Micah McCoy, Communications Specialist
We face an epidemic here in the United States: a widespread and wholesale vilification of Americans who are followers of Islam. We see it on the cable news networks, in vitriolic opposition to the construction of mosques in our communities, and now, this week with a full blown Homeland Security Committee hearing on the “radicalization of American Muslims.”
To be fair, there is evidence of growing radicalization in some communities in America, and if there is credible threat that this radicalization could lead to terrorist attacks, then it should be investigated. However, the singling out of Muslims and the inflamed rhetoric surrounding the investigation have led some commentators to draw comparisons to the McCarthy Era witch hunts. Indeed, if this investigation was truly concerned with terrorism, perhaps the Homeland Security Committee would broaden the scope of its investigation to include potentially dangerous non-Muslim radical groups—the Hutaree “Christian” Militia that plotted to systematically murder Michigan police officers last year springs to mind. And let’s not forget that the worst pre-9/11 terrorist attack on U.S. soil was perpetrated by a Christian named Timothy McVeigh. Too often in our history we have fallen prey to loud voices defaming an entire group of Americans as an existential threat to our way of life. Invariably, we look back on these moments in profound shame.
Unfortunately, we have these same loud voices here in New Mexico. This legislative session, Sen. Rod Adair (R-Roswell) introduced Senate Joint Resolution 18 (SJR 18), a bill that, among other things, prohibits “New Mexico courts from considering or applying Sharia law.”
For those who are unfamiliar, Sharia is a collection of Islamic principles observed by some individual Muslims and held as law by a handful of foreign governments. There are several different versions of Sharia as well as varied interpretations of the law within the Muslim community itself.
New Mexico is not the only state that saw bills similar to SJR 18 introduced; in the past year 13 states considered laws that would prohibit courts from enforcing Sharia law. One proposed law in Tennessee would make it a felony to follow some versions of Sharia. Last year in Oklahoma, both the state senate and house passed a similar measure—the comically hyperbolic “Save Our State” amendment—which a federal court struck down as unconstitutional.
Do supporters of these laws truly fear a creeping “Islamification” of the United States? Do they aim to protect us from the time when we start chopping the hands off shop lifters and stoning adulterous women in Civic Plaza?
Serious-minded people recognize that this is about as likely as New Mexico courts sentencing someone to death for wearing clothing of mixed fibers (Leviticus 19:19) or gathering firewood on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36).
No, the real reason for introducing SJR 18 and bills like it is to target Muslims as a group, to marginalize and stigmatize the people of an entire faith community. In the words of Oklahoma activist Muneer Awad, these amendments would “enshrine disapproval of Islam into the state constitution.”
But the First Amendment to the Constitution clearly states that congress can make no law that establishes a state religion or creates an excessive government entanglement with religion. U.S. courts are permitted to honor agreements between individuals made under religious law, but never when that law is in conflict with the secular laws of the land.
So in this season of inflamed anti-Muslim rhetoric, let’s tune out the demagogues and quietly meditate on just how remarkable the country we live in is. It is a country that guarantees free exercise of religion so long as it does not infringe on the rights of others—something that religious minorities in other parts of the world only dream of.
Just because some people choose to use their freedom of speech to loudly demonize their neighbors, it doesn’t mean we have to listen.
