(CNSNews.com) — “We should be afraid of sharia law” in America, and Muslims here who want to practice sharia should go back to where they came from, “to those nations that recognize sharia law,” said Rev. Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
In a recent interview with the Charlotte Observer, Graham was asked, “Some say you demonize Islam, and Christians in this country have opposed building a mosque or are worried about Sharia law. Isn’t it –”
Graham, who oversees the international Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, said, “We should be afraid of Sharia law. We should be absolutely afraid of it. No question about it, because there’s no tolerance in Sharia law. It persecutes those that do not believe in Islam.”
“And I would say to Muslims in this country, if they want to practice Sharia law, go back to where you came from, to those nations that recognize sharia law,” said Graham. “But we have our own laws here.”
Sharia law is the law of Islam, governing public life as well as private life. “Also meaning ‘path’ in Arabic, sharia guides all aspects of Muslim life, including daily routines, familial and religious obligations, and financial dealings,” states a backgrounder on sharia published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). “Marriage and divorce are the most significant aspects of sharia, but criminal law is the most controversial.”
Some of the crimes addressed by sharia include fornication and adultery, wine drinking, theft and highway robbery. Some of the punishments for such crimes, according to the CFR, include flogging, stoning, amputation and execution. Honor killings are also widespread.
The CFR also noted, “Other practices that are woven into the sharia debate, such as female genital mutilation, adolescent marriages, polygamy, and gender-biased inheritance rules, elicit as much controversy.”
Following his comments against sharia law, Reverend Graham was asked about his own Biblically based opposition to homosexual “marriage.”
The reporter asked, “Opposing same-sex marriage because it’s the Bible – I’m trying to say, that is a religious law too, isn’t it, that we should not let gays and lesbians get married because the Bible says they shouldn’t be?”
Graham said, “I believe the Bible from cover to cover. I believe the Old Testament, as well as the New Testament.”
