Peter Cooper

Sharia law in Britain is not such a bad idea

In recent years the various Archbishops of the United Kingdom have filled in the role previously played by Prince Philip by putting their foot in it on their uninformed ideas of modern life. The latest gaff, if you’ve somehow avoided its coverage already, is that the Archbishop of Canterbury, a supposedly “intelligent” man who believes in an as-yet unseen all powerful space daddy, also believes that elements of Islamic / Sharia law should be introduced into the United Kingdom.

I’m open-minded enough to listen to what he has to say, because listening to irrationals is what it takes to advance civilization (think Picasso, Bach, or Oscar Wilde). His idea should be judged on its merits.

At its core, Sharia law, much like Christianity’s own sets of rules and codes, is based on a set of hunches that various things are either right or wrong (As an aside, it could be argued that common law is similar, except that common law is principally secular, can be overridden, and evolves over time with society under the guardianship of judges who act with jurisprudence.) Williams says that Sharia could not be used for “committing breaches of English law,” so that rules out Sharia’s prescriptions of the cutting off of body parts, prohibitions on alcohol, the second class treatment of non-Muslims, wearing hoodies, the deforming of young boys, or stonings, although the thought of having someone’s hand chopped off if they steal my car does seem delightful for all of a second. Good. We’ve dealt with the biggest problems. He doesn’t support all of that.

Williams does suggest though that there are numerous changes, which “can be made in a way that’s consistent with British law.” Surely that’s okay then? Why the outrage? Our legal system is designed to change, and if some of the less extreme areas of Sharia law can benefit our system, why not? Perhaps he has a point, and perhaps he’s a genius. After all, if the religious nutjobs think you’re listening to them, you’ve solved a lot of problems.

I suspect, however, that Williams is merely promoting this agenda to increase the stature and influence of religion as a whole. If aspects of Sharia law are implemented, due to an overriding sense of political correctness then, he will argue, elements of Christian tradition should also be introduced. And so the dominoes fall. If so, and if Williams is so supportive of Sharia law and his aims to “integrate” society by its introduction, perhaps he will also be receptive to my own personal code of laws involving the prohibition of the irrational, divisive, and downright idiotic concept of forcing your own mentally-ill delusions (all tied together in the happy bundle known as “religion”) on to others.

I think your last paragraph nails it.

In this country we are supposed to have a division of Church and State (for a magistrate is not in a position to judge a man’s soul) and this is an attempt to blur those boundaries.

Yet all the commentary seems to be “how dare he allow MUSLIMS to have their own piece of law” (What a Burkha - good headline) as opposed to “how dare he try to erode a fundamental principle of our law”. In other words missing the point, as usual.

I’m with you on that one, the day that someones belief in a ficticious overpower taints our justice system (it’s tained enough already thank you).
Is the day I look at emmigrating to a country with some common sense, our old colonial prison island looks more attractive everyday.

For the record: Some nutjob from the Buckinghamshire Adult Learning Centre (JANET IP allocations are rather precise!) has attempted to post a bunch of dumb messages on here. A religious nutter offended by commonsense, presumably.

I’m against this for the sole reason that law isn’t bound to religion, and its in fact moving even further away from its christianity starting point due to the motions going through to have the blasphemy laws deleted.

They are quite ironic as you are in fact insulting all other faiths by having the law to say you can’t insult christianity!

It’s a shame the media isn’t printing opinion like this, it’s a good read.

One thing that dwells on my mind is that Williams is a smart chap who will undoubtedly of thought this out in great detail before printing it. Could it be that he is playing the mild middle England Christian, while at the same time intentionally trying to create outrage & kneejerk tabloid reaction that acts against other faiths?

Because that’s where the focus is - Muslim’s are being interviewed and the role of Muslim law vs. British law is being debated as if this is some agenda by Muslims to snuff out British values in favour of their own. I.e. it’s putting even greater pressure upon the Muslim community.

If it is intentional, then that puts Williams up there with Max Clifford in PR master classes, but one does suspect Williams is just an exceptional academic who yearns to test the water with his ideas without facing national backlash.

I think you are probably right, Andy. I’ve read back through some of his previously “controversial” quotes, and he actually strikes me as a particularly progressive, objective (well, as objective as clergy can be) Christian who doesn’t deliberately intend to be divisive. He does seem to be a bit of a Devil’s advocate.. ironic, really!

I should also point out that when it comes to things like religion, I’m not particularly objective. I do try, and I hope I preserve my objectivity in most other subjects, but religion is up there with the most pointless endeavors of civilization in my book (though it’s an interesting cultural artifact), so I tend to poke fun at it rather than engage in serious, objective discourse.

As such, it means any comments on religion here should be taken in the tongue in cheek manner under which they are created

Really good to see some people out there challenge what they hear from the media rather than just passively consuming it.

Hearing the radio programme itself, I don’t think he actually said anything offensive at all! From what I could make of it, all he was saying is that there are certain similarities between Sharia law and the British legal system. He even said that it would be unacceptable to encorporate certain “inumanities” found in Sharia law, into our own legal system.

I don’t know what all the fuss is about! I think some people just get offended when there is the slightest incinuation of Muslims being incorporated into British culture :-S