Archbishop Sharia Law Storm

Since 2001, over 90,000 cyclist's have joined Cycling Forums to discuss topics from general cycling to equipment, training, racing and travel or vacation destinations (especially in europe during the tour de france). We also feature an great deals in our online store, 100's of articles, classifieds and product reviews.

For anyone who hasn't yet heard this story a simple summary will suffice: The Archbishop of Cantebury Rowan Williams recently gave a lecture in which he suggested the U.K. should now accept aspects of the incorporation of Sharia Law as "inevitable". As a result, all hell broke loose and, as I speak, the B.B.C. website is receiving thousands of irate posts directed at the Archbishop himself.
My own analysis is the man hit a very raw nerve. It may well have been his use of the term "inevitable" that has shaken a lot of people up.
To be honest, I would agree the Archbishop is something of an intellectual idealist who probably lives in a private world of books, essays and academia but I would agree with him that the U.K, demographics have now changed hugely so it seems unlikely this can remain a western-orientated, Christian country in the future.
It seems as if where politicians have been choosing their words a bit more carefully, Williams hasn't minced words over his perception of changing realities and this has sparked public fury.
Yes, the truth is Sharia Law will probably blend in with British Law in the near future and I guess we'll see greater immigration out of the U.K. to Europe or the U.S. as a consequence. Here are some comments from the BBC website:

"A nation that would allow it's populous to segregate itself by letting one group of citizens to follow a different set of laws, judiciary process, and punishment system than another group is inviting chaos and anarchy to rein free within its borders. The complexity and continued maintenance of trying to provide a fair, impartial and safe nation to live in would become so costly, that nation may never recover.
Jeremy Hill, Monterey, CA, USA
"As an agnostic Indian businessman, traveling all over the world, I have personally felt very uncomfortable in all the countries that practice Sharia Law, which seems quite harsh and quite intolerant of other religions and their practices & beliefs. Even a modern country like Malaysia, is caught in between secularism and Islam ism.

They say money is the root of all evil & misery, I would replace money with religion today.

Rowan Williams Vs Rowan Atkins. Atkins, I prefer everytime.

amk, Chennai"

might have been a bit less controversial had he mentioned which parts of sharia law he's thinking (or which wasn't reported) will be blended.

For anyone who hasn't yet heard this story a simple summary will suffice: The Archbishop of Cantebury Rowan Williams recently gave a lecture in which he suggested the U.K. should now accept aspects of the incorporation of Sharia Law as "inevitable". As a result, all hell broke loose and, as I speak, the B.B.C. website is receiving thousands of irate posts directed at the Archbishop himself.


The Archbishop did make the comments.......but all hell isn't breaking out, despite your best attempts to hype this one up.

At best, there's been a bit of media coverage about his comments, nothing more.



To be honest, I would agree the Archbishop is something of an intellectual idealist who probably lives in a private world of books, essays and academia but I would agree with him that the U.K, demographics have now changed hugely so it seems unlikely this can remain a western-orientated, Christian country in the future.


The Archbishop is an intellectual but he is also a realist (by all accounts) and he has recognised that the change in Britains demographics may require the law to amended in certain aspects.

But before you really start to push the alarmists agenda.........neither the Archbishop nor anyone else has suggested that centuries of British jurisprudence is going to be changed.

Google up Beth Din...private Jewish legal system used in UK.
I'll go along with cutting the hands off bike thieves. :D

"neither the Archbishop nor anyone else has suggested that centuries of British jurisprudence is going to be changed."

