2017 – Islamic Sharia

Resolution on Islamic Sharia

Whereas the holy Scriptures are our only rule of faith and practice, God-breathed, the sixty-six books of our Old and New Testaments, able to make us wise unto salvation and to thoroughly furnish us unto all good works (2 Tim. 3:15-17); and

Whereas sharia is Islamic canonical law based on the Koran and the pronouncements of the prophet Muhammed, for which Muslims claim unalterable infallibility as revealed truth from Allah, which tyrannical regimes throughout the world have used to oppress people who have known nothing of the blessings of the separation of church and state Americans enjoy; and

Whereas sharia’s claim to ethical authority is undermined by its many unethical features, including cruel and unusual punishment, such as dismemberment for theft and capital punishment for criticism of the Koran, criticism of Muhammad, criticism of Allah, conversion from Islam to a non-Muslim faith, evangelization of Muslims, and interfaith marriage; and

Whereas this claim is further undermined by its misogyny, including (1) its authorization of the marriage of young girls, the mutilation of female genitalia, polygamy, and marital corporal punishment; (2) its prohibition of equal protection and due process for female rape victims, females who desire a divorce, the rights of mothers in child-custody hearings, women inheritance rights, women jurisprudence rights; and (3) its suppression of simple activities of women normally available to free people, such as holding a personal conversation with men who are not relatives or the freedom to drive a car; and

Whereas these unethical and misogynous features put sharia at odds with many freedoms Americans hold dear, as guaranteed for them in their national Constitution and Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment protections of the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech, equal protection and due process, and protection from cruel and unusual punishment; and

Whereas the rapidly growing expansion of the legal influence of the Muslim religion in our nation has prompted some states, such as Texas, to introduce and pass anti-sharia laws, mandating that our courts use only the laws of our land to adjudicate cases before them; and

Whereas those who are concerned about the incompatibility of sharia and the freedoms Americans hold dear have been accused of “Islamophobia” and hatred against Muslims,

Be it therefore resolved that we, the members of the IBFNA, meeting in Kittery, ME, June 20-22, 2017, determine to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them (Eph. 5:11). We deny that sharia is from the true God of heaven and choose instead to stand with the Scriptures, earnestly contending for the faith once for all time delivered to the saints, nearly 600 years before Muhammed lived. As the prophet once understood, when he sent his followers as a small and persecuted minority from Mecca to the tolerant Christian Abyssinia for safe-haven, we who follow Jesus Christ seek to live peaceably with all men (Rom. 12:18). We are commissioned to make redeemed disciples of Muslims lost in sin and spiritual darkness (Matt. 28:19-20). As U. S. citizens, we are duty-bound to uphold its Constitution and laws (Rom. 13:1-10), and to preserve and defend its freedoms from all forms of tyranny, secular or religious, which freedoms include the right of each Muslim and Baptist to live and worship as free.