An interesting discussion. This is not as far-fetched as it seems at first blush. One can look to the UK for an unhealthy deference to Islamic law (both by the government and the Church of England) or one could look at recent Supreme Court decisions that took into account international law, which is also excluded by this measure.
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(FaithWorld) - If you happen to get caught shop lifting in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, rest assured — you won’t lose a limb as punishment.
Voters in the conservative state bordering Texas approved a measure on Tuesday that will forbid judges of the state’s courts from considering or using sharia (Islamic law) when deciding cases. And they did so by a whopping margin of 70 to 30 percent.
For the record, sharia is currently not the law of the land in Oklahoma, but local media reports say the measure’s backers wanted it in place to pre-empt any such moves.
State Question no. 755 included the following wording:
“This measure amends the State Constitution. It changes a section that deals with the courts of this state. It would amend Article 7, Section 1. It makes courts rely on federal and state law when deciding cases. It forbids courts from considering or using international law. It forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law.”
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i live in OKC and i was a little confused about this SQ. i heard on the radio a couple times that even those who introduced the bill admitted that there have been no previous cases of deferring to Sharia Law in OK. And i guess i'd be surprised if there were. i mean, OK is a deeply "Red" state in many ways. i can see where this might be a concern in states where toleration sort of moves are more common. But in OK? i don't know, it seemed a little "alarmist" or paranoid to me.
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It's a trend in Western countries to allow for zones of influence for Muslim areas (UK and France in particular). I think this measure sends a message if nothing else.
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