Politics
'Anti-Sharia Law' Bill Passes House Panel; Muslims, ACLU Object
Around the State
Waving aside objections from the Florida Bar and the ACLU, the House Judiciary Committee approved an "anti-Sharia law" bill on Wednesday.
"We're trying to anticipate problems we see in other states and address them proactively," said Rep. Larry Metz, R-Eustis, sponsor of House Bill 1209.
"This will preclude unjust results in cases where the outcome could be different if we didn't have the bill."
Representatives from the Florida Bar's Family Law Section and the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the measure, saying Florida courts already have the ability to refuse to enforce foreign laws, including the Islamic legal code based on the Quran.
Critics also claimed that Metz's bill could complicate and raise the costs of adjudicating prenuptial and postnuptial agreements contracted in other jurisdictions.
Rep. Elaine Schwartz, D-Hollywood, called HB 1209 a "remedy in search of a problem."
Prior to Wednesday's meeting, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent an alert to supporters warning that the bill would “demonize Islam and marginalize Muslims.”
CAIR alleged that HB 1209 is "ultimately aimed at making sure Sharia or other foreign laws are not applied to family law cases in Florida."
Hassan Shibly, CAIR's Florida director, told Sunshine State News that the bill "follows a court case in Hillsborough County in which Sharia was considered. The case spurred quite a bit of right-wing activism, but was eventually dismissed last December."
Still, with virtually every member of the Judiciary Committee signing on as co-sponsors, HB 1209 breezed through the panel. Schwartz cast the only dissenting vote.
"It's good law because it's preventive in nature," said Rep. Ray Pilon, R-Sarasota.
Rev. Mark Boykin, senior pastor at Church of All Nations in Boca Raton, also praised HB 1209.
“Nations all over the world are looking to our democratic model of government and law, and our courts do not need any other document [on which] to base their decisions,” Boykin said.
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
Rep. Larry Metz
"This will preclude unjust results in cases where the outcome could be different if we didn't have the bill."
Representatives from the Florida Bar's Family Law Section and the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the measure, saying Florida courts already have the ability to refuse to enforce foreign laws, including the Islamic legal code based on the Quran.
Critics also claimed that Metz's bill could complicate and raise the costs of adjudicating prenuptial and postnuptial agreements contracted in other jurisdictions.
Rep. Elaine Schwartz
Prior to Wednesday's meeting, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent an alert to supporters warning that the bill would “demonize Islam and marginalize Muslims.”
CAIR alleged that HB 1209 is "ultimately aimed at making sure Sharia or other foreign laws are not applied to family law cases in Florida."
Hassan Shibly, CAIR's Florida director, told Sunshine State News that the bill "follows a court case in Hillsborough County in which Sharia was considered. The case spurred quite a bit of right-wing activism, but was eventually dismissed last December."
Still, with virtually every member of the Judiciary Committee signing on as co-sponsors, HB 1209 breezed through the panel. Schwartz cast the only dissenting vote.
Rep. Ray Pilon
Rev. Mark Boykin, senior pastor at Church of All Nations in Boca Raton, also praised HB 1209.
“Nations all over the world are looking to our democratic model of government and law, and our courts do not need any other document [on which] to base their decisions,” Boykin said.
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
Comments (47)
floridadeathactannulled.wordpress.com
Now how about going to work on protecting us from NDAA, IOLTA, and Florida Wrongful Death Act CAPS? Forced Conversion by incremental legislation is specious-having a false look of truth or genuineness. IOLTA - Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts is legalized Extortion
I wish the citizens of Florida full success in enacting this legislation as well as keeping a Governor and State AG in place that wil execute this new upcoming statute when the dust settles from its creation.
1) There are already plenty of laws and measures to stop Sharia law
2) Using foreign laws is clearly not a problem in the U.S, since Jewish law is in effect in many areas and no-one has a problem with it, other than racists and bigots.
Just another political trick to make blood boil and gain cheap points.
Go back and read your history and Constitution Joseph and get your facts straight. I believe you missed a few lines.
Linda,
ACT! For America Chairman in AZ,
Legislative Liaison for the AZ Tea Party Patriots Association
“Sincere” faith is actually the careful observance of the human rights of every individual regardless of background. The problem is to call Islam a religion or limiting it to the “ritualistic” aspects of worship. Islam is not a “religion” or “milla” as the term is defined in the Arabic language, but it is a “deen” or a total, comprehensive way of life. This means that people can conduct their socio, political and economic affairs under the broad guidance and principles contained throughout the Quran. These three terms are not specifically mentioned in the Quran because Allah is emphasizing that life should not be compartmentalized or dichotomized between sacred and secular but it must be taken as a whole. All spheres of life are “dependent” and “interrelated”. Therefore, an Islamic State is a solution to societal problems because of its “comprehensiveness” in focus and should not be considered a limited “theocratic state”. If one looks at the development of the Muslim civilization, the more sincere Muslims were in practicing the pristine teachings of Islam, the more they increased in material prosperity. The more they deviated, the more backwards they became and this is exactly what we see today in many so called “Islamic” countries. This trend is opposite to the development of the west and Europe. Western scholars, such George Bernard Shaw, see the practicality and wisdom in the teachings of Islam and admit that it is a solution to the contemporary problems we face. Sincere faith should not be equated to the selfish motives, actions and “lip service” we see from many world leaders today including those of Muslim nations.
