C of E moves to defend Archbishop of Sharia
In a memorandum to MPs, the Church of England's parliamentary unit denied that the Archbishop had made any proposals for sharia to be operated as a parallel legal system with the courts in Britain and insisted that his remarks had been misinterpreted. "The Archbishop ... [was] exploring ways in which reasonable accommodation might be made within existing arrangements for religious conscience," said the memorandum.
Dr Williams had "sought to carefully explore the limits of a unitary and secular legal system in the presence of an increasingly plural society", it said, adding: "Behind this is the underlying principle that Christians cannot claim exceptions from a secular unitary system on religious grounds – for instance, in situations where Christian doctors might not be compelled to perform abortions."
The statement did, however, concede that the Archbishop had "indicated his assent" when it was put to him in a radio interview on Thursday that the application of sharia in certain circumstances seemed inevitable. It added: "He [merely] observed that certain provisions of sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law."
The whole lot of them should be shunned.
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