BRITAIN:The Archbishop of Canterbury has strongly defended his decision to speak about the possible incorporation of limited aspects of sharia law as a way of strengthening social cohesion in Britain.
In a statement to the general synod of the Church of England yesterday stopping well-short of the apology demanded by critics, Dr Rowan Williams acknowledged his responsibility for any "unclarity" or "misleading choice of words" that had caused "distress or misunderstanding among the public at large", and especially to his fellow Christians.
However, Dr Williams said much of the reaction to his controversial speech was "a very long way indeed from what was actually said in the Royal Courts of Justice last Thursday".
He repeated again that he had not proposed "parallel jurisdictions" for sharia and the civil law, and said he had tried to make clear there could be no "blank cheques" for minority faiths, particularly in regard to sensitive questions about the status and liberties of women. "The law of the land still guarantees for all the basic components of human dignity," Dr Williams declared.
That clarification had reportedly been encouraged by prime minister Gordon Brown, who yesterday paid tribute to the archbishop's "great integrity" and "dedication to public and community service".
At the same time, Mr Brown's spokesman made clear the prime minister's view "that British laws must be based on British values and that religious law, while respecting other cultures, should be subservient to British criminal and civil law".
In his presidential address to the synod, Dr Williams said he was grateful for the support as well as the challenges he had received since making his speech, and for a "willingness to treat this as a serious issue that deserves attention".
In that context, Dr Williams said he believed "quite strongly" that it was "not inappropriate for a pastor of the Church of England to address issues around the perceived concerns of other religious communities and to try to bring them into public focus".
Last Thursday's lecture was written as an opening contribution to a series on Islam and English law mounted by the Temple Church and London University, Dr Williams explained yesterday.
It had posed questions as to whether attempts to accommodate aspects of Islamic law would create an area of law where the law of the land did not run, he continued, adding that that would be the case if any practice of Islamic law had the effect of removing any individual rights enjoyed by citizens of the United Kingdom.
Dr Williams had concluded that nothing should be recognised that would have that effect.
"We are not talking about parallel jurisdictions - and I tried to make clear there could be no 'blank cheques' in this regard, in particular as regards to some of the sensitive questions about the status and liberties of women," he said.
However, the question remained whether certain additional choices could and should be made available under the law of the land for resolving disputes and regulating transactions.