An appellate court in New Jersey has overturned a lower court's decision in which a Muslim man charged with raping his wife was exempt on "cultural" grounds from state laws against sexual assault. For now, at least, the US Constitution trumps sharia.
One of the strangest aspects of 21st century Western society is the willingness of so many in its ruling class to entertain the notion of overturning many of its own laws in the name of "diversity". As I noted here and here, there is a growing tendency by the powerful and educated to flirt with returning society to more primitive (and barbaric) times.
I sincerely doubt that these are cases of sympathy with Islam, and that Comedy Central and the American Academy of Pediatrics are chock-full of fundamentalist Muslims or their sympathizers. Rather, these seem to be cases where a hatred of Christians and Jews overides long-held secular political philosophies. The attitude appears to be adolescent belief that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Islam is seen as a rival of Christianity, and benefits accordingly.
One notion that can be put away is the oft-stated defense for such actions: diversity. It would be hard to find a more narrow-minded and isolated group of individuals than our ruling class in government, education, and the media. Contrast the near hysterical reaction by the ruling class when a Christian suggests that homosexuality is wrong, or that Jesus was a man, or that God's laws provide the basis for (and are superior to) secular laws with the near universal indifference to reports of a Muslim man raping his wife, or the rise of "honor" killings in the West, or the suggesting that mutilating a little girl's clitoris can be an accepted medical procedure in modern hospitals.
It would not be inaccurate to see this strange secular-Islam alliance as a kind of modern-day Hitler-Stalin pact. Modern secular progressivism and Islam are both fundamentally incompatable with democracy. Both have bloody and brutal histories which they hotly deny. Both seek to extinguish rivals by any means necessary. Both are inherently imperialistic, hostile to opposing points of view, and seek to dominate by brute force if necessary. And both are fairly backwards and reactionary (as can be seen with their rather blatent hostility towards women).
But both have fundamental differences that will one day break up this cozy alliance. Islam holds that there is a God, and his name is Allah. Secular progressives tend to view government as God. For that reason and many others I predict the two will not stay friends for long.
