The editorial “Standing Up to Fear Mongering” appropriately and eloquently takes the Missouri House of Representatives to task for wasting time on a proposal to amend the Missouri Constitution to prohibit Missouri courts from applying Sharia law.

JCRC submitted written testimony opposing the measure, HJR 31, as well as a related bill, HB 708.  While JCRC strongly favors maintaining a strict wall of separation between religion and state, the proposals being considered by the Missouri House address a problem which does not exist.

Moreover, were there a real threat of religious laws being injected into our secular legal system, efforts should be made to address the issue across the board and even-handedly.  Rather than singling out Sharia law, any remedial measure should address all religious laws, including Jewish law, Catholic Canon law, and other religious laws and codes.  To focus solely on Sharia law sends an anti-Muslim message that runs counter to the history of our nation and state as places welcoming of all religious backgrounds.

Thank you for an important and extremely well written editorial.

Gerald P. Greiman, President

Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis

I am personally pleased that the Jewish Light took a whole page (March 30) to discuss the vile Missouri bill to attack people of the Muslim faith. In 1956, Creve Coeur targeted Jews by trying to prevent Temple Israel from being built and it was the Archdiocese that came to rescue by filing a supporting brief in the lawsuit. Cardinal Ritter realized that an attack on the Jews was also an attack on the Catholics. Now we have this House bill. The Muslim community should be welcomed in America and not have to face the bigotry of small-minded politicians. Anyone whose family, like mine,  faced the atrocities of the Nazis, should rise up and say “Not this time! Not here! Not in Missouri!” Contact your representative or join us for Muslim Day in Jefferson City, taking place April 13. Contact [email protected] or 314-652-3114 x 26 for more information.

Freedom is something we must fight for everyday, and we cannot allow politicians to take it away in the name of pandering for votes.

Rick Isserman

Creve Coeur