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I don't think people are getting Modernman's point. Sharia 'law' is not being given the force of law. Sharia is only being accepted as a set of guiding principles for the 'arbitration' of civil cases, notably divorce but also some contract or tort cases.

Whatever the outcome of Shari arbitration the agreements cannot supercede or nullify existing precedent under Canadian Law. Any agreement must be reviewed by a judge before it takes force in order to ensure that neither party has been coerced and that the agreement doesn't violate sections of the Charter of Rights.

In family law cases, for instance, if a father sued for exclusive child custody on the grounds that he was was better able financially, to provide for the children and at the same time refused to pay alimony or child support to his exwife, he would lose the case.

In these cases a family court judge, being the final arbiter, would almost certainly rule that the husbands conduct was malicious and unfair.

Although it is completely consistent with Sharia Law to award child custody to the father regardless of the financial status of the mother, this aspect of Sharia is inconsistent with Canadian family law and no judge would accede to it.

Also, the proposal to allow use of Sharia Law in civil arbitration does not apply to criminal charges under the Criminal Code of Canada, for reasons which should be obvious to everyone.

We're just going in circles.

The bottom line is, for all its faults, the vast majority of Freepers think that our system of justice works just fine, and we are not all that impressed with the record of Sharia throughout the world.

You may have an ideal, peaceful, version of Sharia that you want to get Western countries to adapt, but you will not get very far with us Freepers.

Not too long ago, many of us had to deal with the apologists for Communism. They were people that said the Communism was fine, it just wasn't being implemented properly, and that we should give it a chance. So, we've seen it before.

I'll make you guys a deal. You get the Muslim countries to claim to use Sharia to start respecting human rights, especially for women, and I'll drop my objection to Sharia. But I think that will be a long time, and I may not be around for that day.

But for the United States, at least right now, most of us are never going to support minorities imposing parallel justice systems, however you guys may try to package them, - NEVER.