This week in "wtf oops!" legislation: Oaklahoma

[bigrougabagel]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/o...ts-sharia-law/

full text

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Oklahoma may have banned use of Ten Commandments along with Sharia law

By David Edwards
Monday, November 8th, 2010 -- 11:07 am

Oklahoma may have banned use of Ten Commandments along with Sharia law

Update: Court temporarily blocks Islamic law ban

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against a constitutional amendment that would have banned Sharia law in Oklahoma.

"U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange ruled Monday morning in Oklahoma City following a brief hearing," the Associated Press reported. "It prevents the state election board from certifying the results of Tuesday's general election in which the amendment was approved by 70 percent of the voters."

"The order will remain in effect until a Nov. 22 hearing on a requested preliminary injunction."

Original story continues below...

Residents in Oklahoma thought they were voting to ban Sharia law last Tuesday but it turns out that the new constitutional amendment may also extend to the Ten Commandments.

The Oklahoma ballot measure orders judges not to consider Islamic or international law when deciding cases.

But Rick Tepker, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma School of Law believes the "Save Our State" constitutional amendment may have the unwanted side effect of preventing judges from referencing the Ten Commandments. Tepker called the measure "a mess."

"Many of us who understand the law are scratching our heads this morning, laughing so we don't cry," he told CNN. "I would like to see Oklahoma politicians explain if this means that the courts can no longer consider the Ten Commandments. Isn’t that a precept of another culture and another nation? The result of this is that judges aren’t going to know when and how they can look at sources of American law that were international law in origin."

Prior to the amendment passing, Tepker explained to a panel at Oklahoma University that the ballot measure could disrupt Oklahoma commercial contracts.

"Oklahoma is getting an increasing amount of business overseas, and if this measure passes, it may make foreign business partners tentative to sign contracts with us," he said. "It's an unpredictable, unforeseen effect, and I don't think [co-author Rep. Rex Duncan] and the other legislative sponsors even considered that, because they were trying to get something else out of it."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a lawsuit two days after the ban passed saying it violates the First Amendment.

"Disfavoring Islam, or any religion, is a violation of the First Amendment," according to CAIR executive director Muneer Awad. "Second, it renders all international treaties invalid in our courts."

"We have a handful of politicians who have pushed an amendment onto our state ballot and then conducted a well-planned and well-funded campaign of misinformation and fear," Awad said.

Though this was interesting. When enacting xenophobic legislation, better be sure you word it clearly. Would this really affect commercial contracts within the state?

[Alleya]

Oh no, the ten commandments how horrible. Good thing we took care of sharia law, though.

I see no contradiction here.

[ZarakiKujata]

I mean besides this being funny cause these bible thumpers think they fucked themselves, the 10 Commandments arent actually the basis of any laws in this country lol

[Qalbert]

Oaklahoma

[bigrougabagel]

Oaklahoma

Success!

[archibaldcrane]

You can't ignore its girth.

[Demosthenes11]

rofl
Christianity - it's American

[Correction]

rofl
Christianity - it's American

it's also older than Ancient Greece

[Effluo]

Teh US was founded on Christian Values. If you don't conform you are the enemy. Welcome to religion in the 21st century, no matter who your God is.

[Andalusian girls]

Does Oklahoma law really allow The Ten Commandments to be cited when rendering verdicts ?

seems unconstitutional.

[Silenka]

If you don't conform you are the enemy. Welcome to religion in the 21st century, no matter who your God is.

Actually this has pretty much been the stance of almost all religions since the beginning of history so it's really nothing new...

[Zilong]

Lao Tse begs to differ

Edit: Noticed the almost, carry on

Still though, enjoy your AIDS for passing retarded law

[Zoolander]

lol what? Talk about a massive overstatement. I am no fan of religion, but obviously the majority have coexisted together the majority of the time they've been in existence.

Irrational fear based law 4tw, find this quite amusing...that article does a very poor job explaining exactly wtf is going on though.

And I will never understand how people can consider Taoism a religion or Lao Tzu a religious figure. Thats like some kind of a joke.

[Zilong]

If Scientology is a religion, why not Daoism?

[Ashmada]

Actually this has pretty much been the stance of almost all religions since the beginning of history so it's really nothing new...

If by "almost all religions" you mean "abrahamic religions", then yes. Otherwise, no.

Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, for instance had local cults dedicated to some of the gods we now know, yet, though there were wars between the cities/regions, they didn't completely seek to force-convert the other parts of the country/the rest of the world.
Most wars had more to do with expansionism and power than religion.

Their pantheons were pretty fluid, they could easily accept new gods or phase out old ones (Tyr in Norse myhology was gradually forgotten, Set in Egyptian mythology was once quite revered then came to be heavily reviled)... it's when you claim that there's only one god and it's yours that things get out of hand, either with forced conversions (christians, muslims) or extreme elitism (jews - the reason they don't try to convert you is basically because they think you're not worthy.)


I'd never heard of that Sherri Sheperd, but if you still needed proof that an omnibenevolent god doesn't exist, just ponder what kind of god would let such a thing survive that long.

[Woozie]

What was the original point of this law? Was there some recent cases of judges citing Sharia Law and pissed some religious people off or something?

[Antithesis]

I mean besides this being funny cause these bible thumpers think they fucked themselves, the 10 Commandments arent actually the basis of any laws in this country lol

http://sandwichman.kritti.net/GIFZ/weebay.gif

[kuronosan]

What? He's right. They're not.

[Byrthnoth]

What was the original point of this law? Was there some recent cases of judges citing Sharia Law and pissed some religious people off or something?

Just anti-muslim politics. Pick a target that reasonable people don't care enough about to fight against and that idiots think is a huge victory.

There was never a threat of judges citing Sharia Law. But politicians say, "I don't want Oklahoma to turn into one of those horrible cruel theocracies where women are forced to marry at young ages and are oppressed, etc. Therefore I propose this law banning the citation of Sharia Law in Oklahoma courts. Praise be to jeebus."
Intelligent reaction - "Wow, you're self-contradictory and possibly mildly retarded, but Sharia law never factored into our judicial system anyway so feel free to ban it."
Idiotic reaction - "Oh yeah! Fuck that theocracy shit! Not only did they blow us up on 9/11 (nevar fergit) but they also look different from us! Oh, and sometimes they use their laws to stone people! How cruel! Where is my NASCAR? I want to see whose car explodes today. Hail jeebus."
Midwestern mom reaction - *generally worried about a threat that didn't exist until they were told about it by the politician now defending them from it* *generally uninformed* *now grateful to said politician* *votevotevote*

[Meresgi]

I mean besides this being funny cause these bible thumpers think they fucked themselves, the 10 Commandments arent actually the basis of any laws in this country lol

13 You shall not kill/murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.


All the rest dont apply at all, but i'm preeeeetty sure we have laws that are based off those things.