Shariah is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it.” Newt Gingrich, quoted in NY Times, 2011-09-01
One has to grant the possibility that one day Newt Gingrich will be telling a rapt television audience, maybe on Jon Stewart, that he alone warned America about danger; he alone saw it coming. And he was mocked.
Tennessee recently pass a law making it a felony to follow Sharia law. Does that make sense on any level at all? Let’s say a man divorces his wife according to Sharia law. Will the police arrest him and force him to remarry her, and then go to court and get a regular old Christian or secular humanist divorce? It’s mind-blowing.
So, let’s get on with the mockery. Somehow, 300 million Americans will soon be living under laws that require amputations and veils and polygamy. Well, at least they might require a mahr, which is a lump sum payment due to the wife when the husband dies or divorces her.
According to Abed Awad of Rugers University, Sharia law is also:
a methodology through which a jurist engages the religious texts to ascertain divine will.
So I have a really simple solution to the threat of Sharia Law. Let’s have all the states pass laws that make it illegal to appeal to religious doctrines or texts in support of any legal or legislative proceeding. How about that?
But wait— didn’t Newt Gingrich also just say something about it being a bad thing that God was being driven out of public life? Sounds like he doesn’t really mind religious bigotry intolerance– he just wants to make sure that he’s the one carrying the torch.
And aren’t both Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann campaigning on the idea of bringing religion back into the White House? They don’t seem shy about it either. Of course, that’s the Christian religion, so that would not be intolerant or bigoted, because it is the right religion.
Is there anything in Sharia like this new policy in Arizona– in a supposedly “Christian” nation? All visitors to prisoners in state prisons will have to pay a $25 fee each visit.
This sounds familiar. Sounds like something in a Dickens’s novel. Sounds like something from an era of heartless soul-crushing cruelty.
David Brooks, an otherwise sensible conservative, really thinks Rick Perry has a serious shot at winning the next presidential election. Perry is opposed to Social Security, thinks Franklin Roosevelt ruined the country, ridicules science, gives state jobs to any of his major contributors who want one, and loves macho posturing and quips.
His solution to the hardship caused ranchers and farmers by the drought over Texas this year: a prayer meeting.
I suspect Perry will crumble once he encounters the relentless scrutiny of the media given a national campaign. At this stage– and it’s early– I think Romney actually has a better chance of being the nominee, and a better chance of beating Obama.