On March 3, Circuit Judge Richard Nielson decided a case in Florida using a fairly unorthodox law, or strictly orthodox depending on your religion. His ruling will consult a source normal to some, foreign to others and frightening to Glenn Beck.

This source is of course Sharia law. Judge Nielson will settle on a lawsuit involving a local mosque, the Islamic Education Center of Tampa, and if parties properly followed the Koran in obtaining an arbitration decision from an Islamic scholar.

Several men filed a lawsuit claiming they were improperly removed from the board of trustees in 2002. Whoever wins the case will control the $2.2 million received from the state in a sale of land for a road project.

To understand why a judge would ever allow a law that is not state or federal, one must understand Sharia law. But what is Sharia law? Sharia, or Islamic, law is the authority in many Muslim countries. Sharia law governs every part of a person’s life for example: marriage, divorce, prayer and murder. Some interpretations of Sharia law justify cruel punishments like beheadings, stonings and honor killings. These interpretations are rare, but according to the United Nations thousands of women die each year in honor killings.

Some countries can balance secularism and Sharia law. In 2008, Britain allowed Sharia law to govern marriage, divorce and inheritance if both parties agreed.

The reason America is so great is because everyone is of a different background yet able to work together under the same law. This land has a set of laws like every other portion of land in this world, and you can’t bend these laws. People should learn to accept that when they are in this country they have to follow our laws.

Our law is what makes America, America. The freedom of speech, religion, petition, press and assembly separate us from countries like Saudi Arabia. If we bend the laws to allow Sharia law, then every other group will want laws bent in their favor. Eventually we won’t know who is subject to which law.

Luckily for Judge Nielson, the mosque didn’t want Sharia law to decide their case. Their attorney Paul Thanasides said, “The mosque believes wholeheartedly in the Koran and its teachings. They certainly follow Islamic law in connection with their spiritual endeavors. But with respect to secular endeavors, they believe Florida law should apply in Florida courts.”