The road to ruin paved with good intentions

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams has, this week, been literally shocked by the wave of anger provoked by his suggestion that some aspects of Sharia Law are 'unavoidably' going to be accepted into British law in the future and that maybe politicians should be considering this.





I don't doubt for one minute the good intentions of one of Britain's most renowned academics, nor for that matter, the basic common sense of allowing cultures - within the accepted framework of British law - to operate in way consistent with their cultural beliefs. It has been pointed out that, already the Jewish faith operates marital and business dealings within its own cultural ethos in the United Kingdom,and that such latitude should be granted to other faiths too.

What is surprising about the very public way Dr.Williams expounded his views is that he seems to have had no cognisance of the reaction they would provoke, not just among the media and the 'man in the street' but by members of his own Church of England synod. At least three of them are calling for him to resign over this.

It is quite clear why so much antipathy has been stirred by these remarks. Whether rational or not, there is great fear of the Muslims in this country, not helped by Al Queda, not helped by the fact that 55 people were killed by Muslim extremists on that dreadful July day 3 years ago. The fact that the majority of Muslims in the UK are law abiding doesn't wash with many people. There is a feeling that the faith is aggressive and that its laws brook little tolerance of the cultural traditions of others. The very word 'Sharia' conjures up beheadings and amputations.

Now all this might well be unfair but it is undoubtedly the perspective many Britons have. Now no doubt Dr. Williams shakes his learned head at such ignorance but as leader of the Church of England he should have been aware of it. Remarks such as these from the most powerful Churchman in England are going to have several side effects. They feed the idea that instead of Britain becoming one society, regardless of race or creed, living under a set of clearly defined secular laws, the horrors of 'multi-culturalism' with new Britons living in their own secluded ghettos and obedient to only their own culture, will only get worse.

Second, people in the C of E are asking why the leading Christian is asking for the creed of another faith to be absorbed into our laws. I'm not a Christian and thus that aspect doesn't bother me so much, but I'm surprised at the Archbishop's naivety in opening himself up to that one.

Third. Views such as this are an embarrassment to a government which is trying to find its way through the delicate mire of multi cultural Britain and Gordon Brown has already had to take steps to distance himself from them.

All in all, this is an issue on which a wise Archbishop should have sought very detailed council before opening his mouth. The fact that he didn't, and that he is 'shocked' by the responses he got really does make me wonder if he is fit for the job.