WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Muslim civil rights groups denounced the second "Sharia-Free America" hearing this week after a group of House Republicans attempted to highlight the threat of Sharia law to the U.S. Constitution and institutions, especially in Texas.
"What brought us out is the absurdity of a Sharia hearing in Congress when there's actually no real threat of Sharia law or imposition of Sharia law in the U.S.," Haris Tarin, vice president of policy and programming at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, told Medill News Service after the hearing.
"It's a farce. It's a fear tactic. And unfortunately, it impacts real American Muslims," Tarin said after the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government session on Wednesday.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who founded the 63-member "Sharia-Free America" Caucus in December with Keith Self, R-Texas, has held two hearings. In February, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights organization, designated the caucus an anti-Muslim hate group.
"We don't take a designation of a congressional caucus as an anti-Muslim hate group lightly," Robert McCaw, the council's national government affairs director said.
