The Irish counterpart to the American Civil Liberties Union is claiming the Republic's prohibition on polygamy is racist and violates the rights of Muslims. A spokeswoman for the Irish Council on Civil Liberties claims that an Irish law that requires Islamic immigrants to attest to having one spouse before gaining entry into the country "assumes that Muslims, irrespective of whether they come from secular societies or states that do not recognise polygamy, do not understand or would not respect the normal law of the land because they are 'different.'"

But Muslims are not merely "different." They are different. Muslims believe in polygamy, which is illegal in Ireland. Muslim immigrants to Ireland have sought to reject the rules of Ireland regarding marriage, and live by their own code. Your laws and rules don't necessarily immigrate with you when you arrive in a new land.

If proscribing polygamy is racist, what other unsavory aspects of foreign cultures must we respect and codify? Are we racists for rejecting female clitorectomy? Must we now allow dowry killings among Indian immigrants? How about beheadings for Christian converts? Foot-binding? Human sacrifice? Cannibalism?