Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal , Canon Law , and Sharia Law?

A good bit of discussion has occurred over the Florida case dealing with leadership of a Mosque and the Judge in Florida that allowed an arbitration agreement in this case.

As has been pointing out by many , including myself, it looked like people jumped the gun.

Well it appears there is a counter attack. See Sharia, Canon Law, and Sovereignty
which appears to argue against "pro-sharia law libertarians". Well I am neither really "pro Sharia law or a Libertarian but I do take our freedoms seriously and the LAW seriously.

Now the article attempts to make some connection between Sharia law and the alleged abuse of Canon Law overriding the criminal law as to Priests that sexually abused here is the USA.

The problem is that was not really what happened. Many of the cases involved allegations that were outside the Statute of limitations to prosecute. Canon Law in the end had little to do with anything in most cases. There were few prosecutors if any in the USA that decided not to prosecute cases and just let the Church legal system do it. We have seen similar situations in Protestant communities that have no Canon Law or "official" religious law at all.

While it is true that perhaps Canon law has touched on such things as protection of records , good OLE USA law has done the same as to various teachers in the public school system.

In the end the SEX ABUSE issue is a huge ole red herring that is emotional and is there to get us off the topic and the issues involved.

As I have mentioned before the principles here are very much set out in USA law. We see this playing out in various property disputes with Episcopalians and Presbyterians involving property as we speak.

Christians must be very careful here. There are no doubt parts of Sharia Law that are against public policy and indeed could not be enforceable even in private contracts. However Christians should focus on those limited aspects.

Christianity is under attack in the public square. Further the legal rights of Christians are under attack. This is much more a danger than Sharia Law in the USA in my view. When the governing authority of San Fransisco attacks the Catholic Church that is of concern. When it appears that Church may have to get out of the adoption business because of our beliefs that is a concern. When there appears to be constant attacks against homeschooling that is a concern. In other words we have other things on our plate.

Christians must be very wary of setting up LEGAL precedent that will get the Government in the Churches business or how believers live their family lives in many areas.

That is not to say that people should not work to prohibit aspects of Sharia law that violate American public policy. However in the zeal to that there must be care not destroy our system of laws as to Church State relations and the ability of people of faith to live their lives within that system.

Again

What the Florida Judge did here was nothing new under the sun as was so well pointed out here.

There is a lot of talk in the article I linked how USA law should reign supreme.Well fine!! However if you make that argument it might be a good idea to engage the law yourselves including some pretty huge Supreme Court cases that give us guidance in these issues.