I'm sorry, but this is hilarious:
Florida Anti-Sharia Legislation May Outlaw Orthodox Jewish Divorces
More schadenfreude below the fold....
So this bill, "styled on model legislation drafted by David Yerushalmi, an Orthodox Jew who lives in New York", looks like it will have the effect of outlawing Orthodox Jewish divorces. Which, by the way, don't work so well for women:
It is vital to be educated in the particulars of Jewish divorce, because Jewish divorce, like Jewish marriage and all aspects of Jewish life, is governed by halakhah. Halakhah, with regard to Jewish divorce, provides the husband with disproportionate power to effect change. Most Jewish men recognize their obligation to give a Get and do so willingly and quickly. When they do not act appropriately, such inaction can result in a woman being rendered an agunah, a chained woman, who must remain in a dead marriage.
So, what we have here is a ridiculous law brought forward by religious zealots out of fear and hatred, and it turns out that it will actually curtail the religious freedoms of the very religion of the person who wrote the law.
And the real twisted irony: by saying that religious laws can't supersede civil laws, it basically makes it illegal for any religion to discriminate in legal situations such as divorce. An Orthodox Jewish woman is not allowed to ask for a divorce - with this law in effect, she may now be able to.
I wonder what other kinds of religious discrimination this bill would outlaw.... popcorn anyone?
I just love it when hate backfires - and liberates women to boot!! ;)