Tornado Alley (PROG)

[Alex G]

Phyllis Schlafly: Just as Bad as Shar’ia
July 29, 2010, 12:30 pm
http://acandidworld.com/2010/07/29/phyllis-schlafly-just-as-bad-as-sharia/#comments

In a speech today, Newt Gingrich will come up with all manner of reasons that America is under attack by her Muslim citizens. ThinkProgress has already demonstrated the falsity of some of the incidents he’s pledged to mention; let’s take a closer look at one.

Gingrich decries an American court’s apparent decision to exonerate a man of raping his wife because, under shar’ia, marital sex can never be rape:

In June 2009, a New Jersey state judge rejected an allegation that a Muslim man who punished his wife with pain for hours and then raped her repeatedly was guilty of criminal sexual assault, citing his religious beliefs as proof that he did not believe he was acting in a criminal matter. “This court believes that he was operating under his belief that it is, as the husband, his desire to have sex when and whether he wanted to, was something that was consistent with his practices and it was something that was not prohibited.“

Yeah, the court messed up, and got quickly reversed. Accordingly, it’s not really an example of American courts “deferring” to shar’ia, in that it demonstrates an error, not conformity with a trend. The rapist, though, finds an unlikely ally in Phyllis Schlafly, who, according to her own religious principles, agrees that there is no such thing as spousal rape:

"I think that when you get married you have consented to sex. That’s what marriage is all about, I don’t know if maybe these girls missed sex ed.

Sadly, this isn’t an isolated claim. She’s maintained this position consistently for some time, citing family values, religious tradition, and the dangers of “feminism” in its support. Meanwhile, her son Andy waxes poetic defending the legal concept of coverture, under which a married woman has no rights, no property, and no legal status. Ahhhh, romance!

Fundamentalist Islam is entirely incompatible with American values. Nothing could be clearer. But so is fundamentalist Christianity, or any fundamentalism, no matter the faith. This is the lesson we should’ve learned on 9/11 but somehow, we continue to apologize for homegrown extremism.