Sir: I was interested in Robert Hayes’ letter in the Dec. 4 Chatham Voice (“Saudi Arabia short on religious freedoms”) about the dangers of Islamic sharia law in Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Barack Obama has called for joint efforts to eliminate the “cancer” of jihadist terror in Iraq and Syria after Islamic State militants murdered American journalist James Foley.
But, as Robert points out, Obama doesn’t talk about Saudi Arabia, where 97% of its 19 million citizens are Muslims, as are the majority of the eight million foreigners who live and work in Saudi Arabia. Non-Muslims are forbidden from practicing their religion there, where Islam is the only religion allowed.
While Muslim groups rage about even the smallest perceived slight against Islam in non-Muslim countries such as Canada, Saudi Arabia crushes all non-Muslim religions within its borders.
I don`t believe there are any Christian church buildings in the country and even a gathering of Christians for prayers or to celebrate Christmas or Easter is forbidden.
And while beheading its citizens who convert away from Islam, Saudi Arabia is busy funding the spread of Islam in other countries. Saudi oil profits, in particular, play a significant role in building mosques around the world.
We should be aware how the concept of Sharia law is advancing in Canada at both provincial and local levels. The provincial governments of Canada for years have tacitly recognized Sharia law for Canada’s Muslim minority.
In 2003, Muslims in Ontario attempted to make the provincial government set aside its laws and have only the Sharia law apply to Muslims. After a fierce debate, the premier eventually stepped in and pushed back against Sharia.
Efforts by Canadian Muslims to push for Sharia law at the municipal level have met more immediate success. A few years later, the cafeteria in a Toronto school was turned into a mosque on Friday afternoons so that Muslim students could listen to an Imam from a nearby mosque and pray towards Mecca. The same scene was repeated at public schools across Canada.
We’re not talking about a minority. In a 2011 survey, 62% of the Muslims in Ottawa expressed a desire to live under some form of Sharia law.
By contrast, public schools in Canada provide neither facilities for the Christian students to gather and worship, nor kosher food for the Jewish students. Makes you think, eh?
I am so grateful I am not subject to Sharia law. As long as we realize the dangers of allowing Sharia law in Canada, I can sit in a Christian church in Chatham and worship a loving God without being afraid of being beheaded.
Stephen J. Beecroft
Chatham
Allowing two sets of legal laws in Canada is not only wrong, it is discrimination at its worst. You break our laws you pay our penalties. Period. Don't like it? The way you came into Canada is the same way out!!!
I agree totally, Henrie. In my opinion, Ontario, and even Canada as a general whole, is beginning to look like it belongs in a Monty Python sketch. When will we at last define ourselves and our identity in solid ink, as opposed to caving, time and again, to every special interest, especially a volatile Sharia cause? Hopefully before we face any real danger. We have an identity as a nation, and we need not apologize for that! As you said, break our laws and pay our penalties. Yes! And abide by our identity or move elsewhere! Those who stand for nothing in particular will fall for anything eventually.