Fears About Shariah Law Take Hold In Tennessee

[redheadbaker]

www.npr.org/2012/09/03/159378918/fears-about-shariah-law-take-hold-in-tennessee?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20120903

It's getting tougher to be a Republican in some parts of the country while also fully accepting the practice of Islam.

In Tennessee, an incumbent in the U.S. House found herself on the defensive after being called soft on Shariah law, the code that guides Muslim beliefs and actions. And the state's governor has been forced to explain why he hired a Muslim.

Lee Douglas, a dentist just south of Nashville and an anti-Shariah activist, points to the Muslim woman hired in Tennessee's economic development office as evidence of an "infiltration" of Islam in government. Douglas helped draft a resolution criticizing the governor and Islam. A version of the document has been signed by a growing list of GOP executive committees, from rural counties to the state's wealthiest.

"By stopping this now, we're going to save ourselves a lot of difficulty in the future," he says.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam defends his Muslim staffer's credentials and says she grew up in a small town. "This is somebody who is very Tennessee," says the governor.

The fact that she's a fellow Tennessean hasn't silenced the critics.

The number of Muslims in Tennessee remains tiny, but it is growing. Many come as refugees. Others are college professors. They're planting roots in one of only three states where, according to a Pew Forum survey, more than half of the population is evangelical protestant.

Douglas believes Islam is diametrically opposed to his faith.

"I don't want anybody to persecute any religion including Islam, but we have a duty as Americans to understand that they intend to take us over and compel us to become Islamic," Douglas says.

The First Amendment may provide the freedom to practice all religions, but, according to Douglas, the "government is showing a deference and is accommodating one single religion — Islam, Shariah," he says.

Douglas says deference should be shown to the religion of the country's Founding Fathers. Instead, Douglas sees the Justice Department making sure a mosque in nearby Murfreesboro could open despite legal challenges.

Rebin Omer attended the first prayers in that mosque. The Kurdish refugee dismisses claims that Islam is violent.

"We haven't seen anything like that from our upbringing or anything, so it's kind of surprising, but the First Amendment gives you the right to worship any religion you want," Omer says.

As one of a thousand mosques built in the U.S. over the past decade, this Islamic center ignited debate across the country and political spectrum — from pulpit pastors to wealthy Republican donors. Health care investor Andy Miller tries to isolate his concerns to the moral code laid out in Muslim holy books, where he finds discrimination toward women.

"I am not anti-Muslim at all. I don't hate anybody. But I do have issues with Shariah law. When you look at Shariah law, it's so antithetical to the things that we hold dear as Americans," Miller says.

This year, Miller pumped a couple hundred-thousand dollars into superPACs supporting a candidate who shares his views. Lou Ann Zelenik made Islam a campaign issue in both of her failed but fiery bids for Congress.

While Zelenik lost to Rep. Diane Black again in this month's Republican primary, Black felt pressure to show toughness.

"I understand the devastation that Shariah law could mean here in our country, and I'm a sponsor of a bill that will once again say that the United States Constitution is our law and that it is the supreme law," Black said.

Besides the federal legislation, more than 20 states have considered bills banning the use of Shariah law. The proposals are a solution in search of a problem, according to many. But to the anti-Shariah crowd, they are another way to get their fears taken seriously.

[summer]

There are sooooo many people who believe this. The paranoia is truly scary. I simply don't see this happening anymore than I see Obama sending the U.N. Army into Lubbock to get people's guns.

Ignorant people are scared as fuck. It comes from within I think, like it shows how they feel and what they dream about doing to others, so they think people want to do the same to them.

[ChillyMcFreeze]

Sept 3, 2012 12:46:55 GMT -5 summer said:

Ignorant people are scared as fuck. It comes from within I think, like it shows how they feel and what they dream about doing to others, so they think people want to do the same to them.

This right here. Summer just threw the armchair psychology gauntlet, and I love it.

I'm getting a little sick of living in a country where "tolerance" is a dirty word. It feels like I'm watching an endless contest of who can out-hate each other.

[dirtyred]

I find it ironic that he doesn't like the Muslim moral code because he thinks it's discriminatory towards women while he works to pass bills that erode a woman's rights.

[5thofjuly]

I read this article while I was watching a special about Charlie Chaplin and Hitler (I know, a Nest cliche, but the show was fabulous,) and I can kind of see some similarities. For example, there were speeches at the time (even in the U.S.) about how if we wouldn't have allowed X number of immigrants in, there wouldn't be a problem with joblessness.

