Topeka — Muslims gathered at the Statehouse on Friday saying that Kansans have nothing to fear from Sharia law and urged Gov. Sam Brownback to veto a bill that targets the religious principles of Islam.
About 20 Muslims attended a news conference to denounce Senate Bill 79 which would make unenforceable any court decision based on a foreign law or code.
The bill doesn't mention Sharia law, but during debate several legislators have said that was their concern.
“They stone women to death in countries that have Sharia law,” Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said during debate last week. “If you vote to not adopt (the bill), it’s a vote against women," she said.
The measure sailed through the House, 120-0, and Senate, 33-3.
But Muslim civil rights groups said the legislation, similar to measures introduced in other states, was discriminatory, unconstitutional and meant to demonize American Muslims.
Riyaz M. Lareef, director of outreach of the Kansas City chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America, said, "Muslims understand that the law of this country is the American Constitution."
Imam Omar Hazim of Topeka said Sharia law wasn't being forced on anyone and followers of Sharia are good Muslims and good citizens.
"This country was founded on freedom of religion," he said.
Brownback has not said whether he will sign the bill into law. "As with all legislation approved by the Kansas Legislature and sent to the governor, he will carefully review and consider the bill," said Brownback's spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag.
Groups that have called for Brownback to veto the bill include the Council of American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Circle of North America and the Muslim American Society.
Comments
rtpayton 1 year ago
Sharia law requires you eat with your right hand but clean yourself with your left hand. Forget that I'm American I'll eat with whatever hand I want that's freedom.
none2 1 year ago
Well if your culture didn't have toilet paper, you might feel a bit differently if you tried to shake hands with someone's left hand...
penny4mythoughts 1 year ago
that's a mighty big "if"
Wallythewalrus 1 year ago
I for one am glad that there is now a state law with wording that says no court decision based on a foreign law or code. From what I have seen from foreign countries their laws are some what antiquated. Besides I would not like to have my head slowly removed by a sharp object.
citizen1 1 year ago
I do not believe for a second the words of those objecting to this law.
If they really wanted to live under the US Constitution & its supporting laws they would not be concerned about the fact that Sharia or any other "non-US Constitutional" law is legally outlawed from applying here in Kansas, or anywhere in the US.
We should also have a law stating English is the official language in the US & Kansas for all commerce, education and any official or public communication.
Governor Brownback please sign the law.
Wallythewalrus 1 year ago
+1
JayhawksandHerd 1 year ago
Also - though I may be mistaken - I believe Kansas declared English it's official state language several years ago.
shadowlady 1 year ago
+1+1+1+1
jimincountry 1 year ago
Shadowlady's bid +1
JayhawksandHerd 1 year ago
LOL.
Can I opt out? I think my comment acknowledging an action taken by the state was somehow mistaken for support (also, I'm not sure why my initial comment ended up below the reply).
OonlyBonly 1 year ago
+1
jjt 1 year ago
Small problem.....English is a foreign language, English being the language of England which is a foreign country. Seriously when I moved here I took the view that it is your country and you guys get to make the laws, if I do not like them then I get to go back.
Bladerunner 1 year ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
JayhawksandHerd 1 year ago
The United States has no official language at the federal level. It's not up to Brownback to make that call.
jonas_opines 1 year ago
It must be tough to live in such fear of people that are not like you in some small fashions.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"
Replace "Sharia" with "Christianity" and I suspect a number of people would be singing quite a different tune here.
OonlyBonly 1 year ago
But there is a distinct between practice of religion and that of law of the land. Too bad some people just don't seem to understand that...
jonas_opines 1 year ago
I would wager that All of us understand that. That was the situation as it was before, without this bill existing.
There are lots of religions that have clauses in them in contradiction to US law. Why is it only Sharia being put to the question in this fashion?
(the answer, btw, is election year pandering and fear)
wounded_soldier 1 year ago
Muslims simply don't want to be castigated or objects of discrimination. Their religion has been hijacked by terrorists and extremists and Muslims are hurt by their actions. Most Muslims have never heard of or met a terrorist as they are not part of the mainstream, they are hidden in their cloistered enclave and plan their actions in secret and with the devil himself. They are not considered to be Muslim at all as Islam prohibits terrorism or the mass killing of innocents.
Acey 1 year ago
Why are you targeting Qureans? Do you mean NORTH Qureans or SOUTH Qureans? In the 1950's we went to war out there. After that war wound down, many Qureans came to America, and already were—or became—Christians.
