Oklahoma anti-sharia law ‘serves no purpose other than to keep anti-Muslim passions inflamed’

In an editorial, the Tulsa World condemns Oklahoma’s adoption of an “anti-sharia” law, which will come into force later this year.

Oklahoma voters in 2010 passed, by a large margin, State Question 755, an amendment to the state Constitution that banned the application of foreign law, particularly Shariah law, a strict Muslim code, in Oklahoma courts.

The amendment was immediately challenged in federal court and the state was enjoined from enforcing it. It’s been in legal limbo since.

But the anti-Muslim zealots in the Legislature haven’t been idle. State Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, tried but failed to get a Shariah law bill passed in 2011. She finally succeeded this year, with House Bill 1060 passing the House and Senate by big margins.

Gov. Mary Fallin signed the measure into law on Friday, the same day that two Muslim immigrants were identified as perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombings.

So now Oklahomans can once again rest easy knowing that they will not have any foreign law, especially Shariah law, imposed on them in court.

Of course, that has never, ever happened in Oklahoma and isn’t about to be in the future, statute or no statute.

What a colossal waste of time and effort. This new law, which will take affect Nov. 1, serves no purpose other than to keep anti-Muslim passions inflamed.