Commenting on the Oklahoma anti-Islam measure, the New York Times said Sunday:
"Islamic law, known as Shariah, is no threat to our legal system and is not in force anywhere in the United States except within a religious community, in the same manner as Jewish Halakhic law or Catholic canon law.
"Nonetheless, supporters of the amendment raised absurd fears that it could entangle the American courts at any minute. Rex Duncan, a Republican state representative and the author of the ballot measure, told The Los Angeles Times that Oklahoma does not yet have that problem. "But why wait until it's in the courts?" he asked. He has also said that Muslims want to take away American liberties and freedom.
It is fear-mongering, of course, and all too successful. As James McKinley Jr. "recently reported in The Times, the issue helped drive the high Republican turnout at the polls in Oklahoma.
"That, combined with the national Republican wave, helped give the party veto-proof control of the Legislature and a Republican governor for the first time. Now Republicans in several other states are talking about similar measures. Muslim leaders in Oklahoma say they are getting more hate mail.
The voters of Oklahoma were badly misled by demagogues into passing a profoundly un-American measure, the New York Times concluded, adding that now it is up to the federal courts to prevent the hatred from spreading further.
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