VMI77 wrote:I don't understand what you're suggesting....are you merely talking about civil arbitration based on religious law? If so, there is nothing stopping such arbitration from happening in the US....all that's required is for the involved parties to agree, just like they could agree to non-religious based arbitration. They could make contracts based on religious law to begin with if desired and all parties agree --as long as the contracts don't violate US law.
This is exactly what I'm suggesting. A Beit Din does exactly this. If a Jewish man or woman is seeking a divorce (just to use as an example), they can go before a Beit Din and the Rabbi's judging the case will make the decision to counsel,or to grant or deny the divorce. The same is true if you were found to have my property in your possession and I wanted it back. Of course, I *could* go to the civil authorities for these things, but I would probably seek redress from a Beit Din. And, if I did so, I would agree to abide by the decision of the Beit Din.
Based on my reading, these Sharia courts in the US and UK are doing the same thing.
VMI77 wrote:You're not suggesting something like, for example, an Islamic court in the US could sentence a woman to being stoned to death for adultery ---right?
Certainly not! Criminal matters are a whole 'bother barrel of fish and are, naturally, served by the civil authorities, A Beit Din might grant a divorce based upon infidelity, but they would certainly not proscribe corporal punishment.