sets off alarms in Canada

The North Shore News recently ran a pleasant multicultural story about a new mosque, called Ar Rahman, opening in the Norgate neighbourhood.

But phone lines heated up when canada goose outlet in canada readers noticed a line buried at the bottom of the story. That is where the mosque imam remarked, offhandedly, on how canada goose jacket outlet certain decisions involving members would be made to Muslim law, I mean the shariah. mention of set off alarm bells for some. They contacted The Vancouver Sun, claiming that the mosque would take away the rights of women, never allow canada goose outlet online them to divorce, sanction killings, and encourage Muslim men to marry four wives.

canada goose clearance After a discussion with editors, I phoned the canada goose outlet canada goose outlet germany mosque directors. They were taken aback. Although they acknowledged the imam misspoke, one director was offended, referring to my line of canada goose coats uk questioning as anti multicultural and director said members would always https://www.goosesea.com adhere to the laws of Canada when conducting mosque business, shariah or not. And another said he advises any Canadian Muslim woman or man seeking a divorce to consult a secular lawyer. canada goose clearance

Canada Goose sale I asked some followup email canada goose outlet in vancouver questions of the all male directors, but never heard back. Muslim Association confirmed Muslims in Canada follow the nation laws, including on issues such as polygamy and the right to divorce. The Sun did not pursue buy canada goose uk the story. Canada Goose sale

But the controversy over shariah law is not going away. I researched 10 major Canadian newspapers and discovered they published almost 1,000 stories in the past year, mostly international, about shariah.

buy canada goose jacket cheap Since Infomart, a comprehensive online media archive, measures the tone of each article, I also discovered more than 82 per cent of the articles about shariah (also spelled took a angle, about 16 per cent were and two per cent were Defending the right to offend: Post Charlie Hebd0 (2015) buy canada goose jacket cheap

Muslims beyond the headlines (2014)

UPDATE 2016: The paradoxical world of Zunera Ishaq (Part 1)

Clearly, shariah gets Canadians worked up. or Canada, even though some imams offer voluntary dispute resolution services based on principles of Islamic law.

In addition, shariah is not unique. Most religions maintain their own internal codes of conduct, particularly regarding marriage, divorce, financial wrongdoing, and sexual behaviour.

Then there is the question of whether the world 1.2 billion Muslims interpret shariah the same, or take it equally seriously.

cheap Canada Goose The independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has in the past few months released two gigantic global studies on Muslims attitudes, especially toward shariah. (See graphic at bottom.) cheap Canada Goose

uk canada goose outlet To Westerners steeped in the value of freedom of choice, the Pew Forum army of pollsters has uncovered many things that are disturbing, even shocking, but, in other cases, hopeful. uk canada goose outlet

One Pew Forum report looked at religious law in general.

It illustrated how religious law is widespread, including in North America. It is followed by Christians, Jews, Mormons, Buddhists (especially monks) and members of virtually every religion, particularly conservatives ones.

Roman Catholics have a complex system of religious rules and tribunals, known as canon law. The North American Catholic Church handles roughly 30,000 canon law cases a year involving marriage annulments, divorce, excommunication, and priestly misconduct.

canada goose black friday sale Jews, especially the Orthodox, also follow an extensive code of religious law, known as halakhah. canada goose black friday sale

Canada Goose Outlet Mormon religious law is handled by male bishops or disciplinary councils, called They rule on adultery, marriage (which Mormons consider into the afterlife), divorce, financial wrongdoing and apostasy, which the church defines as promoting teachings in opposition to Mormon doctrine. Canada Goose Outlet

Religious law is often less rigorous in mainline Protestantism. canada goose outlet las vegas But Anglican bishops, for instance, oversee detailed canon codes involving clergy wrongdoing, including in regards to sexual relationships with congregants.

Clearly, religious law is not uncommon in North America. But that doesn make shariah uncontroversial.

canada goose factory sale In April, the Pew Forum released a 226 page report on the beliefs of Muslims in 39 countries. canada goose factory sale

The survey, involving face to face interviews with 38,000 people, revealed a startling range of beliefs among the world Muslims. Which is encouraging, to a point.

Indeed, in some countries, like Turkey and Lebanon, a majority of Muslims don want shariah enshrined as the official law of their land. But most Muslims in other countries do.

Fortunately, most of the planet Muslims uphold some form of religious freedom believing shariah should apply only to Muslims.

canada goose Pew also found most Muslims stand up for the right of non Muslims to practice their faiths. However, Muslims in some countries were concerned that principle was canada goose outlet online reviews often broken. canada goose

Indeed, several Pew Forum findings on shariah will be disconcerting to Westerners, most of whom embrace live and let live values.