Law and Order... Bump Bump

Sharia Law (meaning path in Arabic)

     These words seem to have become synonymous with evil in our society. What people don't understand is that other religions, and cultures on American soil sometimes have their own laws and courts. Oklahoma recently ran into some trouble by banning Sharia Law, what they didn't realize is that this new rule prevented sovereign Indian reservations from operating their system of law. What confuses me is why people are so fearful of Sharia Law, yet they know nothing of Canon Law or Halakha Law, if you are going to fear one, you should really fear all three.
     Sharia Law is the system of law and punishment meant to govern the Islamic religion. It is not only for middle easterners, but also the many Muslims of other nationalities, including the many white American Muslims on our own soil. It has been mutilated and made into something sickening by regional laws, such as that of the Taliban, but the actual rules aren't any worse than something strait out of the Bible. Don't let the zealots from the middle east confuse you, the actual rules of Sharia are a lot like Mosaic law. In many Muslim countries, and here, Sharia is only for inter community disputes. In the Quran it says that there should always be a separation of church and state, and also no compulsion in religion (I have personally read the Quran, so don't tell to go read it).
     The laws govern worship, contracts, morals, manners, beliefs, and punishments. A lot of Sharia Law is basically about the necessity of pilgrimage and prayer, it also goes in depth about inheritances and marital dowry's. Marriage is also a big section of Sharia, most of the rules are like that of the Bible, no adultery, no sex outside of marriage, you are supposed to marry someone of your own religion (these things are also stated in the New Testament of the Bible). A lot of it is just common sense, basically, have good morals, treat others right, and so on.
     Sharia Law empathises cleanliness, you are supposed to be physically clean when you pray, so that you can become spiritually clean. This is also part of Mosaic law in the Old Testament. Fasting is covered in the laws, like during the month of Ramadan, you fast from food, drink, and sex from dawn till dusk. (Pregnant women, nursing women, prepubescent children, and sick people don't have to fast).
     Polygamy is allowed if there is more women than men in the area who need to be supported, but one of the laws in the Quran is to follow the law of the land you live in, so this isn't allowed in many areas. Divorce is allowed under certain circumstances, as is remarriage.
     One of the things that westerners fear about Sharia is the punishments. Sharia law is very strict, and many things are punishable by death under this set of laws, but if you read the Bible you will find that punishments are usually swift and severe under Mosaic and New Testament law. The death sentence is used, and works pretty well as a deterrent.

   From a link               In sharia, there are categories of offenses: those that are prescribed a specific punishment in the Quran, known as hadd punishments, those that fall under a judge's discretion, and those resolved through a tit-for-tat measure (ie., blood money paid to the family of a murder victim). There are five hadd crimes: unlawful sexual intercourse (sex outside of marriage and adultery), false accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse, wine drinking (sometimes extended to include all alcohol drinking), theft, and highway robbery. Punishments for hadd offenses--flogging, stoning, amputation, exile, or execution--get a significant amount of media attention when they occur. These sentences are not often prescribed, however. "In reality, most Muslim countries do not use traditional classical Islamic punishments," says Ali Mazrui of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies in a Voice of America interview. These punishments remain on the books in some countries but lesser penalties are often considered sufficient
          http://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034

     However honor killings are against the holy law of the  Quran. Also laws for sexual indiscretion are the same for male and female. It is purely the regional acts of countries like Pakistan and Jordan that have so thoroughly terrified Americans.
      I understand that people tend to twist things the way they want them to be, Muslims do it and so do we. I am not saying that I think Sharia law should be allowed to govern our country, a separation of church and state is a must have. I'm saying that you should do more actual research before you look at a girl with a scarf on her head and feel pity for her, she has chosen her own way, at least she has in this country, of course we should pray for women in other countries who aren't allowed to make these decisions. I just hope that people can come to understand that you shouldn't believe everything you are told, it is almost impossible to find an actual FACT on the internet, don't hate just because people tell you to.
    

