Protesters of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero waved signs there this past Sunday with a single word: Sharia.

Their reference to Islam’s guiding principles has become a rallying cry for those critical of Islam, who use it to conjure images of public stonings and other extreme forms of punishment in countries such as Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan and argue that those tenets are somehow gaining a foothold in the United States.

Blogs are proliferating with names like Creeping Sharia and Stop Sharia Now. A pamphlet for a “tea party” rally last weekend in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. asked: “Why do Muslims want to take over the world and place us under Shariah law?” Former GOP House speaker Newt Gingrich amplified that point in a much-publicized speech a few weeks ago exploring what he calls “the problem of creeping sharia.”

The fact that the word has become akin to a slur in some camps is an alarming development to many religious and political leaders.

Michelle Boorstein in the Washington Post, 25 August 2010