When separation of church and state might be a good thing

Here's a thinker for you. The province of Ontario is struggling with a recent religious issue. For many years, the province has allowed
Catholic and Jewish religious tribunals to settle matters of family law. These tribunals operated within the purview of the courts but allowed involved parties to avoid going through the full court process in areas like divorce, etc. Well, as you might imagine, a Muslim group has asked for the same allowance for Sharia law tribunals. Surprisingly for Canada, rather than acquiescing immediately, the Ontario government has initiated the banning of any religious tribunal.

Here's the dilemma: I wholeheartedly agree that Sharia law has no place in our society. So, on that count, I'm all for Ontario's move. On the other hand, by zeroing out all tribunals, they are cutting off the Christian angle and squelching the application of Biblical principles in areas of family. On that count, I'm against it. The issue is tricky and is certainly not contained to Canada. In the States, we have heard the kerfuffle arising out of North Carolina when a Muslim wanted to use the Koran to swear his oath in court.

In order to prevent Islam's invasion, we too often cut out all Christian elements as well. How do we maintain our Biblical foundations, maintain freedom of religion, maintain the inclusion of faith in our society, and not allow the perversity of faith and law by cults and non-Christian religions? The obvious answer is to change hearts and minds and see the salvation of Christ come to those people in "other religions." But what is the legal answer? That's what perplexes me. Perhaps the answer lies
in the everpresent spheres of authority. The church does its job, and the civil government does its job. However, this seems to be an area where the spheres cross...

More to come...