Around the world, countries incorporating Sharia principles into their legal systems demonstrate why that distinction matters.
Pakistan has notoriously used blasphemy laws against religious minorities, including Christians.
Iran’s Islamic system imposes religiously grounded restrictions touching everything from public morality to conversion and political dissent.
Saudi Arabia’s legal system has historically drawn extensively upon Islamic jurisprudence.
Egypt’s constitution declares Islam the state religion and identifies the principles of Islamic Sharia as the principal source of legislation.
These countries aren’t identical. Neither are their interpretations of Islam.
They illustrate something Americans cannot afford to ignore:
Once religious doctrine moves from voluntary personal conviction into governmental authority, the rights of people who reject that doctrine can become vulnerable.
That is precisely why America’s constitutional system matters.
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