Re: Federal Appeals Courts bows down to Islam, upholds ruling blocking the implementation of an Oklahoma amendment banning Sharia Law

Jewish groups mobilize against anti-sharia bills that would also bar
arbitration under Jewish religious law

BY JUSTIN ELLIOTT

We're a bit late to this one, but Ron Kampeas of JTA has a fascinating
recent piece on fears that anti-sharia initiatives brewing around the
country could also threaten observance of traditional Jewish law, or
halachah.

You don't hear much about halachah, or rabbinical courts known as beit
din, even though both have been a feature of observant American Jewish
communities for years.

But some Jewish groups are now lobbying against anti-sharia bills that
have been drafted — possibly as a way to preempt constitutional
challenges — to bar any and all foreign or religious law in U.S.
courts, not just sharia:

"The laws are not identical, but as a general rule they could be
interpreted broadly to prevent two Jewish litigants from going to a
beit din," a Jewish religious court, said Abba Cohen, the Washington
director of Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox umbrella group.
"That would be a terrible infringement on our religious freedom."

A number of recent beit din arbitrations that were taken by
litigants to civil courts — on whether a batch of etrogim met kosher
standards; on whether a teacher at a yeshiva was rightfully dismissed;
and on the ownership of Torah scrolls — would have no standing under
the proposed laws.

A spokesman for the Orthodox Union explained that a prohibition on
religious law would be a problem in situations when Jewish law comes
up in civil courts:

Such laws "are problematic particularly from the perspective of
the Orthodox community — we have a beit din system, Jews have disputes
resolved according to halachah," Diament said. "We don't have our own
police force, and the mechanism for having those decisions enforced if
they need to be enforced is the way any private arbitration is
enforced" — through contract law in the secular court system.

Some prominent Jewish groups seem to be putting some real lobbying
muscle into this issue in state legislatures, so it will be
interesting to see what happens.

On Jan 11, 10:41 am, Travis <baconl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> **
>            New post on *Bare Naked Islam*
> <http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/author/barenakedislam/>  Federal
> Appeals Courts bows down to Islam, upholds ruling blocking the
> implementation of an Oklahoma amendment banning Sharia
> Law<http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/federal-appeals-courts...>by
> barenakedislam <http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/author/barenakedislam/>
>
> In doing so, the court overturned the wishes of an overwhelming majority of
> Oklahomans for voted to ban sharia law from use in state courts last year.
> NEWS 9  In the November 2010 election, Oklahomans voted overwhelmingly for
> referendum SQ 755 — described by its author, Rep. Rex Duncan, as "a
> preemptive strike against Sharia [...]
>
> Read more of this
> post<http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/federal-appeals-courts...>
>  *barenakedislam<http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/author/barenakedislam/>
> * | January 10, 2012 at 6:59 PM | Categories: CAIR
> Nazis<http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/?cat=22749357>,
> Islam in America <http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/?cat=52721> | URL:http://wp.me/peHnV-EKc
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