Testing, testing
No no no. We don’t need a “Sharia test.” That’s ridiculous.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has suggested testing all US Muslims to see if they believe in Sharia, and deporting those who do.
…
Mr Gingrich’s comments follow an attack in the French city of Nice, which has killed at least 84 people.
His comments echo the sentiments of Donald Trump, who has said Muslims should be banned from entering the US.
That’s a crap idea for civil rights reasons and basic decency reasons, but even if it were acceptable to go around “testing” citizens and immigrants in that way, believing in Sharia would be the wrong criterion. I hate religious laws in general, and the ones that conflict with secular human rights in particular, but many millions of people believe in them, and we can’t seal them all off. I dislike religious conservatism and don’t want it interfering with people’s rights, but I don’t get to exile all the religious conservatives. Most people who believe in Sharia do not believe in mass murder. Gingrich is being a scaremongering xenophobic fascist by saying what he said.
The fact that he was even momentarily considered for VP running mate, and had previously run for nomination as a serious contender, is scary. Also, are they going to apply a similarly punitive test against conservative Christians? Of course not, instead they’ll adopt the desired goals of those extremist Christians as the GOP policy platform.
It also shows a basic lack of knowledge about Islam. It’s like saying you’ll test Catholics for belief in the catechism. Sharia is the religious law and if Muslims don’t accept it, at least in some kind of theory, I’m not sure they can call themselves Muslim.
The question is whether they want to apply religious laws outside of their religion. NOT whether they believe their religion.
Plus, just as a practical issue, it is of course obvious that if you come up with a test as a condition of residency, everybody will truthfully answer when the price is deportation.
What a Compleat Idiot.
There isn’t just one sharia. There are stricter and looser interpretations.
Some Muslims think Sharia should apply to non-Muslims. Most don’t.
Doesn’t sharia law vary regionally as well? I seem to recall that some aspects of Sharia come from customary laws that predate Islam.
I think the Sunnis alone have 5 different major schools of law.
In a sense, ‘belief’ in sharia is a guarantee of endless civil war.
Constitutionally, there can be no religious test for holding any office. The First Amendment guarantees free exercise of religion. So religious tests are unconstitutional for that reason as well.