Happy Holy Week! This year, Walker Texas Ranger star and Internet meme Chuck Norris is celebrating things a little differently – by writing a special week-long series at WorldNetDaily on the dangers of creeping Islamic Sharia law in American society.

Norris, who wants to make clear that he is absolutely not an Islamophobe, warns that “where Muslim religion and culture has spread, Shariah law has shortly followed”:

Of course, many Americans watch on video a Middle Eastern woman allegedly caught in adultery, buried in the ground up to her head and being stoned to death, and think, “That could never happen in America.” But they fail to see how Shariah law has already been enabled and subtly invoked in our country, and that any such induction like it is brought about by understated lukewarm changes, like a frog boiled in a kettle by a slow simmer.

As proof of the slow boiling of the American frog, Norris cites three examples: A Florida judge ordering two Muslim parties to settle their dispute through Islamic arbitration, per the terms of their mutually agreed-upon contract; the push by various state legislators to ban Islamic law from state courts; and an Obama adviser telling a British audience that Sharia has been “oversimplified.” And that’s just in the last few months!

Of course, each of these points has its self-refuting flaws. Judges turn cases over to pre-selected religious arbitrators all the time, for instance, and not just for Muslims. None of the state legislators in question have produced a single example of Sharia being forced upon their states. And as for the argument that Sharia has been “oversimplified,” I would just point you to the fact that a quasi-mulleted martial arts actor from the mid 1990s feels qualified to explain to a national audience what Sharia is.

Tim Murphy at Mother Jones, 20 April 2011

Continuing its practice of shamelessly promoting and embracing controversial statements by Donald Trump, Fox Nation is hyping an interview Trump gave to Christian Broadcasting Network’s (CBN) David Brody, in which he said that “[t]here’s something” in the Quran “that teaches some very negative vibe” and defended the assertion that there is “a Muslim problem” in the United States.

Fox Nation may not realize it, but Trump’s charge that there is “a Muslim problem” originated with Fox’s own Bill O’Reilly. During an appearance on The View in October 2010, O’Reilly asserted that “Muslims killed us on 9-11” while discussing a proposed Islamic center in New York City. O’Reilly later apologized, saying, “If anyone felt that I was demeaning all Muslims, I apologize,” but pushed back against his critics by repeatedly insisting that “there is a Muslim problem in the world.”

O’Reilly continued to defend his remarks during an interview with Trump, who agreed that a “Muslim problem” exists, saying: “Absolutely. Absolutely. I don’t notice Swedish people knocking down the World Trade Center.”

Media Matters for America, 14 April 2011

Abe Foxman of the ADL warns against Sharia hysteria in the US:

The threat of the infiltration of Sharia, or Islamic law, into the American court system is one of the more pernicious conspiracy theories to gain traction in our country in recent years. The notion that Islam is insidiously making inroads in the United States through the application of religious law is seeping into the mainstream, with even some presidential candidates voicing fears about the supposed threat of Sharia to our way of life and as many as 13 states considering or having already passed bills that would prohibit the application of Sharia law….

If the hysteria over Sharia law continues to percolate through our political and social discourse, there is bound to be unintended consequences.

As we approach the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, in an uncertain economy with millions of Americans still out of work, we also face the prospect of a political season in which more political candidates may be tempted to invoke this mythological threat in an effort to pander to bigotry and fear, and to score political points.

We stand at a crossroads in American society. We have the option of heading down a path toward a greater tolerance of anti-Muslim xenophobia and fear of the “stranger in our midst,” or we can rededicate ourselves to the ideal of an America that is open and welcoming to immigrants as well as minority groups who have been here for decades. Let us hope that the better nature of America will enable us to proceed down the second path and reject those who seek to divide us for political gain, or those who wish to stereotype and scapegoat an entire people because of their religious faith.

JTA, 10 August 2011

Shaun Harkin documents the bigotry and hypocrisy of Congress’s top witch-hunter.

Socialist Worker (US), 6 March 2011