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July 26, 2010

Offense Against Sharia as Disorderly Conduct; Conformity with Sharia as Excuse Under the Law

Justin Katz

It's difficult to believe that this is real, but it appears to be:

Nearly a dozen uniformed police officers descend upon a few young men handing out English/Arabic copies of the Gospel of St. John on a public street outside an Arab festival in Michigan, take them into custody, and release them with instructions not to carry on their activities within five blocks of the event.

I came across the video in relation to a case out of New Jersey in which a state judge ruled that a Muslim husband who raped his wife (shortly before divorcing her) had no "criminal desire" because he truly believed his action to be permissible under the laws of his religion. An appellate court overturned the decision, but as the video above (and evidence from Europe) suggests, this cultural wrestling has only just begun.

Comments

It's a question of priorities. We don't have time to worry about police arresting citizens for the peaceful distribution of literature when there are dangerous banners hanging in high school auditoria.

Posted by: David P at July 26, 2010 5:31 PM

The handling of both of these matters by our authorities is disturbing. The Michigan police were out of line here. As has been pointed out elsewhere, will they be rounding up Muslims if they hand out religious literature outside a Christian gathering?

And a judge placed "practice" above law. Really troublesome. Your honor, stonings, floggings and live burials are also practiced around the world. Will you be giving the American judicial seal of approval to those breaches of human rights as well?

Posted by: Monique at July 27, 2010 8:06 AM