Sharia law in the UK seems "unavoidable"

So said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, today. I have been boring friends and colleagues for some years now about the coming of Sharia law to areas of the UK. Indeed I blogged in September that "I have been predicting for a few years now that by 2020 some of our northern towns, such as Burnley and Oldham, would be run under a system of Sharia law as well as the law of the United Kingdom. Three years ago my more "right on" friends said I was mad to think this was possible, later they said I was massively exaggerating the situation, more recently they said maybe Sharia law running alongside United Kingdom law wouldn't be too bad and anyway it won't affect us in London..."

The BBC report that "Dr Rowan Williams said the UK had to "face up to the fact" some citizens do not relate to the British legal system. He said adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law could help social cohesion. For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court."

Now the BBC are in a bit of a bind here; they really want to be nice to the Muslim community but also they must support Gordon Brown and the BBC report that Gordon has come out with the following response "Gordon Brown's spokesman said the prime minister "believes that British laws should be based on British values". Also "the prime minister's official spokesman said Sharia law could never be used as a justification for committing a breach of English law, nor could the principle of Sharia law be applied in a civil case. He added that Mr Brown had a good relationship with the archbishop, who was perfectly entitled to express his views.
The spokesman also said: "There are instances where government has made changes for example on stamp duty but the general position is that Sharia cannot be used as justification for committing breaches of English law nor can its principles be used in civil courts.""

Sorry, what changes have been made on stamp duty for followers of Islam?


I find myself in agreement with Baroness Warsi who said "...let's be absolutely clear. All British citizens must be subject to British laws developed through Parliament and the courts." and also with Nick Clegg who said "Whilst having an enormous amount of respect for Rowan Williams, I cannot agree with his conclusions on this issue. Equality before the law is part of the glue that binds our society together. We cannot have a situation where there is one law for one person and different laws for another."



I think the NotaSheeps may be leaving the Uk for foreign climes sooner rather than later, the end game seems to be starting sooner than even I imagined.



UPDATE: I think Devils Kitchen might be a tad upset with Dr Williams. Nice Clash reference as well, I wish I had thought of it as a title.