American conservatives codify anti-Sharia push at CPAC as national debate intensifies

Peloni:  This Republicans should make this THE policy debate of the 2026 mid-terms and the 2028 election.

David Brody | All Israel News | Published: March 28, 2026

“Don’t Sharia My Texas” Panel at CPAC 2026 (Photo: Screenshot)

This week at CPAC 2026, the big conservative confab being held near Dallas, Texas, conservatives didn’t just talk about cultural flashpoints – they codified one. In a sweeping and highly charged resolution, CPAC formally condemned Sharia law, elevating the issue from a talking point to an actual movement plank.

This stance against Sharia law here in America is gaining steam. Not just at CPAC but across the country among conservatives. It’s all about drawing a line – now.

At CPAC specifically, former British Prime Minister Liz Truss delivered one of the most forceful arguments backing the resolution, using language that was as firm and clear as could be. “CPAC unequivocally condemns Sharia law as a barbaric, theocratic and totalitarian system that is fundamentally incompatible with individual liberty on Western civilization,” she told the conference committee.

She went further, laying out what she described as the real-world implications: “Sharia denies equal rights by prescribing cruel and unusual punishments, including stoning, amputation and flogging and seeks to replace secular democracy and constitutional governance with Islamic religious rule.”

And then came the warning. “We are alarmed by its growing global influence and its creeping encroachments around the world, including in the West.” But Truss didn’t just frame this as a foreign issue. She brought it directly to Texas, where CPAC is being held.

“As we meet in Texas, we acknowledge that the Lone Star State has become the frontline defense against this threat…Texas voters delivered an overwhelming mandate by approving Proposition 10 with nearly 95% support, declaring that Texas should prohibit Sharia law.”

Indeed, the state of Texas has seen an explosion of mosques. Roughly 50 have opened in the last year. Currently, Texas ranks third in the nation and could soon surpass California for the highest number of mosques in America.

There has also been an attempt to build a Muslim enclave north of Dallas called the East Plano Islamic Center City, complete with mosques, schools and community centers for Muslims. The project has been halted and the Texas Governor labeled it a “Sharia compound.”

While Sharia law is not legally enforced in America, Stephen Gelé, chairman of Louisiana’s Pelican Institute for Public Policy, says that divorce and child custody hearings are an area of concern.

At a recent U.S. House Hearing on the issue, Gelé described what’s happening inside some U.S. court systems. “Although the vast majority of foreign law applications are routine and do not violate American constitutional norms, over the past half century, the number of cases adjudicating the application of discordant foreign law in American State courts, including through arbitrations, has steadily increased.”

“The most prominent category of foreign law that has been increasingly intruding upon American courts is Islamic sharia law, a body of law which consistently violates American public policy and fundamental constitutional rights…”

“In hundreds of reported cases throughout the U.S., litigants have attempted to apply sharia, often succeeding. Examples include: the enforcement of foreign child custody judgments or jurisdiction not based on the best interests of the child but instead based on gender or religious discrimination…the enforcement of Islamic marriage contracts–dubbed mahrs – as prenuptial agreements; talaq or other sharia divorces; and increasingly, the creation of arbitration tribunals applying sharia law within the U.S.”

Critics say the court is not enforcing Sharia law. Rather, it’s enforcing a contract under U.S. law. Conservatives aren’t buying it.

The movement to ban Sharia law is ever-present now in Washington, inside Congress. This week, members of the Sharia-Free America Caucus took to the House floor, turning the issue into a national legislative push. There are now over 60 members of Congress who have joined more than two dozen states.

Congressman Chip Roy delivered a stark warning, framing the issue as part of a broader ideological conflict. “People are going to hide behind the First Amendment… but this is a political ideology that is designed to attack and take over our civilization,” the congressman stated on the House floor.

Many within the Sharia-Free caucus have emphasized the need for clarity in American law, noting that there can be no competing legal systems in the United States, underscoring the principle that constitutional law must remain supreme.

While supporters say this is simply religious freedom in action, critics – both at CPAC and Washington – say it raises broader questions about cultural and legal influence, especially if growth is not matched by what they see as firm legal boundaries.

Part of what is driving the movement is what conservatives see happening in Europe as more Muslims become part of a growing population inside countries like the United Kingdom and France. In England, Sharia-based arbitration councils in the UK are now the norm and U.S. politicians are determined to stop that sort of movement before it ever takes hold in America.

David Brody is a senior contributor for ALL ISRAEL NEWS. He is a 38-year Emmy Award veteran of the television industry and continues to serve as Chief Political Analyst for CBN News/The 700 Club, a role he has held for 23 years. David is the author of two books including, “The Faith of Donald Trump” and has been cited as one of the top 100 influential evangelicals in America by Newsweek Magazine. He’s also been listed as one of the country’s top 15 political power players in the media by Adweek Magazine.