Religious Laws Long Recognized By U.S. Courts

[Francesca9]

Source: NPR

... He also cites a recent case in New Jersey, in which a judge refused to give a wife a protective order after her husband repeatedly beat and raped her, saying he had to defer to Shariah law....

U.S. courts already recognize and enforce Shariah law in everything from commercial contracts to divorce settlements, wills and estates.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129731015

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Can the US courts convict for homosexuality under Shariah law?

I doubt that Shariah criminal law is US law.

[dkf]

1. That can't possibly be right.

On the other hand I've never heard of a husband being punished for raping his wife.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Where do I start? First, the NPR article says "[t]he decision was overturned by an appellate court."

The Republican lawmaker who's being interviewed is full of shit. The PDF linked says the following about the case:

07-23-10  S.D. v. M.J.R.
          A-6107-08T2
     In this action pursuant to the Prevention of Domestic
Violence Act (PDVA), we held that the Free Exercise Clause of
the First Amendment does not require a Family Part judge to
exempt defendant, a practicing Muslim, from a finding that he
committed the predicate acts of sexual assault and criminal
sexual contact and thus violated the PDVA.  We also found that
the judge was mistaken in failing to enter a final restraining
order in the matter.

So, the (wrong and therefore overturned) reasoning by the judge didn't even invoke Sharia, it invoked the US Constitution.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. This is foaming rightwing bullshit

[TexasObserver]

6. yes, it is

[Drale]

4. Shariah Law

would never stand up against the supreme court, so a case like this would need to make it to the supreme court for bull shit like that to end and I bet if she killed him, she would be demonized by the media.

[Sgent]

5. Foriegn Law

which includes Shariah Law and Talmudic Law is recognized and followed by the courts when both party's agree to it (for instance in a prenuptial agreement) AND when it doesn't contradict state/federal law.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. One of the concerns is the pressure to go with the religious courts

Will observant muslim or jewish women risk being rejected by their communities for going to the secular courts is a real concern