While all eyes this week are on London's royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton, my eyes are on an opening statement from the U.K.'s Daily Mail Reporter: "Women who do not wear headscarves are being threatened with violence and even death by Islamic extremists intent on imposing (Shariah) on parts of Britain."
Of course, we're told such views represent an extreme minority. Yet just a few months ago, the Los Angeles Times contested that thread, in an article titled "Majority of Muslims want Islam in politics, poll says." The poll was taken in seven countries with large Muslim populations. The Times reported: "According to the survey, majorities in Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Nigeria would favor changing current laws to allow stoning as a punishment for adultery, hand amputation for theft and death for those who convert from Islam to another religion. About 85 percent of Pakistani Muslims said they would support a law segregating men and women in the workplace."
But we shouldn't believe such sentiment ever could reach the shores of America, right? Or has it already penetrated our land and even our governmental seats?
I'll say what I said at the outset of last week's column: It is no mystery that radical Islamists intend to use the freedoms in our Constitution to expand the influence of Shariah, or Islamic law. And let me categorically restate that I'm neither an Islamophobe nor a fear-monger. I welcome the plurality of religions in America and am a firm believer in the First Amendment. But just as our religious freedom is secured in the Bill of Rights, so is our freedom of speech to share even our religious concerns.
Having defined what Shariah is in Part 1, here I'm going to give what I label as the top 10 evidences to date that support the fact that Shariah is seeping into society, from homes to halls of justice. As you read these, ask not only what they mean today but also how they might escalate and morph 10 years from now into more progressive forms.