US Should Never Tolerate Sharia Law And Its Intolerance

To the Editor:

We all know that diversity and tolerance are wonderful values and ideas. However, they must never be raised to the same level of importance of, or become a substitute for: the love of God, the love of Jesus Christ, the secular love felt by all Americans for something near and dear to us, or our basic American values of freedom and liberty. This should be true for all Americans whether we are Christian, Jew, Muslim, atheist or agnostic.

Having said that, we Americans must understand that there is no place in America for Sharia Law. I do not mean to denigrate my Muslim brothers. I have been to Iraq twice, to Saudi Arabia, to Kuwait and to England — I have spent nearly two years in the Middle East observing Islam and the Muslim world first hand. I have many Muslim friends in the US and abroad with whom I have had many interesting discussions of religion, politics and the like. Being quite familiar (though not expert) with Islam I can still unequivocally say that we Americans must never allow Sharia Law to come to America or to be planted here. We must not compromise on this issue. Sharia Law is anathema to our Constitution and to the freedom and liberty we Americans hold near and dear to our hearts — it is a wholly un-American legal system that is entirely inappropriate and out of touch with our society and our values.

Sharia Law is a legal system based on Islamic values and it is not tolerant of other religions or other worldviews of life — in short Sharia Law does not offer us a big legal tent, but an Islamic one. England has started down this path with certain areas of the UK adopting Sharia Law in the name of diversity. In the future this could conceivably put an end to the English culture and legal system as we know it — a culture from which both good and bad Western values have come to us — but Western values nonetheless. Great freedoms bring great responsibilities. We must never allow Sharia Law here in the US. Let us learn vicariously from our brothers across the big pond, let us remain vigilant against true threats to our way of life, and let us resolve to do this before our culture becomes threatened as well. Ironically, these thoughts are inspired by the Just War Theory of St Augustine of Hippo (of North Africa).

Robert D. Knapp

10 Berkshire Road, Sandy Hook                          November 29, 2009