June 20, 2011

The Muslim Public Affairs Council today announced it will host a Capitol Hill forum on "A Solution in Search of a Problem: The Impact of Anti-Sharia Bills in America" on Monday, June 20, to discuss the impact of state-level bills on various faith communities and the Constitutional guarantee to freedom of religion.

“Sharia has become an inflammatory buzzword that is getting thrown about and used to craft pre-emptive legislation with little to no understanding of what it is and isn’t,” said Haris Tarin, Director of MPAC's Washington, DC, Office. “In the face of a wave of anti-sharia bills cropping up all over the country, it’s time for a level-headed adult conversation on the issue.”

With the emergence of 40 anti-sharia bills in at least 20 states, the topic of Islamic jurisprudence in the United States is now becoming a source of heated – and confused – debate. This panel of experts will analyze what impact anti-sharia bills are having across our nation.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Noha A. Bakr – Commissioner of the Montgomery (MD) County Commission for Women. She holds master’s degree in Near Eastern and Islamic Studies at Princeton University and has her completed doctorate coursework in this area.
• Daniel Mach – Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief and co-author of the ACLU’s recent special report “Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical ‘Sharia Threat’ to Our Judicial System”
• Rabbi Gerry Serotta – Executive Director, Clergy Beyond Borders
• Haris Tarin (Moderator) – Director of the Washington, DC Office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council

What:
A Solution in Search of a Problem: The Impact of Anti-Sharia Bills in America

Where: 
Rayburn House Office Building,
Room B-369,
Washington, DC,

When: 
Monday, June 20, 2011
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.