Archbishop of Canterbury

Well, I don't know what the Archbishop was thinking. In any case I think it would be a very bad idea to implement parts of Sharia law in any Western Society. Women have fought long and hard to gain equality. It is still not achieved 100% and Sharia law would be a step backwards. I live in Canada in the province of Ontario and there was a lot of pressure a couple of years ago to permit arbitration in family matters under Sharia law. The reason for this demand was that by longstanding tradition orthodox Jews always could have their cases arbitrated by a rabbi and presented to family court. Jewish ladies never objected to this since in the orthodox tradition women are in high regard and fared really well in divorce and custody cases. When the same right was demanded for cases to be arbitrated by Sharia law there was much opposition, also by progressive Muslim women who feared that if forced by their families to take part in this they would be treated unjustly. The upshot of it was that Ontario passed a law that all family cases must be decided in Family Court and no where else. I also read a recent case in Germany where a Moroccan woman, living in Germany wanted a divorce because her husband beat her regularly. The German judge took the position that since beating your wife under certain circumstances was allowed by the Koran it was not grounds for divorce. There was such an outcry that the judge was excused from this case. To come to a speedy conclusion my opinion is that in the UK, Canada and other Western countries there are already laws in place that deal with most problems and additions to these laws that are alien to the Western culture would only create more problems in an already troubled world.

Of course, he should be free to say what he likes, as long as he makes it clear he is not speaking as a representative of the Church, we are a free country. We must, however, have one law for everyone. all the best urban

He was sharing his personal thoughts so I don't think he needs to resign. After all he is a human being too. But one may say that being the Archbishop he should be more responsible. And I would agree with that. But then just because he shared his thoughts that does not mean people people are being killed and so on. So I would say that though many disagree, including me, I would not call him to quit. Thanks.