One of the state ballot measures decided last night was also possibly one of the most unnecessary: Alabamians voted to ban sharia law in the state, Reuters reported.
The measure to never rule according to sharia law, a “loosely defined set of moral and legal guidelines based on the Koran, the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad and Muslim traditions,” was added to the ballot process to leave the controversial decision to the voters.
The idea of banning sharia law was introduced by state Sen. Gerald Allen, who unsuccessfully attempted to get the law passed through a bill in the state legislature. The bill ended up as a ballot measure that “asked whether the courts should answer to any foreign law.”
While being trumpeted by the Right as a measure to protect American ideals, Christians in Alabama actually spoke out against the amendment, calling it what it is: an attempt to demonize the Islamic religion.
Randy Brinson, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, told AL.com last week that the amendment was “just silliness” and a “waste of time.”
“This just creates a whole new headache for people involved in foreign adoptions or who get married in another country,” said Brinson. “My frustration is that people — good people — get behind something like this just because they want to score political points with the Christian community.”
Brinson, in addition to pointing out that the state government had more important issues to be dealing with, noted that the amendment was completely unnecessary.
“I understand the sentiment behind this, but Sharia law is not going to be implemented in Alabama, it just isn’t,” Brinson said. “And this would just be another stigma for Alabama, another way of saying to other countries: ‘We don’t respect your laws.'”