The leap of the faithless-Muslimphobia in the US

Muslimphobia in the US is at an all time high, if one is to believe the polls. CNN will air a program Sunday regarding anti Muslim attitudes,"The Muslims Next Door". Here is a question I hope they will answer and explain to me: How would an act of terror committed in the US perpetrated by a young Muslim, who is either a sleeper planted some time ago, influenced by members of a local mosque  or one recruited over the Internet, cause the US  to embrace the Koran instead of the Bible and adopt Sharia law?

It certainly did not happen after 9/11 and instead, public opinion hardened and  cable talkers boosted their ratings and income to exploit irrational fears of their already skittish audiences. Jihadists became the new villains  of fiction writers, and politicians revelled in passing useless laws outlawing consideration of Sharia  in trials, condemning the building of mosques, holding hearings to gin up fear, and even trying to ban the practice of the Muslim religion.

 Here is what I do not get: some of the practices of Islam are due to interpretations of the Koran to which not even most Muslims subscribe and certainly most  in the US do not. Even then, Muslims in the US have little clout, constituting .6% of the population. They are very far from being a political force.  Some parts of the Koran indeed are not in our US Judeo-Christian cultural or religious traditions. Have  those subscribing  to Christianity have no faith that their religion would triumph if Americans were given a choice? Oh ye men and women of little faith,  I just do not get it.

Also not getting it, are those who do not understand the basic concepts of US law and our Constitution. For them fear overrides the protection of religion guaranteed in the Constitution, the understanding that secular laws in the US trump any contradictory religious practice.While the Koran permits beating a wife, it is assault and  battery in the US. While some interpret the Koran to permit killing a spouse for infidelity, it is murder in the US and has been so prosecuted here.

We do not need to just look at examples of  Muslims  to understand the concept of  superiority of US secular laws over religious practices: While some religions do not believe in medical treatment for their children, and the children die or nearly do, it is child abuse and neglect in the US.  While some Mormons interpret their religion to practice polygamy and marry underage children, it is considered rape by our laws. The old testament exhorts taking an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, yet if you  try to take some one's eye or tooth seeking revenge,  see where that gets you in the criminal justice system.  Some think their Christian belief gives someone the right to take a life to stop abortions. That gets them charged with murder. Some once  believed that they are  doing their Christian duty by donning white robes and hanging Negro offenders. Law enforcement may once have looked the other way , but today murder is murder and hate crimes are subject to special, more severe penalties.

  It is no wonder the courts put a hold on the Oklahoma law banning Sharia law as being  unnecessary.  Clearly, legislative anti Muslim  initiatives elsewhere ran into opposition because they were clearly unconstitutional.  Nonetheless,  anti-Muslims soldier on, ignoring these technicalities in their fear and hate driven zeal, fertilizing  the fields of xenophobia, paranoia, and ignorance.