Hat tip to Creeping Sharia
The answer to the title of this post is-not in Allegan County, Michigan. Last month, the police shut down a meeting in which the speaker was supposedly a former terrorist.
http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/michigan-school-police-chief-shut-down-talk-about-sharia-law
I would hope that the police were acting on a credible and specific threat of violence. This brings to mind when UC Irvine police prevented Pastor Terry Jones from speaking at our campus last year.
Sooner or later, however, this issue must be faced. The debate about Sharia in the US is growing and will continue to grow. In several states, moves are under way to ensure that state constitutions cannot be influenced by Sharia. The courts are involved. There will be meetings and speaking events on this subject. Will the police shut down these events at privately-rented halls when the speakers are not famous people with bounties on their heads?
The issue of free speech in Europe is now front and center, and it circles around public discussion of Islam and the impact it is having there. Our rights of free speech are greater in the US. We cannot allow them to be abridged (as the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation would like to see).
Watch this issue continue to grow.
Just now, I'd say the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is posing a more significant threat of religious law being given recognition by secular authorities.
ReplyDeleteSince they seem to have lost again, I have little fears of Sharia gaining traction.