I think he knows it will change because the U.K. population has experienced huge demographic changes over the last 20 years, and more pronounced than in Europe, I think.
I don't think the U.K. has a future as a democratic westernised country. I may be wrong but I doubt it.
The Archbishop's comments didn't surprise me at all but it has surprised a lot of other people. The BBC website was so inundated by comments posted it was jammed up and 80 per cent of those posts struck me as reflecting shock experienced by liberals at changes within their country. Here they come from the Beeb:http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=1&forumID=4246&start=15&tstart=0&edition=1&ttl=20080215232606#paginator

"I'm from Czech Republic. As there are not many muslim imigrants back in my country, I'm not believer and vision of adopting parts of asian religious medieval law system in modern Europe sounds really absurd to me. I can even see how Great Britain with long history of democracy can't stop spreading religious radicalism. As we are part of EU as well, I hope my country with young democracy will be able to avoid british mistakes

Tom

Any form of law that disadvantages some because of misguided belief in domination of one sex over the other should not have ANY part in the law of this land. And any law that treats any one group differently than others has no place in British law.
John White
To step outside the box for a moment and consider the implications its pretty clear that this is a non starter . Firstly we are at war with a particularly evil strain of Islam and secondly the result would ultimately be civil war .The British people will only stand for so much before spontaneously reacting and the government knows this .
Mark, London

I guess this discussion about Sharia Law has done one thing, it's sure as heck shown how Islamaphobic we really are!

[angelwulf], Brighton, United Kingdom

I think you'll find a phobia is an irrational fear. I've researched Islam (even spoken to ex muslims), and I don't like what I've learnt (that's not irrational). You might be happy to let the BBC and co feel your head with PC garbage but I like to make up my own mind. As for Sharia law if we give them an inch they'll then want a mile.

Onetruesaxon Power, England"









The Archbishop did make the comments.......but all hell isn't breaking out, despite your best attempts to hype this one up.

At best, there's been a bit of media coverage about his comments, nothing more.




The Archbishop is an intellectual but he is also a realist (by all accounts) and he has recognised that the change in Britains demographics may require the law to amended in certain aspects.

But before you really start to push the alarmists agenda.........neither the Archbishop nor anyone else has suggested that centuries of British jurisprudence is going to be changed.

Google up Beth Din...private Jewish legal system used in UK.
I'll go along with cutting the hands off bike thieves. :D

I`am thinking legs :D

Bike thefts have gone haywire in my area and I had two stolen. Since then I took to using a motorcycle chain and not a bike chain. I only use a cheap MTB to get to work and back and leave my best bikes in the garage - only for training rides.
To use bolt croppers on a motorcycle train is a tougher prospect but the chain itself is heavy to carry.
P.S. I know it was a joke but you don't need Sharia Law to sort out bike theft. Crime like this was pretty rare in the sixties even. It's to do with disfunctional families, economic factors and various social problems. I believe far more disciplone is needed in society but Sharia Law is based on religion not social justice. Plus, allowing certain aspects of Sharia Law is a slippery slope towards the whole package. The majority of people even on the BBC were furious we seem to be heading in that direction.

I`am thinking legs :D

"Onetruesaxon Power, England"Yes, I'm sure we could expect a broad and balanced viewpoint from someone with the tag "Onetruesaxon Power", Carrera.
Anyway, good to see that scaremongering hasn't died out while I've been caught up in the real world.

I was encouraged to see a documentary with Raggi Omar questioning the entire experiment of mass immigration and multiculturalism in the U.K. This was shown a few nights ago and was called, "Immigration - The Inconvenient Truth". Seeing as Raggi himself was an immigrant and BBC broadcaster it's far more difficult not to listen to what he had to say and his conclusions were pretty challenging. Basically Raggi was concluding that the various ethnic groups that now make up the U.K. are now re-connecting with their own roots and cultures. Raggi also found a large disconnect between the various groups with people living very isolated lives based on cultural tradition and religion. The key point in the documentary was Britain is essentially losing the basic core identity that's required to hold the whole thing together and Raggi openly states he finds this is at the very least worrying.
Attitudes have changed a lot over the last 5 years so, to be honest, in no way am I any longer a minority in the criticism of mass immigration. The issue is seen discussed on T.V., in the papers and some of the biggest critics now turn out to have been immigrants themselves. But 10 years ago I couldn't discuss it and neither could anyone else.


Yes, I'm sure we could expect a broad and balanced viewpoint from someone with the tag "Onetruesaxon Power", Carrera.
Anyway, good to see that scaremongering hasn't died out while I've been caught up in the real world.