Equating Religious Texts with Religious Practice

Howard Friedman over at Religion Clause has a post that directed me towards an article titled Behind an Anti-Sharia Push about the rise of anti-Sharia laws proposed in around two dozen states.  The entire article is worth reading, as it exposes how the anti-Sharia movement is not a grassroots movement, but a  well funded campaign by ultra-right wing conservatives seemingly hell-bent on crushing Islam in America.  Besides the obvious xenophobia, what irks me is when the article reports that a Tennessee State Representative named Rick Womick introduced an Anti-Sharia bill in the Tennessee legislature after reading the Quran

Tennessee’s latest woes include high unemployment, continuing foreclosures and a battle over collective-bargaining rights for teachers. But when a Republican representative took the Statehouse floor during a recent hearing, he warned of a new threat to his constituents’ way of life: Islamic law.

The representative, a former fighter pilot named Rick Womick, said he had been studying the Koran. He declared that Shariah, the Islamic code that guides Muslim beliefs and actions, is not just an expression of faith but a political and legal system that seeks world domination. “Folks,” Mr. Womick, 53, said with a sudden pause, “this is not what I call ‘Do unto others what you’d have them do unto you.’” [emphasis mine]