Oh, Those Silly, Paranoid Oklahomans

In a breathtaking display of condescension, a mainstream media outlet--in this case, ABC News--belittles those wised up Americans--in this case, in Oklahoma--who have legitimate concerns about sharia, Islam's all-encompassing and "universal" (in the non extra-terrestrial sense) law. For those who may wonder what-is-this-sharia-of-which-you-speak?, ABC explains helpfully that

Sharia – which means "path" in Arabic – governs many aspects of Muslim life and influences the legal code in a majority of Muslim countries.

And, further,

There are many interpretations of what Sharia means, but in some countries strict interpretations "are used to justify cruel punishments such an amputation and stoning as well as unequal treatment of women in inheritance, dress and independence," according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Sharia has gained a toehold in some western countries, notably Great Britain, where five sharia courts have been established to settle certain disputes among Muslims, with the government's blessing.

In which case, why, pray tell, is it so silly for Oklahomans to be concerned--even if their state has "only 30,000 [Muslims] out of a population of 3.7 million" and therefore, according to ABC News (which little realizes that if you give sharia a beachhead, it can ending up taking the whole beach) "the prospect of sharia being applied there seems remote."  

And for Oklahoma to go to all the trouble of banning sharia before it's even a problem is doubly pointless because in America there's a clear separation of church and state, right?

Legal experts contacted by ABC News said they did not know of one instance of a judge in the U.S. invoking sharia in rendering a decision.

"Cases of first impression are rare," said Jim Cohen , a professor at the Fordham University School of Law in New York City, adding, "I have never heard of a case" involving sharia.

Cohen added that he questions whether the proposed amendment would pass constitutional muster.

"Our federal system and our state system is in part governed by the concept of separation of powers. It's far from clear that the Oklahoma legislature can restrict what a separate branch of government can consider in terms of doing its job – in this case, deciding cases," he said.

"I think this is a political statement against Muslims and, inferentially, in support of United States values," Cohen said.

So if I understand Prof. Cohen correctly, even though there's a clear barrier between church (or mosque) and state, Oklahoma cannot "ban" sharia, a law that unites the two because to do so would be "unconstitutional"?

You want to run that one by me again, Professor, because I no capiche the logic.

In other Oklahoma news--could this be Divine payback for Okie impudence?