Earlier this month, seventy percent of voters in Oklahoma said yes to a controversial amendment to the state's constitution, which bans the use of Sharia law in Oklahoma's courts. On Monday, a U.S. District Judge extended a ban on the Sharia amendment. In a state that has only very few Muslims – between 15,000 and 30,000 – why did so many Oklahomans feel that Sharia law was a threat?
Pastor Paul Blair of the Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, OK, was one of those who supported the ban on Sharia.
Professor Rick Tepker teaches Constitutional and First Amendment law at the University of Oklahoma.
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Comments [7]
OUR JUDGES AND LEGISLATORS NEED TO READ THIS:
GOOGLE: TOP TEN REASONS SHARIA IS BAD FOR ALL SOCIETIES
GOOGLE: CREEPING SHARIA
GOOGLE: BRIDGETTE GABRIEL
GOOGLE: WALID SHOEBAT
GO TO YOU TUBE AND SEARCH FOR: EX MUSLIM OR EX TERRORIST
AND LISTEN TO WHAT EX-MUSLIMS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT ISLAM!
THE PROBLEM WITH ISLAM IS THAT IT IS NOT JUST A RELIGION! IT IS A VERY DANGEROUS MILITARY & POLITICAL "SYSTEM" THAT USES BULLYING TO INTIMIDATE AND FORCE PEOPLE INTO ITS SYSTEM!
SO WHAT "PART" OF ISLAM IS BEING CONSIDERED AS FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT ????
-- WHEN ISLAM IS THE MOST INTOLERANT AND OPPRESSIVE "SYSTEM" IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT ALLOW FOR FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN AND OF ITSELF! IT PROFESSES TO NOT HAVE SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE, NOR DOES IT ALLOW FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH OR EQUALITY OF THE SEXES, AND ALLOWS FOR PEDOPHILIA, MARITAL RAPE & BEATINGS, APOSTASY IS REWARDED WITH DEATH!
IT IS NAUSEATING TO SEE HOW ISLAM IS WREAKING HAVOC ON CIVILIZATIONS! LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED IN LEBANON, TURKEY, IRAN AND MANY COUNTRIES WHICH USED TO BE FREE AND OPEN SOCIETIES -- ISLAM MOVED IN, THE MUSLIMS BRED, AND BRED UNTIL THEIR POPULATION OUTNUMBERED THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS -- NOW THOSE COUNTRIES ARE NOTHING MORE THAN BARBARIC MIDEIVAL SOCIETIES FULL OF ABUSE, HATRED AND VIOLENCE!
ISLAM OR SHARIA LAW IS ALSO IN DIRECT CONFLICT WITH OUR CONSTITUTION!
GOOGLE: TOP TEN REASONS SHARIA IS BAD FOR ALL SOCIETIES
GO TO YOUTUBE AND SEARCH: EX MUSLIM OR EX TERRORIST
AND JUST LISTEN TO WHAT EX MUSLIMS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT ISLAM!
@Keithmj from Florida should read or reread the utterly American First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
All of us who are born here or are naturalized are Americans @Keithmj. We all have the pro-American right to practice our religion (or not) as we wish without a government like Oklahoma singling out a religion as not preferred and worse.
If you want a government preferred and required religion perhaps you would be more comfortable living in a dictatorship or theocracy.
Those of us who live under and prefer the American Constitution know that no one is changing this form of government and legal system any time soon including practicing our preferred religion--despite hysterical comments that it is going to be so.
People in America should be AMERICAN and live by AMERICAN laws and not try to set up another system of government. America does not want Sharia law in America and it needs to be stopped now. It will never happen in America no matter what islam thinks.
http://www.juancole.com/2010/11/muslim-americans-heartsong-church-celebrate-thanksgiving-together-in-memphis.html
Muslim-Americans, Heartsong Church, Celebrate Thanksgiving Together in
Memphis
Posted on November 25, 2010 by Juan
In Memphis, Tennessee, Christians, Muslims and Jews are
jointly commemorating Thanksgiving, behaving like real
Americans and proper human beings. The Heartsong Christian
church congregation and a Muslim community center in the
Cordova district of Memphis, held a joint Thanksgiving
celebration in Memphis on Wednesday. They asked a Jewish
American to read the opening prayer.
Pastor Steve Stone explained to a local news reporter, "The
Islamic Center bought the land right across the street from
us, and that makes them neighbors, and Jesus teaches us to
love our neighbors."
Now that's Christianity.
I have been in the minority since moving to Oklahoma 18 months ago. I was in the minority on this vote and several other referendums in this past election.
This was a ploy by Religious Conservatives to get out the vote and excite the fears of the voters of the state.
As much as I disagree with the pastor interviewed on the show, I believe it was valid to include him so listeners from elsewhere can hear what we are facing - half-truths and misrepresentations used to scare the populace into voting for/against something they do not understand.
If it is on Glenn Back or Rush Limbaugh, it gains instant credence with people who would rather believe something the confirms their worldview than something that is factual.
In a discussion about U.S. law and courts, why is the legal opinion of a law school professor being challenged by (and by extension given equal value to) the opinion of an ordinary clergyman in small town America, rather than by someone who is similarly informed and qualified (as the professor) to discuss these complex issues? This is public radio and your listeners count on you to do better.
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