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Archbishop of Canterbury Explains His Views On Sharia and British Law

By Howard Friedman

After British Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to clarify a lecture he gave last week about the relation of Islamic law to British civil law, Williams attempted to explain his remarks in a speech (full text) to the General Synod of the Church of England. (Ekklesia). He said in part yesterday:

The lecture was written as an opening contribution to a series on Islam and English Law.... [I]t posed the question to the legal establishment of whether attempts to accommodate aspects of Islamic law would create an area where the law of the land doesn't run.... I concluded that nothing should be recognised which had that effect. We are not talking about parallel jurisdictions; and I tried to make clear that there could be no 'blank cheques' in this regard, in particular as regards ... the status and liberties of women. The law of the land still guarantees for all the basic components of human dignity.

So the question remains of whether certain additional choices could and should be made available under the law of the United Kingdom for resolving disputes and regulating transactions.... If ... this were thought to be a useful direction in which to move, there would be plenty of work still to be done, with the greatest care, on what would and would not be possible and appropriate areas for such co-operation.

Today's London Times surveys reaction to Williams' latest statements.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on February 12, 2008 (boomark / email).