Should we adopt Sharia Law?

[amsterdammer]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith /article3328024.ece
Do you agree with the Archbishops sentiments that this country adopts certain aspects of Sharia Law?

[Panic Button]

I cannot take the Archbishop seriously on anything, because of all the hair - and what's going on with his eyebrows?

[whiffey]

The archbishop is the voice of the inevitable future. Leader of a Christian Church ? No, a modern day apostate, he hasn't got the honesty or courage to speak the truth, he is a mealy mouthed symbol of future Britain. Islamic Britain.

The archbishop should be sacked.

[123everton]

No! This has got to be the craziest thing I've heard an ordaned minister say.
One country.
One law.
FOR ALL!
It's called equality, I don't want to find this nation in a position when someone can be attacked for "offending the prophet" and get away with it.
I'm an Anglican, but maybe not for much longer..

[Le Chat]

It would be a sorry day for muslim women in this country if Sharia Law was allowed.
The Archbishop could hardly be called a defender of the faith, if this is his view. The guy's a tit.

[jno]

He stressed that "nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7233335 .stm

It's worth bearing in mind that the government (and its predecessors) has always given certain professions, for instance, a good deal of leeway in 'self-regulation'. It appears all he has in mind in this instance is letting a community make up its own mind on things like marriage - things you might think the state has no business interfering in anyway. But I can still see the opportunity for people (eg mistreated wives) to be coerced into opting for Sharia law when they'd get a better deal from ordinary law; so I doubt that this would be a wise move.

[stuckin1968]

No wonder people are abandoning the protestant faith in droves. This is a christian country and if peop.le dont like it they should leave. If the archbishop wants to adopt sharia law he should go and live in a country that enforces it. I cant believe for a minute that any sane individual in this country thinks we should adopt it. The arcbishop should resign immediatley. Unfortunately he wont, and in this pathetic politically correct country it is only a matter of time before it is accepted. The fact that we are even talking about it proves this. Bring on the revolution.

[admarlow]

What is happening to the country I love, I would love to speak to the arch bishop face to face , n\and not just hear he's new idea from the ivory tower. I find it an insult as an englishman that a man in he's position of "power" sees it right to express such extreme racist, and sexist views.

[Supernick]

How I laughed when I heard the dear old Archbishop come out with this.
We can't have a system where we have 2 rules of law running in parallel with one another and people have the choice to choose which one to follow. To be fair to Rowan I don't think that he meant that at all, and he's going to get torn to pieces a little unfairly. We're not going to be adopting Sharia law as our primary law system in the UK and never will, so there's really no need to be panicky about it.
We already have religious courts in this country such as the Beth Din for Judaism, and whilst they have no bearing on civil law, they're still used frequently. Even the Christian church has its own religious 'courts' for dealing with things such as reverands having relationships with clergy. I've got no problem with these, and their equivalent in the Muslim faith.
For goodness sake Rowan, hire yourself a spin doctor.

[whiffey]

The archbishop will have known very well the reaction this would produce in the same way that Jack Straw's mention of Islamic women covering up was probably a deliberate and timely provocative statement.

Sharia Law, or a form of it, in Britain ? Two takes really, one is that this is the ripe time for the guys at the very top, from the PM downwards, to make utterly emphatic statements that this can never happen - so far this is mercifully the case.

The other take - let them go ahead, with the critical proviso that Sharia can NEVER be applied outside the muslim ' community '. Let non-muslim Britain watch it in action. Ultimately it would be nice to see the BBC televise public beheadings in Bradford (there are huge amounts of gushing arterial blood), or homosexual teenagers hauled up by a halter on a crane to strangle slowly. The cameras and sound systems could zoom in to catch the chokes and gurgles. The commentator would be hard pressed to place a politically correct spin on it, assuming of course he could make himself heard over the horde of savages baying 'Allah is great' (and oh so very merciful and beneficient).

Naughty whiffey.

[matt1e]

did anybody get to read Australian Prime ministers (former) speech on the subject and do you agree? I thought he was spot on
http://www.xnforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi ?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=001540;p=0

[Zen]

I'd give my right Arm to see Sharia Law in this country !!!

http://newsbiscuit.com/board/18/71/0//Archbish op-Claims-Introduction-of-Sod-s.html

[persianlady]

matt1e....... Yes I saw it and I would like to bet that the majority of people in this country would agree with it as well. We need a government with guts in this country and a Prime Minister like John Howard. But I fear the PC mob have got our mealy mouthed government over a barrel.

[pj1331]

no no no

[brionon]

Anyone against Sharia law is racist,religionist and doomed.
OR -it's all the fault of New Labour. OR -let's have a Secular Country. No Bishops in the Government. No religion in schools ans get rid of the Priest-ridden Royals.

[raysparx1]

what on earth is going on in the Uk?, sack the *******, or shall we have beheadings in shepherds bush market on a saturday afternoon, ffs, I just can't take in what is happening here, about time we stood up to this crap.

What I find hard is that he is a very educated man, well I thought he was.

[Supernick]

Brionon - In my ideal world no-one would pay any more attention to the remarks made by Rowan Williams than the crazy guy who sits outside my Tesco with the tin foil hat. There would be no religious debate whatsoever, government would be free to base law entirely on ratinality and what is right. The country would thrive.
Until then, we have one set of people who believe in ghosts, and books written a couple of thousand years ago, arguing with more people who believe in slightly different books, and slightly different ghosts. The planet is truly, truly crazy.

[Quinlad]

whiffey, you might as well call for an urgent statement from the PM that the sky isn't going to fall on us.

It's not necessary because it isn't going to happen.

Then again, if everyone did calm down latch onto that, they'd only find another imaginary ogre to rail against.