A proposal to ban the recognition of Islamic Sharia law in North Carolina courts is headed for the Senate after winning final House approval Thursday.

Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, said House Bill 695 is unnecessary, would conflict with constitutional due process rights and would damage North Carolina’s image in the eyes of the international business community.

Bill sponsor Rep. Chris Whitmire, R-Transylvania, disagreed. “Take it as fact that this is a very, very present threat that must be dealt with,” Whitmire said. “We are making sure that the most fundamental basis on which we exist is protected.”

Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, disagreed with arguments that the state and federal constitution already protect citizens against foreign law.

“I’ve always wanted to depend on our own constitution, but we have seen that document put in, frankly, grave danger,” Blust said.  “In the United States, there is the Sharia law,” he said. “It is fundamentally at odds with U.S. jurisprudence. The two systems cannot be reconciled. Individual rights are not recognized.”

Blust said the goal of proponents of Sharia law is to infiltrate other cultures. He said Democrats should be aware of the threat. “Some of the groups of people that are championed on the progressive side are absolutely trod upon under Sharia,” he warned. “For example, homosexuals are stoned. I don’t want to see that creeping in here.”

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A new report from the Center for American Progress and NYU’s Brennan School for Justice says that the anti-foreign law campaigns being waged in state legislatures throughout the United States are actually meant to target Muslims and may actually have an unintended effect of complicating legitimate legal disputes involving foreign countries and nationals.

“Although packaged as an effort to protect American values and democracy, the bans spring from a movement whose goal is the demonization of the Islamic faith,” write CAP’s Matt Duss and the Brennan Center’s Fazia Patel and Amos Toh. “Beyond that, however, many foreign law bans are so broadly phrased as to cast doubt on the validity of a whole host of personal and business arrangements.” The authors explain how the campaign originally began as an “anti-Sharia” movement and then evolved into a more focused push to ban foreign law.

Think Progress, 16 May 2013

Over at The American Muslim, Sheila Musaji responds to the hysteria whipped up over the news that a Muslim doctor is planning to open a medical facility in an area of Chicago with a large Muslim population, which would be open to the general population but would specifically accommodate Muslim religious and cultural customs.

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