In this country, we have a LOT of Qureans from South Qurea. From North Qurea, no so much.
When did they change the spelling of their country, which used to be KOREA.
Katara 1 year ago
Signing this asinine bill into law will simply lead the state into yet another lawsuit.
The Oklahoma law was already overturned as unconstitutional.
http://news.yahoo.com/oklahoma-ban-islamic-sharia-law-overturned-federal-judge.html
Glenn Reed 1 year ago
I want to be protected from Sharia Law. I want to be protected from Vatican Law.
If this bill protects us from Sharia Law because it's not from america, then it would protect us from Vatican Law because that's from Rome.
Is my reasoning right?
Katara 1 year ago
Yes.
It would also protect you from Common Law since that comes from England.
SFBayhawk 1 year ago
These guys and girls fix phony issues instead of fix potholes .
juma 1 year ago
Islam and sharia law are one and the same. These mohammedans live by a code called sharia law. It is an outdated and sinister belief and we (the rational world) need to outlaw this behavior. I always have to laugh when mohammedans start talking about peace and how the current wave of islamic terrorism is not islam. Oh yes it is!
hujiko 1 year ago
Sharia? Sounds foreign and scary to me. I'll just stick to my evangelical christian beliefs and bomb another abortion clinic.
Liberal 1 year ago
Here are a couple of section of this bill...
Sec. 2. As used in this act, "foreign law," "legal code" or "system" means any law, legal code or system of a jurisdiction outside of any state or territory of the United States, including, but not limited to, international organizations and tribunals and applied by that jurisdiction’s courts, administrative bodies or other formal or informal tribunals.
Sec. 7. Nothing in this act shall be construed to allow a court to: (a) Adjudicate or prohibit any religious organization from deciding upon ecclesiastical matters of a religious organization, including, but not limited to, the selection, appointment, calling, discipline, dismissal, removal or excommunication of a member, member of the clergy, or other person who performs ministerial functions; or (b) determine or interpret the doctrine of a religious organization, including, but not limited to, where adjudication by a court would violate the prohibitions of the religion clauses of the first amendment to the constitution of the United States, or violate the constitution of the state of Kansas.
I see nothing wrong here, It may assist us preventing what is happening in the Netherlands.
booyalab 1 year ago
I agree that the bill isn't as bad as it's made out, but I don't think that it would be enough. It seems more symbolic to me than anything.
markoo 1 year ago
Wow, the crowd of bigots and/or fearmongering wingers have come out in full force for this one.
You can all rest easy and come out underneath your beds, kids, now that this is law.
Actually, umm, you really didn't need to hide and be so scawred in the first pwace. This was a complete, asinine law that was moot to begin with. The only laws that our state has ever had to abide by were that of our state and U.S. Constitutional laws. And that's it, kids. It was never threatened, and any judge in Wichita or elsewhere who would have even thought of ruling in favor of someone based on some other country or cultural sect would have been easily overturned.
Those who are yelling "sign it!!!" with a pitchfork in your hand either haven't thought this through and need others to think for you, or have bought into the ridiculously obvious election year fearmongering ploy by the extreme right wingers running our state. Or both. In any case, it's pathetic.
none2 1 year ago
Our state's political conservatives are trying to gerrymander Douglas County and destroy the state's revenue, and THIS is what you get outraged about? So this bill makes some people feel good. Is it going to keep Muslims from getting married, circumcising their males, funeral rights, congregating in their place of worship? I don't think so. So why get your panties all bent out of shape?
There may very well be some decent parts to Sharia law, but some of the ones that get the most attention definitely are not. Personally, I wish the bill would go further and investigate slaughter practices. The description of halal slaughter that comes from Sharia law and similarly kosher slaughter sound like practices that sound like a slow way for an animal to die.
markoo 1 year ago
"Our state's political conservatives are trying to gerrymander Douglas County and destroy the state's revenue, and THIS is what you get outraged about?"
This isn't outrage, this is my hand in my face shaking my head. Furthermore, this story is about this particular topic. Other topics that "outrage" me are not germane to the current topic, but since you mentioned it, yes, the gerrymandering is extremely outrageous.
"So this bill makes some people feel good. "
So does ice cream. Your point?
