Liberty Minute for March 4 2014

  A measure before the Idaho Legislature has been described by its sponsors as a pre-emptive strike against the imposition of Islamic law. At very best, that bill represents a dubious solution in search of a non-existent problem.

 The bill would prohibit the use of what is called foreign law for the purpose of private arbitration, if it would be seen as undermining rights protected by the US Constitution. It would also deny people the option of seeking religious arbitration for commercial and social matters. 

The inspiration for this bill is fear of what has been called ?Creeping Sharia Law? ? a supposed effort by Muslims to infiltrate our legal system and modify it to conform with the Koran. This genuinely unsettling prospect is, at most, a distant possibility. However, as written the proposed Idaho statute would forbid the use of long-established Jewish courts of arbitration, which are called Beth Din. It would also impose on the religious liberty and contract rights of peaceful, law-abiding Muslims who seek to apply their religious tenets in arranging for wills and similar matters.

 Nearly identical bills passed in other states have been struck down as unconstitutional. The proposed Idaho measure would fare no better, nor should it.

 Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.