generally not applicable in a modern context, let alone in the U.S. Unfortunately, the misapplication of these laws by the Taliban or other contemporary groups or governments generally contradict both the letter and spirit of Sharia and have given it a bad name.

Let's face it, there are good and bad people in every sector, every corner of this planet. The majority of us, which includes Muslim Americans and Muslim immigrants, as well as people here from every nation on the planet, just want the ability to live our  lives in peace, make a living and raise our children without fear. That seems to be getting harder and harder for many people in this country, seeing that hate crimes are on the rise, as reported in a 2018 article in San Francisco chronicle:

U.S. hate crimes increased by 17 percent last year, federal officials said Tuesday, a surge driven by racial and anti-Semitic attacks and linked by some experts to the wider public emergence of white supremacists and other hate groups.

Let’s stop demonizing, stop using one or two or 20 bad eggs as a reason for casting dispersion on their brothers and sisters. It’s repugnant and ignorant. 

What you say?