Rutter letter: Religious Exemption

The Idaho Legislature is considering two subjects that perhaps they should look at as one: Sharia Law and the Religious Exemption. The exemption already places religious law above state law and I bet some enterprising attorney could use it to expand those exemption rights. After all, if you can allow the death of a child in the name of religion, why not lesser things?

Since there seem to be no instances of Sharia Law being used here in the U.S. I’m not sure why this is being used to waste the valuable time of the Legislature. As long as the Religious Exemption is on the books, religious law has an established precedent. Get rid of it and State Law again becomes the rule of the land. Leave it in place and it leaves a way for other religious laws to be used to justify actions making the Sharia Law ban meaningless.

Meanwhile how about addressing things that actually affect the people of Idaho — like “Add the Words,” or repair the infrastructure?

This story was originally published February 19, 2017 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Rutter letter: Religious Exemption."