Shouldn't Believers Settle Disputes Among Themselves? March 25, 2011

by Will

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

March 25, 2011

The blogosphere was set ablaze by an innocuous preliminary ruling from Tampa Circuit Court Judge Richard Nielsen in a lawsuit involving current and former trustees of a Florida mosque.

The mosque?s internal constitution empowers an Islamic scholar to settle personnel, leadership, and financial disputes in accordance with the terms of the Koran. Citing this contract-based framework for private arbitration of the dispute, Judge Nielsen wrote that ?This case will proceed under Ecclesiastical Islamic Law.?

That announcement caused many commentators to describe the ruling as a precedent for the imposition of Sharia law on America?s judicial system. It is nothing of the kind; instead, this case is an example of the lost art of judicial restraint.

As Nielsen observed in a March 22 supplemental ruling , the use of Islamic law in this case is identical to private dispute-resolution mechanisms long employed by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim organizations. Rather than imposing Sharia, Nielsen?s approach ? at least thus far ? is intended to keep government out of internal religious affairs, an objective Christians should support.

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

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