"Is it going to keep Muslims from getting married, circumcising their males, funeral rights, congregating in their place of worship? I don't think so. So why get your panties all bent out of shape? "
Strawman. I never implied or even directly stated any rights of Muslims were to ever be compromised. Muslim Americans are fully aware of their rights and laws to which they must abide by are that of the State and U.S. Constitution. My "panties" are in a bunch because the law is a complete waste of time by our Legislatures. Our nutbag conservative Congress know full well that our U.S. federal and state Constitutional laws are the only laws we abide by. So it's obvious that they are not only wasting our time and tax dollars for creating such a law, and the only other reason is for stoking fear to their idiot voters.
So since you asked me about my "panties", let me ask you something - why are you defending a law that is completely irrelevant and a waste of time?
"There may very well be some decent parts to Sharia law, but some of the ones that get the most attention definitely are not."
Irrelevant. Their laws do not apply in any way in our state or our country. You do realize this, right?
"Personally, I wish the bill would go further and investigate slaughter practices. The description of halal slaughter that comes from Sharia law and similarly kosher slaughter sound like practices that sound like a slow way for an animal to die."
Are you aware of such practices here that are considered legal? Can you cite any cases with evidence?
booyalab 1 year ago
I am against political Islam and attempts to spread it but this all seems like a sideshow to me. If we get to the point where we need the law, it's probably too late.
FarneyMac 1 year ago
The Bible allows stoning women, too, Wagle. Can we please ban that hate book already, too?
rtwngr 1 year ago
Sure. After all, Nazi Germany banned books. As a matter of fact, Josef Stalin banned books too. Think about it.
markoo 1 year ago
Why limit the practice of banning books to other countries? Gosh, we sure like to get in on the fun too:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/banned-books-you-read-as-a-child
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2011/08/09/kurt-vonnegut-library-offers-banned-book-to-missouri-studentskurt-vonnegut-library-offers-banned-book-to-missouri-high-school-students/
http://www.socialphy.com/posts/off-topic/11435/25-Banned-Books-That-You-Should-Read-Today.html
Those darn silly Christians just want to ban all the fun:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/christian-coalition-wants-twilight-books-banned
Think about it.
hujiko 1 year ago
You're terrible at reading sarcasm, although I bet you wouldn't lose any sleep if the Quran were banned. This is just another effort to eliminate non-christian elements from society and you're going right along with it.
Liberal 1 year ago
This is not saying anything about the Bible or the Koran or the Gita or the Torah or the Satanic Bible, this bill is pretty clear that our constitution trumps...what is wrong with that?
Again, read the Bill not what radicals are saying about the bill. It speaks for itself. Banning books is not part of it. I am amazed at the level of idiocy over this bill. READ IT and then comment.
markoo 1 year ago
"this bill is pretty clear that our constitution trumps...what is wrong with that?"
Because the Constitution both in our state and the Federal law trumped long before this bill was created. That's the problem - it's a complete waste of time with the intent to stoke fear and rally the nuts in the wingnut base. Aside of that, the bill was moot and irrelevant to begin with.
"Banning books is not part of it. "
I'm pretty sure you missed his sarcasm. Crazy nut Wagle is stating that their law (as it written in their religious books, we assume) allows to stone women, to which Farney correctly pointed out that our religious books have allowed that too (i.e. in Leviticus). Her point was completely irrelevant and stupid, which Farney's sarcasm points out and you completely missed.
gudpoynt 1 year ago
What's the matter with Kansas?
Stupid Kansans.
juma 1 year ago
I would just like to say that all the bloggers who have not lived in a moslem country: please shut the up. This includes the Imam Omar; what a joke this guy is. I mean, what does he know about islam; nothing. He is so typical of AA that for some misguided and ignorant reason think islam is all to do about Africa. It is not.
markoo 1 year ago
"I would just like to say that all the bloggers who have not lived in a moslem country: please shut the up."
What an asinine response. Why should we care or be worried about what it's like in a Muslim country? When will a Muslim country ever become relevant to the discussion to what's occurring in our state of Kansas? When would we ever abide by Muslim laws of any sort when our country has been and always will abide by state and federal Constitutional law?
booyalab 1 year ago
I've lived in a Muslim country. So everyone has to be quiet and listen to what I say? Sweet!
cait48 1 year ago
New title for the article: "Kansas Legislature Fiddles While the State Burns"
esteshawk 1 year ago
Good grief, what a useless law, unless the purpose is to distract scared people from real issues.
snap_pop_no_crackle 1 year ago
Death penalty for apostasy in Kansas?
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