When people feel powerless (such as out-of-work folks in a recession) then look for someone to blame. In the U.S., at least, we're not great at understanding problems from a macro-level perspective, in part because of how we're taught to think (or not taught to think) in school. Rather than seeing that the problem is very complex and multifacited and that there's not much that any one individual can do about it because the solution is quite complex and will just take time, we latch on to one thing we CAN control---and usually that involves blaming some sort of "other."

[basilosaurus]

This from the same people who want a Christian theocracy

[Deleted]

KA-Do you believe my stories about living in TN now?

[sunny]

morons. how do they live their lives with such fear?

[ttt]

Sept 3, 2012 14:37:32 GMT -5 5thofjuly said:

I read this article while I was watching a special about Charlie Chaplin and Hitler (I know, a Nest cliche, but the show was fabulous,) and I can kind of see some similarities. For example, there were speeches at the time (even in the U.S.) about how if we wouldn't have allowed X number of immigrants in, there wouldn't be a problem with joblessness.

When people feel powerless (such as out-of-work folks in a recession) then look for someone to blame. In the U.S., at least, we're not great at understanding problems from a macro-level perspective, in part because of how we're taught to think (or not taught to think) in school. Rather than seeing that the problem is very complex and multifacited and that there's not much that any one individual can do about it because the solution is quite complex and will just take time, we latch on to one thing we CAN control---and usually that involves blaming some sort of "other."

This is so true. This is also why I think you see some people SO vicious towards illegal immigrants.

It just kills me how these people talk about what Islam "really is" when 99.9% of the time they haven't even read one sentence out of the Quran.

[Deleted]

Sept 3, 2012 14:52:41 GMT -5 sunny said:

morons. how do they live their lives with such fear?

where to start....

by homeschooling their children so they don't develop critical thinking skills

by blinding following zealots

by teaching creationism in schools

by electing people who give us laws about 'gateway' sexual activity

and it is a lot easier to hate something you don't know than acknowledge that the world/society is changing and you might be left behind.

[ESF]

I have spent very little time in the south, and the more I read about it, the more I think that if I went, I'd just spend the entire time with my jaw on the floor. It sounds like a different planet.

[teamc]

This might be the single worst written article I've read this year. They are quoting a dentist and an investor, where in the hell did they find these guys, and how in the hell does two people make it "the south" And the representative is sponsoring a bill that we uphold the constitution is a stretch to equate that to be anti-shariah law, you and I both know this is simply lip service to accommodate the radicals NPR found. I guess they couldn't find any sociological analysts in the area to support this ridiculous notion that the south is just plain supremacist.

ESF, it would be a shame if you let this bias your opinion of the south, and in particular Tennessee. There are good and smart people there. One day I would like to move back to Tennessee I love it so much.

[Deleted]

Sept 3, 2012 19:12:29 GMT -5 teamc said:

This might be the single worst written article I've read this year. They are quoting a dentist and an investor, where in the hell did they find these guys, and how in the hell does two people make it "the south" And the representative is sponsoring a bill that we uphold the constitution is a stretch to equate that to be anti-shariah law, you and I both know this is simply lip service to accommodate the radicals NPR found. I guess they couldn't find any sociological analysts in the area to support this ridiculous notion that the south is just plain supremacist.

ESF, it would be a shame if you let this bias your opinion of the south, and in particular Tennessee. There are good and smart people there. One day I would like to move back to Tennessee I love it so much.

They didn't have to look far. I give you

williamsontngop.org/

RESOLUTION


In Opposition to

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s approval of and partnering with the Tennessee American Muslim Advisory Council and his appointment of a Sharia compliant finance specialist to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.


W I T N E S S E T H



WHEREAS, Islam’s doctrine promotes Islam as a complete way of life;


WHEREAS, Omar Amad, co-founder of the Council on American Muslim Relations (CAIR) has stated that “Islam is not in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Quran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth.”;



WHEREAS, pursuant to The Reliance of the Traveler, an authorized Sharia summary text, Islamic law is both “religious” and “political”;


WHEREAS, pursuant to The Reliance of the Traveler, religious Sharia pertains to such subjects as how to pray (p. 58.), whereas political Sharia pertains to matters of civil and criminal law (p. 584);


WHEREAS, according to the Quran 9:29, one of Islam’s stated goals is to impose political Sharia law around the world, including in the United States;


WHEREAS, pursuant to The Reliance of the Traveler, non-Muslims constitute a separate political class (pg. 607) and political Sharia law dictates any and all rights of the non-Muslim;


WHEREAS, those Sharia laws that impact the non-Muslim are deemed political Sharia law;


