This November, Oklahoma voter will have a chance to decide on one of the pressing matters of the time – should Oklahoma ban sharia law?

Of all places in the United States, Oklahoma is one of the last that someone would expect sharia law. That is why the sponsor of the bill, Rex Duncan said, “I would describe this as a pre-emptive strike. We don’t want to let it get a toe-hold.”

Oklahoma does not need to worry that it is going to become Indonesia where sharia law operates along side civil law. No one is sensing that a rash of stonings or amputations is planned.

True, sharia law has been implemented in Britain for marriage and domestic matters. However, English law supersedes it and the sharia law is only applicable if both parties agree to it beforehand.

I am sure there are some nuts out there advocating stoning for adulterers in the U.K. and the U.S., but they are fringe. What few advocates of sharia law that there are in the U.S are seeking a situation comparable to Britain.

I say that if two Muslims want to use sharia law to settle their divorce, let them do it. The courts are already clogged. Most legal authorities already urge people to try and settle their differences without the law.

We do not need Sharia law codified in the United States. Our laws are working just fine. But if anyone thinks this is about to happen, you need to double up on the anti-psychotic meds.

We also do not need exaggerated claims that sharia law is threatening to come to our neighborhoods. Putting this on the ballot is about as realistic as condemning BP for fouling Oklahoma’s shores.

This reminds me of Joe McCarthy waving papers that he claimed had the names of communists in the state department. McCarthy pandered to extremist right-wing fears. This bill by Duncan does much the same. It is just fanning the flames to more irrational fears.

The full impact of Duncan’s proposal does not stop at sharia law. He also wants all international law disregarded by the state courts. Duncan called it “offensive” that international law can influence Oklahomans lives.

What Duncan does not realize is that international law only comes into play when the United States has ratified a particular treaty. Europe and the rest of the world are not passing laws that forcibly impose their will on American citizens.

The U.S. Constitution requires three-quarters of the states to pass an amendment before it becomes law. The one-quarter that do not pass the amendment still must accept the amendment. That is more coercive than international law.

Yet people like Duncan are playing to the lowest fears of people who think that radical Muslims and international socialists are going to take over the American judicial system.