Halakha Law (the path that one walks in Hebrew)

     The Torah (and some Rabbinical laws, also laws from the Mishna and Talmud) is the basis for Halakha law, it is based on God's covenant law. Jewish citizens are only bound to Halakha law by their own consent, this differs from Cannon and Sharia law. Currently in Israel certain areas are under the authority of Rabbinic law which is much the same of Halakha law. In the U.S. it is sometimes used to cover inter community disputes. Here in Texas we don't hear much about this, Judaism doesn't seem to be very popular in south, so we had to do a lot of research, I couldn't seem to find a real Jew to ask about this stuff.
     Another difference between these 3 systems are that Canon and Sharia are only for the followers of their religion. Halakha law is actually meant to be universal, or for everyone who survived the flood (meaning a descendant of Noah). There is no central Halakhic authority, instead it is used on it's own in Jewish communities. This is especially true since for a millennium the Jews had no country. Sharia and Canon law had the benefit of a country to unite the people and standardize the rules.
     Finding facts about this governing system was really hard. There are so many rules that it is insane, so we posted a link that shows them. They have rules on how to eat meat, how to diet, how to have sex.... pretty much everything. Due to the difficulty we had researching this we may have to add more about it when we start our study on Judaism. So this is quite a bit shorter than the others.If anyone reads this and can find a link, or knows a Jew, that would be really helpful. If you have any info please comment or email us.

Here is a link, because they have tons of laws.
  http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm


Canon Law

Pope John Paul II said that canon law "is in no way intended as a substitute for faith, grace, charisms, and especially charity in the life of the Church and of the faithful. On the contrary, its purpose is rather to create such an order in the ecclesial society that, while assigning the primacy love, grace, and charisms, it at the same time renders their organic development easier in the life of both the ecclesial society and the individual persons who belong to it."
    
     This is the body of laws that the catholic church follows. I find this law to be the worst of them, but that's mainly because when a priest commits a sexual crime they just shuttle them off to a new parish and forget about it. That is my own personal opinion about it, and it's probably just because it is so often in the media. Like Sharia, Canon law is not voluntary, all Catholics are subject to this system of laws.
     Canon law began with rules known as "canons" adopted by the apostles at the council of Jerusalem in the first century. Since then it has developed into a highly complex legal system. Including not just the New Testament, but also elements of the Old Testament, Roman law, Visgothic ideals, Saxon, and Celtic legal traditions. In the early church the first canons where decreed by Bishops that had united in separate councils. Over time they became a united council and started meeting in Rome. Basically if people had problems with their laws the response was 'Rome has spoken so shove it'. Later the Canons where gathered into collections, some official (from Rome itself), and some unofficial (from different Diocese). The first truly systematic collection was assembled in the 11th century. By the 19th century this body of legislation included 10,000 different laws, which is difficult to follow due to constant changes in circumstances and in practice.
     The problem with Canon law is that it is sometimes allowed to trump criminal laws in a lot of countries, ours being one of them. While everyone is pitching a hissy fit about Sharia, catholics who commit crimes are allowed to get off with almost no punishment. The courts of the Vatican have no DNA testing, no enforcement mechanisms, and no public hearings. The most severe punishment is excommunication, which really is not comparable to imprisonment or the death penalty. Those found guilty of child molestation have to undergo spiritual exercises, which really doesn't cut it at all in our opinion. Why our country continues to turn these people over to Canon law is a mystery to me.

Saints and Canon Law                                                        
   
     The saints have to be canonized under this same set of laws. The catholic church investigates the persons life, then they send their information to a panel of theologians. If the panel approves then the pope proclaims that person venerable. Then comes beatification, for this it must be shown that the person has to have done a miracle, or been a martyr. After those (I really condensed these steps) steps, that person is then canonized and considered a saint.
   
On a side note
In Arizona there was actually a bill introduced to ban all of these laws, plus Karma law(how can you ban Karma?).
Here is the link, some of the comments are funny...  http://gaveltogavel.us/site/2011/02/04/az-effort-to-ban-court-use-of-sharia-law-canon-law-halacha-and-karma-under-threat-of-impeachment-reintroduced/


To Sum it all up

     Obviously Halakha law is nothing to be worried about, Sharia and Canon are the main concerns. The fact about Sharia law is that it is very misunderstood, and is frequently taken out of context and mixed with regional law. I don't understand why people are so concerned with Sharia, but we continue to turn disgusting child molesters over to the Vatican. We are so concerned with a problem that may exist in the future, that are ignoring the problem that is a reality in our present.
     Really none of these systems should ever trump the law of the land, one of this great countries founding principles was separation of church and state. We were founded by people seeking religious freedom, not a purely Christian government. Pushing religion and politics together always creates an ugly mixture. You shouldn't base how you vote on a candidates religion, I don't even believe that they should be allowed to use it as a way to get people to vote for them. I personally don't want any politician using the God I believe in as a spring board for their campaign, because most politicians really aren't what I want people to think of my religion. If you believe in one all powerful God, then you also have to believe that he is stronger than any politician.


Some links
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/qasim-rashid/shariah-law-the-five-things-every-non-muslim_b_1068569.html
http://www.alislam.org/egazette/updates/demystifying-shariah/