By Lucretia Hughes Klucken
A viewer recently asked an important question: Which areas of the United States have become majority Muslim, and are any of them operating under Sharia law?
The short answer is that Hamtramck, Michigan, is widely described as America’s first Muslim-majority city. However, no American city, county or state is legally governed by Sharia law.
Those two facts must not be confused.
The federal government does not conduct an official religious census. The U.S. Census Bureau asks questions about race, ancestry and national origin, but it does not ask Americans to identify their religion. That means claims about the precise percentage of Muslims living in any particular city are generally based on local estimates, community surveys and demographic analysis — not an official federal count.
Hamtramck, a small city surrounded almost entirely by Detroit, has received national attention because of its large Yemeni and Bangladeshi populations. It elected a Muslim-majority City Council in 2015 and later became the first American city with a Muslim mayor and an entirely Muslim City Council.
But electing Muslim officials is not the same as replacing American law with Islamic religious law.
Hamtramck remains subject to the United States Constitution, federal law, the Michigan Constitution and Michigan state law. Its local ordinances can be challenged and struck down if they violate those higher authorities.
Dearborn, Michigan, also has one of the country’s largest Muslim and Arab American communities. Other significant Muslim populations can be found in portions of Detroit, New York City, northern New Jersey, Minneapolis, Chicago, Houston and several other metropolitan areas.
Yet population concentration does not establish a separate legal system.
Muslim Americans have the same constitutional right to worship, assemble, vote, run for office and live according to their personal faith as Christians, Jews and people of every other religion. What no religious group possesses is the authority to replace the Constitution or impose its religious rules upon citizens through government.
That constitutional line must remain clear.
Sharia can refer to a broad collection of Islamic religious and moral principles governing matters such as prayer, fasting, marriage, diet, finances and personal conduct. Different Muslims and Islamic traditions interpret those principles differently.
Some Muslims may voluntarily consult religious leaders about family or personal matters, just as Christians may seek pastoral counseling and Jewish communities may use religious arbitration. Private agreements can sometimes be considered by American courts, but only when they comply with American law and constitutional protections.
A religious ruling cannot override criminal law, deprive someone of due process, authorize discrimination prohibited by law or take away a person’s constitutional rights.
The Constitution is the supreme law of the land — not the Bible, the Quran, a church council, a mosque, a rabbi, a pastor or an imam.
I am an unapologetic Christian. My faith guides my life, my values and my understanding of right and wrong. But I also understand that America’s constitutional system protects religious liberty by preventing the government from establishing one religious authority over everyone else.
That protection works both ways.
Government cannot outlaw Islam merely because Americans disagree with its teachings. At the same time, government officials cannot use Islam — or any other religion — as authority to impose religious law upon the public.
Americans have legitimate reasons to watch what their local governments are doing.
In Hamtramck, officials have faced controversy over allowing the Islamic call to prayer to be broadcast publicly, permitting regulated religious animal slaughter on residential property and restricting which flags may be displayed on city-owned flagpoles. Those decisions can and should be debated, criticized and challenged when citizens believe their rights or community standards are threatened.
But controversial policies are not proof that an entire city has adopted Sharia law.
Facts matter, especially when the subject is emotionally charged.
We should not falsely accuse every Muslim neighbor or elected official of trying to overthrow the Constitution. We also should not silence Americans who ask reasonable questions about whether religious customs are influencing public policy.
The proper response is transparency, vigilance and equal enforcement of the law.
Every elected official in this country, regardless of religion, takes an oath to uphold the Constitution. If an official attempts to place a religious code above that Constitution, Americans should oppose it immediately through elections, legislation and the courts.
There are communities in America with large Muslim populations, and Hamtramck is widely regarded as the nation’s first Muslim-majority city. But there is no American territory where Sharia has lawfully replaced the Constitution.
And there never should be.
America guarantees freedom of religion. It does not guarantee any religion the power to govern the rest of us.
That distinction is not hatred. It is constitutional common sense.
Stay informed. Stay engaged. And never stop asking questions.
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