Religion clashes with Laws

[PlasticPorter]

My Mother is a lawyer and while I was home last she told me about a case she had recently taken.
Her client was a muslim woman who had immigrated with her husband last year for buisness. Now in the muslim faith some groups and people have interpreted the Koran to say that it is allowable for a husband to beat his wife and as such there are no laws against it in most muslim countries. Now this woman had been married to this 40 year old man when she was 14 and upon moving to the US she was completly ignorant of the laws here and as such did not know that in the US there are laws against spousal abuse here. A few months later she filed for a divorce and now wants her husband to serve punishment for his abuse. She had gone to the police and another lawyer before hiring my Mother and when she told them that she was being beaten by her husband they replied with "Well thats part of your religion isn't it? You just have to deal with it."

I personally think that is ridiculus and belive that if you immigrate to a country and become its citizen you have to follow its laws that protect the rights and safety of others, even if your religion says otherwise, but what do you think?

 

[slevin8989]

well religion shouldn't come into it since there's a seperation between church and state. The case should just go by law and nothing else

 

[Nmil-ek]

Its called political correctness get used to it, here in Britain we even have those monstrous sharia law courts so Muslims wont be offended by being under regular persecution if the law.

 

[Speeddemon217]

To be honest all holy books are centuries out of date at least and people have been too lazy to find the real meaning of the books for each age because those religious laws were probably thought up by some cleric who lived decades or centuries ago. In your case federal law is right since doesn't the koran say love thy neighbour or something along those lines like the Bible?

 

[tk1989]

Thats ridiculous! Sounds extremely unprofessional if you ask me! Bloody hell, i can't believe someone actually said that...

 

[ryai458]

this is actually pretty sensitive subject if she has proof that he beat her then yes he should serve time although if there is no proof get a divorce, and the Koran doesnt say it is ok to beat a wife its the muslim countries that allow it and misinterpit(sp)

 

[PlasticPorter]

Its called political correctness get used to it, here in Britain we even have those monstrous sharia law courts so Muslims wont be offended by being under regular persecution if the law.

Political correctness should definitely come AFTER serving justice lol
THEN people can tiptoe around seeming racist

 

[Kiefer13]

That's absolutely ridiculous. Religion should have no bearing on law whatsoever. EVER.

 

[ix_tab]

It horrifying to me how religion, all religion, not just Islam, seems to get a free ride away from critism, because it's faith based.

The shit that has children being forced to marry adult men? That's wrong, I don't care what your religion says.

Those horrifying exorcism camps that Christian groups here in Australia run? So, so wrong, I can't even begin to talk about it.

Entrenched violence against women and children? Wrong.

The exclusion, exorcism or even killing of homosexuals? I'll let you guess how I feel about that.

And of course, female genital mutilation, which is one of the most despicable acts of violence against women, all in the name of culture, tradition and religion.

People should be free to practise any religion they choose. As soon as it starts physically harming people, that's when the law should step in.

 

[jasoncyrus]

Exactly. normally lawyers JUMP aty the chance to screw religion over. Strange lawyer her client went to in the first place.

Personally I'd quite like to ban religion from the judicial system all together, keep it as cold hard logic.

 

[Cheesus333]

Antidisestablishmentarianism... probably has something to do with it... but I'm not sure. Don't quote me on that.

Anyway, I personally would not follow a religion that allowed somebody to abuse me and suffer no consequences. I certainly wouldn't tell somebody they had to grin and bear it.

 

[savandicus]

Surely if she believes that a man being allowed to beat his wife is fine by islam and she thinks its not (Its freaking sick to beat your wife) then she disagrees with her religion and therefore it isnt her religion so she isnt a muslim and therefore state law comes into play and the wife beater should be thrown into jail to rot like the ****** that he is.

Personally noone should ever be allowed to harm another person and not be punished for it unless its for the 'greater good' like punching an evil doctor in the face to stop him from pressing the big red nuke country y button.

