Federal Appeals Court upholds the Constitution by striking down Oklahoma ban on Sharia Law.

As some of you may have noticed there was a frantic comment left on my Mitt Romney post about a Clinton appointee knocking down a ban on Sharia Law in Oklahoma.

So I decided to look it up and see what all of the panic was about.

I found it here on the ABC News site:

A federal appeals court today blocked a measure that would’ve made Oklahoma the first state in the nation to ban the Sharia law in its court system. 

The court ruled in favor of Muneer Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Oklahoma, who filed a lawsuit against the Oklahoma election board on the grounds that the voter-approved constitutional amendment violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution forbidding the government from favoring one religion over another. 

The amendment specifically stated that “it forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law.” 

Sharia law is broadly defined as a body of law based on Islam and its central religious text, the Quran. 

“This is an important reminder that the Constitution is the last line of defense against a rising tide of anti-Muslim bigotry in our society, and we are pleased that the appeals court recognized that fact,” Awad said in a statement. “We are also hopeful that this decision serves as a reminder to politicians wishing to score political points through fear-mongering and bigotry.” 

Today’s ruling upheld a decision by the lower court striking down the Save Our State amendment, which would have also forbidden judges from using international laws as a basis for decisions. 

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the federal district court did not abuse discretion by barring the amendment. “Because Mr. Awad has at least one justiciable claim and because the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting the preliminary injunction, we affirm,” today’s findings by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals stated.

Are you shaking in your boots yet?

No? Well that is because you are not an ignoramus.

Perhaps the people who voted to specifically target Islam, have never read the First Amendment.

Here allow me:

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.

This part, " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." is the portion that is relevant to this case.  And clearly it gives the courts the right, no the RESPONSIBILITY, to protect a Muslim's right to exercise their religious freedoms.  A law directly singling them out for oppression is clearly unconstitutional.

And by the way striking down this ban does NOT mean that Islamic law is now going to compete with existing law in court cases. Nor does it mean that American courts can no longer prosecute those responsible for honor killings, or that women will be forced to wear  a Hijab.

This changes nothing, our laws still stand, and it is ridiculous to assume that a country as freedom loving as America will suddenly allow oppressive laws to be placed on the books in reverence to Sharia Law.

And just to clear things up, our laws were NOT based on Biblical law.

In fact the Founding Fathers took great pains to use language that was unambiguous when it came to explaining that the government simply could NOT make laws establishing a religion that would force everybody to worship the same God, nor restricting a religion that was at odds with the lawmaker's choice of religious expression.

Even though many of today's Christians like to argue that the Founding Fathers were also Christians, it really does not make any damn difference. They specified directly that, regardless of THEIR faith, it was verboten to force it on anybody else.

And my advice to these people getting their panties in a twist over the fact that THEIR religion is not THE religion in this country is simply, "This is clearly not the country for you, so perhaps you should get the fuck out! But if you decide to stay, then please shut the fuck up!"

Was that too oppressive?