Although hate crime laws were not created to enforce sharia law in the United States, they are certainly being used to do so now.

Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes, police said. It was unclear if he was a student at the school. A message left at the Shmulevich home was not immediately returned.

The Islamic holy book was found in a toilet at Pace’s lower Manhattan campus by a teacher on Oct. 13. A student discovered another book in a toilet on Nov. 21, police said.

Muslim activists had called on Pace University to crack down on hate crimes after the incidents. As a result, the university said it would offer sensitivity training to its students.

The school was accused by Muslim students of not taking the incident seriously enough at first. Pace classified the first desecration of the holy book as an act of vandalism, but university officials later reversed themselves and referred the incident to the New York Police Department’s hate crimes unit.

In this country, we have the right to burn flags, burn soldiers in effigy, put crucifixes in urine, sculpt the mother of Jesus in dung, Fred Phelps can spew his hate, gay activists can march, people can openly accuse politicians of crimes with no supporting evidence, and we have any number of ways to express any number of points of view. But through hate crime laws, certain types of expression are being suppressed.

If the ACLU really does believe in what their name promotes, they will represent Mr. Schmulevich. The law on this matter is being stretched to the limit to make the argument that this sort of thing is a hate crime. I’m betting they won’t touch it with a ten meter cattle prod, but I’m holding out hope that they’ll prove me wrong.

Littering and stealing are already illegal, and if Mr. Shmulevich is guilty of those things he should be punished accordingly. But we have the right to not obey sharia law. Through hate crime laws, our government is offering more legal protection to Islam than it does to any other faith. We should not, and cannot tolerate that if we wish to remain free.

Previous posts on the right to not obey sharia law:

Chickenhawk Christians: A common refrain these days is that of a billion Muslims, only a few have actually attacked us. Therefore, Islam must be a peaceful religion which is being twisted by a few people. Perhaps it’s even true. But when Muslims have had the option of freedom, they have chosen sharia. Does this mean that moderate Muslims are a far smaller group than we have been led to believe? Does it matter? How many Germans really believed Hitler was correct, and how many just quietly chose not to resist? There may be nearly a billion moderate Muslims, but if they don’t rein in the radicals among them whose goal is to enslave us, then we must do it. For example, after the London bombings, a survey revealed that only 5% of UK Muslims thought that more attacks would be justified. The problem is that 5% of Muslims in the UK means 80,000 people would like to see further terror attacks in the country they make their home. There are enough radical Islamists to threaten the west, and to take, or cause us to relinquish through intimidation, our freedom. The cartoon riots were a perfect example of what passivity in the face of threats will bring. We did not stand up for Salman Rushdie, Theo van Gogh, or Hirsi Ali. Now fatwas and isolated attacks have exploded into full scale demonstrations all over the world.

The Right to Not Obey Islamic Law: Because the west now treasures life more than freedom, worldwide there is one example after another where the Wahhabi sect of Islam is demanding and receiving obeisance and cooperation. Just in the last few weeks:
In Chechnya, non-Islamic women are now wearing headscarves. An American college professor - IN America - censored for showing the Dread Cartoons of Blasphemy. Google censors just about everybody, it seems, but radical Islamists. The EU considers whether or not to implement blasphemy laws. A satire festival in Spain purposely avoids offending Muslims - and only Muslims. Our public schools allow Islamic proselytization. Mark Steyn is shut out (scroll down…) of the British press because of his strongly stated views on Islam. The Telegraph took down an article on how Sharia law may soon be implemented in England “due to legal reasons.” Here’s the cached article. Yale fights to keep the military out while letting the Taliban in. Former president Jimmy Carter panders to terrorists every chance he gets.

Do we have the right to not obey Islamic law?: Jay Tea over at Wizbang frames the cartoon conniption perfectly with this question: “Do we have the right to not obey Islamic law?”

…the world is being presented with the Islamic demands that we not depict Mohammed. On the surface, it’s a silly issue, and some commentators, satirists, and cartoonists have had a field day with that (when they’re not facing their own threats). But underneath the giggles is a simple, fundamental issue: the Islamists are demanding that their religious laws hold sway worldwide, and are using every weapon at their disposal — economic threats, violence, and appeals to liberal guilt, just to name three — to get the non-Islamic world to submit.

And let us never forget: Islam does NOT mean “peace.” It means “submission.”

[emphasis added]

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written by Laura