Jihad is derived from the Arabic root “Johud” meaning “to try” as much as we are able. Is this not the essence of life? All of us as individual people have such potential and many unique abilities. Allah has also given us opportunities in life. The only way each one of us can bridge the gap between our abilities and capture those opportunities is if we try. The harder we try to overcome our bad habits, the more successful we will become. Overcoming bad habits is not easy, but the rewards are tremendous. The Prophet Muhammad alluded to this fact when he mentioned that struggling with our negative inclinations in daily life is “the greater Jihad”. In Islam we are taught to repent by following three simple steps. Firstly, we should stop the wrong action that we have been doing. Secondly, we should feel sad about it. Thirdly, we should vow never to do it again (even though our human weakness might cause us to make the same mistake later). There is a fourth step if our mistake involves an unjust interaction with another person for example if a person’s right was taken away (such as the theft of property), it should be returned to make sincere repentance fully complete. This is a great basic formula for anybody trying to overcome any type of bad habit. So it is incorrect to say that Jihad means holy war because this wrong definition was never used by Allah in the Quran or by the Prophet Muhammad in his sayings or by Muslims in our 1400 year history.
In Islam we are told that the first man and woman, Prophet Adam and Eve, were created by God in the Garden of Paradise and sent to earth to learn the consequences of mistakes and not as a punishment. However, the mistakes made by True Prophets of God were never great moral faults like lying, cheating, adultery and others that could blemish their moral characters but rather minor errors of human judgment with good intentions. This is true of all of the Prophets of God throughout history from Adam, to Abraham, to Moses, to Jesus and finally to Muhammad because they were all in direct communication with Him. Allah is the “All-Forgiving”, but due to His expectation of human perfection from His Prophets, He holds them to much higher standards than all other human beings. In Adam’s case, all he did was that he ate some unhealthy fruit that Satan deceived him into thinking would give him immortal life that would enable him to get closer to Allah. This event and then Adam and Eve’s descent to earth must have occurred after the Ice Age when God removed the dinosaurs to allow man’s safe existence in the world. According to sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, man was one of the final creations of God. He was also a physical giant, consistent with the dinosaurs that just passed. Some ancestors of prehistoric creatures that exist today are also only a fraction of their original size. We should always consider our origins as innocent, small and helpless infants so that we remember to stay humble with each other and not oppress and discriminate for selfish reasons. With this mindset we will be able to leverage our unique individual and societal strengths and gain the enormous benefits that come from cooperation.
Back in October, a parade goer wearing a “Zombie Muhammad” costume while marching in a local Pennsylvania Halloween parade. He was viciously attacked and choked by a Muslim (enforcing the sharia, no doubt).
According to reports, the Parading Atheists of Central Pennsylvania (PACP) were marching in a Halloween parade in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania,when a Muslim stormed out of the hometown crowd to assault one of the marching atheists who happened to be wearing a Zombie Muhammad costume. Oh, and by the way, one of the parade goers was dressed up as a zombie pope.
Today, an American judge in Pennsylvania ruled on the case and sided with the Muslim, and said that the victim would be put to death in Muslim societies for his "crime."
And no, this is not an attack against religious freedom. It is a safeguard against a supremacist, intolerant political ideology masking itself in faux religion. Islam is a political ideology foreign to our culture, relgions, government, morals, and ethical and economic systems. Calling it merely "a religion" is delusional policy that will destroy what this nation is all about.
Perhaps Rep. Elaine Schwartz is one who does not hold our nation's founding principles in high regard. That would also explain her position quite well.
Well at least CAIR agrees with me on that point. Sharia, Canon, Talmud, French, German etc etc laws have no bearing on cases in U.S. courts. If you want to live under sharia, move to a country that uses sharia.
Our national Constitution forbids any law except that which is derived from the Constitution, State based or otherwise.
Christian Church law has been taken to apply only to members of a church and have no standing in court. No other law may be applied which has not been derived from the legislative actions of our people or as interpreted by our Court system. Islamics have attempted several actions to circumvent our national Constitution and therefore this pre-emptive action is based on history, not racism or any theory of action.
However, this type of conscience can only be developed if we have a strong certainty that God is actually out there. A question arises that if everything is material and finite, what exists at the outer edges of the universe? If the universe is material then it must also be finite. So what exists beyond its external boundaries? People say that beyond is infinity but this is not an attribute of any material object. By using our God given gift of intellect we can actually witness the Infinite Creator not with our eyes, but with our hearts and minds. He cares for all of us because He created us. His mercy, love and compassion, as stated by Prophet Muhammad in a saying, is more than 99 times greater than the love a mother has for her child. The sincere advice that we get from Trainers, Physicians and other Health Professionals can only benefit us if we follow it. If we don’t, then we can blame no one but ourselves for health problems later in life. In the same way, Allah is giving us sincere advice in the Quran and Other Scripture. If we choose to ignore it we must blame no one but ourselves for any problems that we face in our lives that are within our ability to control. It is easy to develop bad habits, but it requires the exercise of effort to overcome them and attain our goals and success in life.
If that contract comes into a civil court, it has no bearing. Only civil law should be considered in a civil court. As for foreign law - it belongs in foreign courts.
Going to "their" countries and expecting to live under our laws would not be acceptable to them. Why is it so hard for them to understand it in reverse? I guess it's because it doesn't fit into their plan to overcome our country. Go back to where you belong - you certainly don't belong in our beloved Country.
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