The shitfight between Yassmin Abdel-Magied and Jacqui Lambie on Q&A, just goes to show you how stupid some of our politicians can seem. I am an atheist and think religion is one of the worst jokes perpetrated on Homo sapiens since the first con-man met the first gullible fool. However, when you debate someone, even if the topic is something as daft as religion, it is always good to actually find out what you are supposed to be arguing about before you open your gob and make a fool of yourself. When initially elected, despite her obvious lack of education, I was willing to give Lambie a go. After all, she stood up for people in uniform against the proposed changes to defence personnel allowances mooted by the malevolent Abbott government. Abbott, of course, stated that it was not due to her efforts, but to discussions he had with the backbench. She got a brownie point for that from me, and I thought, here is a person of principles and I looked forward to here next foray into the depredations of the malodorous Liberals.
Now however, Lambie has made a complete fool of herself by whining about the ‘introduction of Sharia law’ in Australia. You can find out roughly what Sharia law is by simply reading its entry in Wikipedia. Get someone to show you how to find it on a computer, Jacqui!
Here is just a snapshot of what it says:
Sharia refers to religious regulations governing the lives of Muslims. For many Muslims the word simply means ‘justice’. Some scholars interpret it as ‘the way’ or ‘the path’, much like the Hebrew term Halakhah (‘the way to go’). The word Sharia was sometimes used by early Christian and Jewish writers in a similar context.
The Sharia is characterised as a discussion on the duties of Muslims. Over several centuries came the European hegemony, including the domination of many lands which had been Muslim empires, and many of these lands adopted laws from their European colonial powers. Most Muslim countries now incorporate Sharia law, at some level in their legal framework. Most use Sharia for personal law (marriage, divorce, domestic violence, child support, family law, inheritance etc.).
In Sharia law, there are actions that are:
- Mandatory (e.g. praying 5 times a day, obligatory charity, articles of faith, hajj pilgrimage)
- Proper (e.g. in marriage, funeral rites and family life)
- Permissible (e.g. behaviour neither forbidden nor required)
- Undesirable (e.g. swearing, divorce, using too much water)
- Forbidden (e.g. adultery, murder, theft, causing injury, eating pork, drinking alcohol)
Punishments for the forbidden actions vary from fines to beheading. However, like Western law, Sharia is being reinterpreted as communities develop a more modern outlook.
So, Jacqui, in some ways, the interpretation of Sharia law is centuries behind Western law, as it was centuries ago that Western law last imposed the death penalty for perceived religious transgressions. You should also be aware that it was as late as 1949 that the death penalty was still an option for sodomy in the state of Victoria, so don’t go feeling too smug.
So, Jacqui, there are only 2.2% of the population that identify themselves as Muslims in Australia, and as Yassmin stated, they mostly look upon Sharia as a way to behave. Given also that they are immersed in a mostly modern nation (Cory Bernardi, Eric Abetz, Fred Nile and others notwithstanding), I think you can safely say that we will not be starting to cut off the hands of pickpockets, or ‘chuck pillow-biters off buildings’ as the despicable Pickering stated.
Given that most of the religious nutters in Australia are Christian, I’d be more worried about the imposition of some of the more ludicrous of the Ten Commandments than Sharia.
So, Jacqui, don’t get your information from bigoted nut bag websites, because most of their authors were frightened shitless by two little girls in hijabs. With people like that writing drivel for such websites, I’d be more inclined to worry about their mental wellbeing than their latest conspiracy theory.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Australia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia
http://www.blotreport.com/uncategorized/where-to-now-saint-bernardi/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
