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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

What's next, a ban on kosher food?
Posted by Jill | 5:23 AM
There are many Jews in this country who live according to Jewish law. There are restaurants in Teaneck, New Jersey where you can't order a steak sitting alongside other restaurants where you can't get a glass of milk. In Paramus, New Jersey, you see people walking home from synagogue on Shabbos, because they are not permitted to drive. In Tenafly, there was recently a big foofarah over an eruv, which the town finally allowed to stay in place. The eruv is simply plastic markers on telephone poles. Observant Jewish couples who divorce have an extra step required to dissolve the marriage, one which can only be granted by the husband.

Except for the concept of the get, which is alien to most people, the observance of Jewish law usually goes unnoticed by most people. Even in Tenafly, the markings of the eruv are simply more crap on a telephone for most people. You do not see conservative legislators crying out for a ban on the practice of Jewish law.

And yet, if you are Muslim in this country, and you practice sharia law (which was intended only for Muslims anyway), you are fair game for the scoring of cheap political points:
Sharia law is quickly becoming a hot-button topic on the campaign trial, as conservatives debate the role of Islam in the United States and the conservative movement. The exact mechanics of how sharia, or Islamic jurisprudence, is threatening the United States are unclear, but some conservatives point to cases in New Jersey and Florida that they say underscores the need for a blanket ban on using foreign law in the United States.

The issue resonates with many GOP primary voters and legislators in the early primary state of South Carolina is considering a ban on sharia law that might force some more 2012 contenders engage on the issue. We've rounded up how the various 2012 candidates have positioned themselves on the issue so far.

You can read what this parade of morons thinks here.

Do any of these people even know what's IN sharia law? Because what they're talking about could by extension be applied to any kind of religious practice -- including the keeping of a kosher home.

About fifteen years ago I worked with someone who was a Catholic Latino. He once asked me, "We have the Ten Commandments. What laws do you Jews have?" He was absolutely serious.

How do you answer a question like that?

The only way you can to that level of ignorance: "We eat Christian babies on Shabbos, what do you think we have?"

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8 Comments:
Blogger PurpleGirl said...
Let's not forget that Roman Catholics have Canon Law, which often forms the basis for mediation and arbitration rulings. (When I attended NYU and hung out at the Catholic Center, its leader was an archdiocese canon lawyer.)
4/12/11, 8:23 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...
I'm not the least bit concerned with Sharia's dietary restrictions and the like. I am, however, concerned with aspects of Sharia that (say) prescribe lashings for adultery. I should think you would be too.
4/12/11, 9:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Is obeying the Ten Commandments part of Sharia Law ?
4/12/11, 12:46 PM  
Blogger D. said...
1. The "right" reveres pig-ignorance and wants everyone to have it.

2. The "right" believes that everyone else wants to write their religious views into law. Like some of them do.

3. The "right" has no foggy notion of anything in Shari'a Law except for the punishments, which says something right there.

4. You will notice that the "right" has been suspiciously silent on adultery.

And yes, this is over-overgeneralization. Largely true, though.
4/12/11, 2:17 PM  
Anonymous eileen said...
I'm curious about Sharia law and stunned by my own ignorance about it. I see so many mean people who seem to know all about it. I don't watch Fox so I guess that's why I'm in the dark about this important issue.

The 15, no 10, 10 Commandments cover everything; that's why we should go with them. Moses brought them down from the mountain himself.

I can't seem to stop myself from being such a smart aleck - I just can't believe that we have to fight people over wingnuttia like this.
4/12/11, 3:05 PM  
Anonymous m Andrea said...
Uh seriously, if you think Sharia law is as harmless as Jewish law then -- whoa are you sadly misinformed.

You sexist pig, you. Ick.
4/13/11, 1:18 AM  
Anonymous m Andrea said...
Okay, that was possibly sorta rude. I sorta apologize. :)

Quasi-regrets always make me laugh though, so apologies for that as well.
4/14/11, 6:06 PM  
Blogger BadTux said...
Barry, Mosaic law (Judaic law, Old Testament Christian law) calls for death for adultry. How is that less onerous than lashings for adultery? What part of Deuteronomy 22:22 "If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die" is unclear to you?

m Andrea, the point was that the criticisms of sharia law also apply to Mosaic law, which is similarly sexist and brutal, endorsing slavery, the submission of women to their husbands, and so forth. The deal, however, is that these sexist and brutal parts of the law are no longer followed, at least not here in the United States, in part because the overall non-religious law of the land prohibits them, in part because everybody pretty much admits that they're a relic of a time long ago when women were chattel and property.

And this is not only Old Testament law, this is also New Testament law applicable to Christians too. When God says " I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent" in 1 Timothy Chapter 2, I somehow suspect that you don't quite agree with that Christian law. But thing is, you don't have to. Because secular law overrides religious law, at least here in the United States, at least until the Christian Taliban gets power and writes it into secular law...
4/23/11, 2:57 PM  
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