Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'- Archbishop of Canterbury

[Ravenmoon]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7232661.stm

Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Dr Rowan Williams
Dr Williams says Muslims should have a choice in legal disputes

Dr Williams interview
The Archbishop of Canterbury says the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law in the UK "seems unavoidable".

Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4's World at One that the UK has to "face up to the fact" that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion.

For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.

He says Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty".

'Sensational reporting'

In an exclusive interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau, ahead of a lecture to lawyers in London on Monday, Dr Williams argues this relies on Sharia law being better understood.

At the moment, he says "sensational reporting of opinion polls" clouds the issue.


An approach to law which simply said - there's one law for everybody - I think that's a bit of a danger
Dr Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury

Religious courts in the UK

He stresses that "nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well".

But Dr Williams said an approach to law which simply said "there's one law for everybody and that's all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts - I think that's a bit of a danger".

"There's a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law, as we already do with some other aspects of religious law."

'Other loyalties'

Dr Williams added: "What we don't want either, is I think, a stand-off, where the law squares up to people's religious consciences."

[TonyGosling]

Idiotic druid stirring the dirty water again.

What he won't say is how similar the actual law, as opposed to the sharia punishments, is to his own long-neglected Ecclesiastical law.

[uselesseater]

A very calculated utterance indeed.

[landless peasant]

stirring up hate for Muslims it seems to me.

[karlos]

I am not so quick to dismiss the Archbishop's remarks. He is after all a Theologian and as such understands that the Anglican faith and the Islamic faith have a great deal of overlap.
The problem is if he loses his job as the media are demanding then he will be replaced by very anti Muslim bishops like the Bishop of York or worse still the Bishop of Rochester. Then we really will see the governments Islamophobic agenda given a shot in the arm.
The Archbishop's comments are a slap in the face for the government which is the reason for the media offensive.

[TonyGosling]

As far as I can see the Arch-berk of Canterbury is much more interesting for what he doesn't say than for what he does say.

His comments about the main moral problems with today's society... those of illegal war fighting/killing of civilians and increasing social inequality are rare and extremely tame.

Nice to see him getting a load of flak for these comments but he's only doing his secret society job, besmirching Jesus Christ's good name and dragging the Church through the dirt.

He regards himself as a unifier. Pity his own Church is so divided
By GEOFFREY LEVY - 8th February 2008

[PaulStott]

I have not enjoyed any news story as much in years!

http://londonclasswar.org/newswire/index.php?itemid=194

[TonyGosling]

Archbishop of Canterbury says Islamic rules are incompatible with Britain's laws which have Christian values
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -laws.html

Justin Welby said Sharia law should never become part of the UK legal system
His predecessor Lord Williams had said Sharia law could be incorporated
Welby said British law had 'values and assumptions' rooted in Christian traditions

By Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 10:28 AEDT, 24 February 2018 | Updated: 10:28 AEDT, 24 February 2018

Sharia law should never become part of the British legal system, the Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday.

Justin Welby said the Islamic rules are incompatible with Britain’s laws, which have developed over 500 years on the principles of a different culture.

He added that high levels of immigration from Muslim countries can ‘have an impact on the accepted pattern for choosing a partner, on assumed ages of maturity and sexual activity, and especially on issues of polygamy’.

Archbishop Welby’s comments follow the release earlier this month of a highly critical Home Office report that said all couples marrying in mosques should also have to go through a legally-binding civil marriage ceremony to shield wives from injustices under sharia.

They also reverse the position taken by his predecessor Lord Williams, who backed incorporating sharia into the British legal system. Archbishop Welby set out his reasons why sharia should not win official status in a book, Reimagining Britain.

He said yesterday in advance of publication that British law has ‘underlying values and assumptions’ that come from a clearly Christian tradition. ‘Sharia law is not just about punishments,’ he added. ‘It is something of immense sophistication, but it comes from a very different background of jurisprudence to the one from which British law has developed over the past 500 years’.

The Archbishop said in his book that the arrival of large numbers of Muslims in Britain – there are thought to be 3.3million here – has led many to challenge the values of the majority population. Among these are the right of people to choose their own husband or wife, and the need for monogamous relationships.

He added: ‘There has been and remains a demand for the introduction of those aspects of sharia law that affect family and inheritance...
There are thought to be around 85 sharia tribunals in the UK. They settle disputes including divorce and business arguments among those willing to accept their jurisdiction
+3

There are thought to be around 85 sharia tribunals in the UK. They settle disputes including divorce and business arguments among those willing to accept their jurisdiction

‘The problem is reimagining Britain through values applied in action can only work where the narrative of the country is coherent and embracing.’ The Archbishop said: ‘Sharia, which has a powerful and ancient cultural narrative of its own, deeply embedded in a system of faith and understanding of God, and thus especially powerful in forming identity, cannot become part of another narrative.

‘Accepting it in part implies accepting its values around the nature of the human person, attitudes to outsiders, the revelation of God, and a basis for life in law, rather than grace, the formative word of Christian culture.’
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Archbishop Welby said that the way people understand home and family are a vital basis of society.

‘They face enormous pressures and need one legal basis of oversight and one philosophical foundation of understanding. For these reasons, I am especially sympathetic towards those Islamic groups that do not seek the application of sharia law into the family and inheritance law of this country,’ the Archbishop said.

There are thought to be around 85 sharia tribunals in the UK. They settle disputes including divorce and business arguments among those willing to accept their jurisdiction. But there are concerns some of those who appear before them – especially women – lack full freedom of choice and may be subject to processes that would never be allowed in a court of law.
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The Archbishop's comments reverse the position taken by his predecessor Lord Williams (pictured), who backed incorporating sharia into the British legal system

The Home Office sharia review, carried out by academic Mona Siddiqui, said some courts operate discriminatory rules.

Men can divorce simply by demanding one, it said. But women are often obliged to pay large sums, sometimes seen as the equivalent of repayment of a dowry. In one case, a woman was denied a divorce until she paid her husband £18,000.

The Siddiqui report recommended that all Islamic weddings should be backed by civil ceremonies so that Muslim brides have the full protection of civil law.

Lord Williams backed the idea of sharia as a full part of the British legal system in a BBC interview and lecture ten years ago.

He said people should be able to choose which jurisdiction they preferred, a choice that would mean Muslims could opt for courts that accept polygamy and outlaw the payment of interest in financial deals.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z580q31aA4
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