Imagine for a minute that you live in a country where Christians are a small minority and Muslims are a majority. Would you want to be forced to resolve business disputes according to Shari’a law even though you don’t believe in it, and clearly don’t have any friends in a Shari’a court? Many Christians face this problem today.
But did you know that here in the US, regardless of your religion you may be obliged to settle legal disputes in accordance with the Bible? So the New York Times reports in its series on binding arbitration clauses in contracts.
Apparently some Christian businesses feel it is quite right to impose their beliefs on their customers and vendors through arbitration agreements; agreements that make up the fine print of many a contract or even bill of sale. And courts are inclined to honor these agreements as if they were just another version of the arbitration agreements that have turned American commerce into a minefield for consumers.
Would these Christian businesspeople want a Muslim businessman to impose Shari’a law on them though an arbitration agreement buried in a bill of sale? I expect not, given the virulent attacks Christians in the US have launched on Shari’a law and on Muslim institutions that use it in arbitration.
The reality is that these Christians, however much they claim to believe in the Bible, are not interested in obeying the fundamental commandment: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Instead in the name of religious freedom they readily impose on others what they cannot bear having imposed on themselves – an alien religious law.
It is this failure, a failure to be faithful to the most basic command of the God you worship, that has spoiled the Christian brand. Small wonder that more and more Americans are turning away from Christianity and the church. Hypocrisy, as Jesus taught, turns churches into tombs and preachers into corpses. And for the public it is the real unforgivable sin.
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