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British Baroness Urges New Requirements To Stop Muslim Polygamy In UK

By Howard M. Friedman

In Britain, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative Party?s shadow minister for community cohesion has called for the government to require all religious marriages to be civilly registered within four weeks of being performed. Warsi, herself a Muslim, is pressing for this reform in order to stop Muslim men from taking more than one wife. Currently some Muslim men get around the British ban on polygamy by marrying a first wife in a registered, civil law ceremony and then taking additional wives only in an unregistered religious service. UAE's The National today reports on Warsi's complaint that "cultural sensitivity" is preventing the government from taking action against the increasing incidence of polygamy in Britain. Manzoor Moghal, chairman of the Muslim Forum, however, argues that British Muslims should be able to continue their religious and cultural practices without governmental interference.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on February 22, 2009 (boomark / email).