Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, faced criticism on Friday for suggesting the introduction in Britain of some aspects of sharia was unavoidable — one government minister called it “a recipe for chaos”.
Britain’s main political parties distanced themselves from the comments on Islamic law by Williams, the spiritual leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, who is already battling divisions within his church over gay priests.
“You cannot run two systems of law alongside each other. That would be a recipe for chaos,” said Culture Secretary Andy Burnham.
The Sun, Britain’s leading tabloid, said on Friday: “It’s easy to dismiss Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as a silly old goat. In fact he’s a dangerous threat to our nation.”
The issue of integrating Britain’s 1.8 million Muslims has been widely debated since July 2005, when four British Islamists carried out suicide bombings on London’s transport system, killing 52 people.
Those attacks prompted questioning of a long-standing policy of avoiding a single British identity and promoting a multicultural society, which some argue has led to segregation of ethnic minorities.
Speaking to the BBC, Williams said other religions enjoyed tolerance of their laws in Britain and called for a “constructive accommodation” with Muslim practice in areas such as marital disputes.
Asked if the adoption of sharia was necessary for community cohesion, he said: “It seems unavoidable.”
