'Total ban' on Sharia law is on the horizon, Texas Gov. Abbott tells Glenn Beck: 'That will pass overwhelmingly'

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott highlighted in his conversation on Wednesday with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck the efforts underway in Texas to combat radical Islam and indicated that a "total ban" on Sharia may be imminent.

Abbott designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations on Nov. 18 — a designation CAIR claimed was defamatory and had "no basis in law or fact."

'They deleted that they were not a threat to national security.'

The Dallas Fort Worth and Austin CAIR chapters promptly sued the state, claiming that Abbott's proclamation violated their First Amendment rights. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a response making mince meat out of the radical groups' claims and stating, "Radical Islamist terrorist groups are anti-American, and the infiltration of these dangerous individuals into Texas must be stopped."

Abbott told Beck that "because of the strength of our response, they were required to file an amended pleading in court" in which the plaintiffs dropped multiple assertions from their original complaint, including the claim that they were in full compliance with federal and state law.

"They deleted that they were fully in compliance with federal state law," said Abbott.

"They deleted what they previously said, that they were not affiliated with any foreign organization. They deleted that they would not engage in terrorism. ... They deleted that they were not a threat to national security."

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Mosque in Plano, Texas. Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images.

The governor suggested these deletions amounted to concessions "on their part that actually they are not in compliance with the federal and state law; that they are engaged in terrorism; that they are a threat to national security."

Blaze News has reached out to the Dallas Fort Worth and Austin CAIR chapters for comment.

This is hardly the only battle that Islamists are poised to lose in Texas.

When asked by Beck about the "rising threat of Sharia law" in Texas, Abbott indicated a crackdown is underway and a Republican ban is in the works.

Abbott ratified legislation in September banning residential property developments like the East Plano Islamic Center community from "creating Sharia compounds and defrauding and discriminating against Texans." The following month, he directed Paxton, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the district attorneys and sheriffs of Collin and Dallas Counties to "investigate efforts by entities purporting to illegally enforce Sharia law in Texas."

Abbott acknowledged in his directive that the First Amendment's protection of religious freedom "provides wide berth for religious institutions to order their own affairs under the 'church autonomy' doctrine," allowing for houses of worship to adjudicate questions regarding religious doctrine, ecclesial governance, selection of clergy, or internal discipline of members.

The governor, who underscored in February that "Sharia law is not allowed in Texas," noted that "it is different entirely, however, for religious groups to set up courts purporting to replace actual courts of law to evade neutral and generally applicable laws."

Abbott told Beck that while state agencies have taken action against Sharia and there are already laws on the books addressing the Islamic legal system, Texas Republican voters have an opportunity to go a step further in the upcoming state GOP primary elections on March 3.

"Texas should prohibit Sharia Law" will appear as proposition 10 on the Texas GOP primary ballot.

"That will pass overwhelmingly," said Abbott.

"It will lead to a new law with a total ban on Sharia law in the state of Texas and then it will impose a duty on the attorney general to fully enforce that ban on Sharia law."

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