WHEREAS, permitting or providing cover for the advancement of political Sharia law in the United States or any of its States (including Tennessee) under the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment will result in the denial or abridgement of the rights of non-Muslims, including, without limitation, non-Muslims’ rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and non-Muslims’ rights to free speech and association;


WHEREAS, Sharia compliant finance gives effect to and promotes political Sharia;


WHEREAS, the profits from Sharia compliant financial transactions must be used for zakat;


WHEREAS, zakat may not benefit any non-Muslims, nor may it be used in defense of Western civilization, while zakat may be used for Muslim defense and for fighting in Allah’s cause (see Reliance of the Traveler, p. 246 and Quran 9:50, et seq);


WHEREAS, it was entered into evidence at the 2008 U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation Trial that $12 million in zakat was funneled to terrorist organization Hamas for purposes of jihad;


WHEREAS, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam appointed a Sharia compliant finance expert in May 2012 to oversee the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community;


WHEREAS, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam approved the formation of and partnership with the American Muslim Advisory Council in November 2011; and


WHEREAS, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has elevated and/or afford preferential political status to Sharia adherents in Tennessee, thereby aiding and abetting the advancement of an ideology and doctrine which is wholly incompatible with the Constitution of the United States and the Tennessee Constitution.


NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Williamson County Republican Party hereby opposes Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s formation of and partnership with the Tennessee American Muslim Advisory Council; and therefore be it further


RESOLVED that the Williamson County Republican Party hereby opposes Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s recent appointment of a Shariah compliant finance expert to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development; and therefore be it further


RESOLVED that the Williamson County Republican Party hereby opposes any other acts or decisions by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam which are incompatible with U.S. sovereignty and the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Tennessee

[eclaires]

There are definitely some crazies in TN, so I don't doubt it.

But there are also some great people and non-crazies. Maybe it's because of where we live (Knoxville - both the university and Oak Ridge National Lab are in the area), but it's a pretty diverse area. Our neighborhood has tons of people from different backgrounds and countries, and selfishly, I'm glad my kids are getting to know people much different from themselves. One family is Muslim, actually. They are pretty awesome, and always give us date or fig cookies at the end of Ramadan. My love can be bought with cookies...

And there may be crazies, but there is nowhere I've ever been with friendlier and nicer people - even though sometimes I want them to stop talking to me, lol.

[Deleted]

Sept 3, 2012 20:13:17 GMT -5 eclaires said:

There are definitely some crazies in TN, so I don't doubt it.

But there are also some great people and non-crazies. Maybe it's because of where we live (Knoxville - both the university and Oak Ridge National Lab are in the area), but it's a pretty diverse area. Our neighborhood has tons of people from different backgrounds and countries, and selfishly, I'm glad my kids are getting to know people much different from themselves. One family is Muslim, actually. They are pretty awesome, and always give us date or fig cookies at the end of Ramadan. My love can be bought with cookies...

And there may be crazies, but there is nowhere I've ever been with friendlier and nicer people - even though sometimes I want them to stop talking to me, lol.

This basically sums up TN. There are a lot of really nice and interesting people, but you don't have to look far for the crazies.

[Michelle]

Sometimes what gets posted here about TN makes Texas seem like California.

[pugz]

I thought for sure septimus posted this TN astounds me, but so does my own state, KS. Brownback is destroying my state's arts programs and services to the poor. And he hates women.

Dh got into a fight with a fam member that truly believes muslims are trying to take over. It was ugly.

[emilyj]

Sept 3, 2012 18:36:21 GMT -5 ESF said:

I have spent very little time in the south, and the more I read about it, the more I think that if I went, I'd just spend the entire time with my jaw on the floor. It sounds like a different planet.

I was born and raised in CT. Now I live firmly in the Bible belt of Alabama. There are parts of it that are like a totally different world - sometimes I still don't understand his family and he has to translate. But there are pretty awesome parts too. I love our town. If we ever have to move I will ugly cry. As a northern transplant who once thought exactly like you, I have to say don't judge the whole south by shit like this.

Just judge some of it. :-)

[smock]

"WHEREAS, permitting or providing cover for the advancement of political Sharia law in the United States or any of its States (including Tennessee) under the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment will result in the denial or abridgement of the rights of non-Muslims, including, without limitation, non-Muslims’ rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and non-Muslims’ rights to free speech and association;"

Replace "Muslim/Sharia" with "Christian" in this quote, and you'll see why a lot of non-Christian Americans find the "OMG SHARIA LAW" dummies to be incredibly hypocritical.