And today in unsettling news: The People’s Republic of Massachusetts is looking to potentially become the Islamic Republic of Massachusetts.
Oh, sure, the transformation will be slow and the legislation is currently stuck. It’s also horribly unconstitutional.
But that doesn’t mean that Massachusetts bills H.3351 and S.2134 aren’t long-term threats, especially since they would create a “permanent commission on the status of people who practice Islam,” including promoting Muslims to higher office.
The title of the bill is “An Act promoting the civil rights and inclusion of American Muslims in the commonwealth.” Sounds harmless enough — maybe another piece of identity politics nonsense from a state already known for this sort of thing.
The bill would create an 11-person body appointed by various individuals within the government (all uniformly Democrat, this being Massachusetts) that would deal with issues related to Islam.
It’s not until you get into the meat of the bill that you realize just how insidious it is.
According to S.2134’s text, the commission would (emphases all ours):
Are you concerned about the growth of Islam in America?
- “promote research and serve as a clearinghouse and source of information on issues pertaining to American Muslims in the commonwealth”
- “inform the public and leaders of business, education, human services, health care, state and local governments and the communications media of the unique cultural, social, ethnic, economic and educational issues affecting American Muslims in the commonwealth”
- “foster unity among the American Muslim community and organizations in the commonwealth by promoting cooperation and sharing of information and encouraging collaboration and joint activities”
- “serve as a liaison between government and private interest groups with regard to matters of unique interest and concern to American Muslims in the commonwealth”
- “identify and recommend qualified American Muslims for appointive positions at all levels of government, including boards and commissions, as the commission considers necessary and appropriate“
- “assess programs and practices in all state agencies as they affect American Muslims, as the commission considers necessary and appropriate”
- “advise executive and legislative bodies on the potential effect on American Muslims of proposed legislation, as the commission considers necessary and appropriate”
- “generally undertake activities designed to enable the commonwealth to realize the full benefit of the skills, talents and cultural heritage of American Muslims in the commonwealth.”
Some of this stuff — most of it, actually — is vague enough to either be meaningless or mephitic. Generally undertaking activities designed to enable the commonwealth of Massachusetts to realize the full benefit of Muslims in regard to their unique talents and cultural heritage is either a bullet point in search of a coherent thought or enabling religious discrimination in favor of Muslims through a mishmash of foggy verbiage. There’s not really an in-between there.
Similarly, a call to “inform the public” of issues affecting Muslims is either a waste of keystrokes or a call for state-sponsored pro-Islam propaganda.
However, it is at point No. 3 where we get especially problematic. It’s the goal of the state government to “foster unity among the American Muslim community”? Since when? Are we talking spiritually, or in some form of religious practice? This sounds suspiciously like a mosque-and-state partnership from the same people who want you to believe a wall should exist between church and state.
Point No. 4 is also problematic: Since when has a permanent state commission acting as a liaison between any religious group and “government and private interest groups” been remotely constitutional?
But finally, No. 5, the most blatantly unconstitutional of them all: “identify and recommend qualified American Muslims for appointive positions at all levels of government, including boards and commissions, as the commission considers necessary and appropriate.”
Forget about what a board determines is “necessary and appropriate” for a Muslim: The First Amendment prohibits any “law respecting an establishment of religion,” and Article VI of the U.S. Constitution specifically states that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
That’s an explicit call for a religious test, and just because it’s a pseudo-autonomous government body doesn’t make it any better.
Now, to be fair, the bill is being slow-walked through committee hell, with the last action on it in January, when the legislation was referred to the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee. It’s also worth noting that, according to BillTrack, similar measures have been proposed in the past and also stalled.
However, given the cant of Massachusetts’ politics, it’s not hard to see this becoming law. After all, the line between commies and Islamists is so foggy these days as to defy distinction, and the primary difference is that at least the Supreme Court has the authority to strike down religious-based committees designed to bake Islam into state government.
If MAGA lawmakers ever tried to do this for Christianity, it would set off klaxons all over the media. As it should. The fact that this has gone under the radar for so long indicates that if it weren’t for double standards, the left and their enablers would have no standards at all.
Yes, the terminology of the proposed legislation may be vague, and yes, the bills are moving glacially to the extent they’re moving at all — but the unconstitutionality still screams out for immediate redress if this nonsense, heaven forfend, ever becomes law.
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