 

[wewontdie11]

A religion is a faith, something that you believe, not something that can override government law. Religions should be respected but not when it leads to events such as this where the law should obviously take president.

 

[razer17]

im glad i re-read that last sentence. i thought it said something like " you shouldnt have to follow a countries laws if you have your own religious beliefs" i was about to try and shoot you down in flames. but no, it was the other way round.

i clearly totally agree, religion should not allow you to avoid laws. even rules for companies schools etc, shouldnt be broken due to religious beliefs. like the muslim girl who took her school to court so she could wear her head scarf thing instead of uniform. i have no problem with wearing it out on the street, but in school you follow the same rules as everyone else.
although at the time i oft - joked that we should start a new religion were casual clothes were part of the code of practice.
but yeah. religion is no excuse for ignorance and breaking of laws. especially as more and more people are no longer religious, especially in western cultures.

 

[lacktheknack]

The correct approach is to follow the the law until it VERY EXPLICITLY offends your religion, ie. spit on a Bible. For Christianity, it hasn't done that yet in North America, so we're safe law-abiding citizens.

 

[jasoncyrus]

im glad i re-read that last sentence. i thought it said something like " you shouldnt have to follow a countries laws if you have your own religious beliefs" i was about to try and shoot you down in flames. but no, it was the other way round.

i clearly totally agree, religion should not allow you to avoid laws. even rules for companies schools etc, shouldnt be broken due to religious beliefs. like the muslim girl who took her school to court so she could wear her head scarf thing instead of uniform. i have no problem with wearing it out on the street, but in school you follow the same rules as everyone else.
although at the time i oft - joked that we should start a new religion were casual clothes were part of the code of practice.
but yeah. religion is no excuse for ignorance and breaking of laws. especially as more and more people are no longer religious, especially in western cultures.

Exactly, i would've expelled her for trying to make other pupils feel lesser because shes wearing something not in the dress code.

But I'm one of those people who is strong in his belief that religion is the cause of all evil in this world soo....

 

[razer17]

Surely if she believes that a man being allowed to beat his wife is fine by islam and she thinks its not (Its freaking sick to beat your wife) then she disagrees with her religion and therefore it isnt her religion so she isnt a muslim

although i agree wife beaters are vile, i think that just because she doesnt agree with wife beating doesnt make her a non-muslim. especially in the muslim religion, where their holy book, whose name escapes me, is up for so much different interpretation. and you dont have to literally follow every part of a faith to be a member. i mean most christians dont believe in evolution these days, but they are still christian

 

[Micah Weil]

Simple way to handle it:
If this were Iran, or Afghanistan - you know, places where religion IS the law - then yes, she can't do that. She's SOL. The term is Theocracy.

The United States is not a Theocracy. While I can see where the lawyers are hesitant to take up arms for her (such interference could be construed as violation of the right to religious beliefs), the law rather clearly states that you can't beat the shit out of your wife unless she's into that kinky nonsense. In this case, religion should cast aside.

 

[razer17]

Exactly, i would've expelled her for trying to make other pupils feel lesser because shes wearing something not in the dress code.
But I'm one of those people who is strong in his belief that religion is the cause of all evil in this world soo....

im with you on that. although my full views on religion and religious people are to M+ rated for a forum. its the cause of all evil, ignorance of scientific fact, etc.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Its called political correctness get used to it, here in Britain we even have those monstrous sharia law courts so Muslims wont be offended by being under regular persecution if the law.

There are Jewish courts in the UK as well, there is a caveat to both. They are only allowed to pass judgements within the remit of UK laws, you'll frequently find cases of their judgements being overturned by a court of law because of that.


Anyway, B.O.T

Religion =/= Law and Law > Religion.

It's always struck me as a massive problem when Religion = Law as you end up with situations that are systemically unfair (like the one in the OP), unless the state keeps separate from the church who is going to help the people the church inevitably persecutes?