Britain’s diversity debate

As Britain reels under unprecedented levels of immigration that have challenged the small island nation’s traditions, the Archbishop of Canterbury entered the fray this week by declaring it is probably “unavoidable” that some limited form of Islamic law will have to be accepted in Britain.

The archbishop, Rowan Williams, is the spiritual leader of the Church of England, and his pronouncement, aimed at building greater inclusiveness for Britain’s 1.8 million Muslims, has instead unleashed a storm of dissent, even among some Muslims, and calls within the church for his resignation.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s office sought to distance the government from the proposal, while not ruling it out, and several Parliament leaders were openly critical.

“We have to accept that whatever your views, whatever your faith, whatever the great cultural diversity -- which I celebrate in this country we have -- there’s got to be a certain set of values that we all subscribe to, otherwise the whole thing falls apart,” said Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party. “Respect for the same body of law is part of that glue that holds a democratic society together.”

Khalid Mahmood, a Muslim and a Labor member of Parliament, said he agreed with “the vast majority of UK Muslims [who] oppose any such move to introduce Sharia here. British law is the envy of the world.”

Some polls have shown that substantial numbers of British Muslims would like to live under some form of Islamic law, and often feel alienated when their traditional legal principles come into conflict with secular civil law.

Muslims have complained that though Christian and Jewish religious marriages are legally recognized, Muslims usually must have a separate civil ceremony.

Sharia, the system of law based on the Koran and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, covers many elements of life, such as who may marry, how to pray, how trade is to be conducted and how punishments should be meted out for crimes. It provides, for example, that men may take as many as four wives if they care for them adequately.

The archbishop said he was proposing consideration of the principles of Sharia only in limited areas such as family law, and only in cases in which all parties agreed to submit to an alternative legal forum and could opt out at any time.

Many Muslims already submit to an unofficial Sharia council in Britain for issues of marriage, divorce and inheritance, and enshrining these rulings in the law would give Muslims a greater sense of legal status as citizens of Britain, said Arzu Merali, research director at the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

“Muslims are talking about small issues like this. Yet all the talk raises these pictures of people being flogged and arms being amputated. I think it’s a very shocking response to what’s been raised,” she said. “I would certainly not want simplistic solutions on policies, but certainly I think it’s very welcome that he raises the issue, and it’s being discussed.”

Williams, 57, has headed the Anglican Communion, which includes the Church of England, since 2003 amid internal struggles over the issue of homosexuality. The church also has faced declining attendance, even as the demand here for new mosques and Roman Catholic churches is substantial and growing.

‘Not a new problem’

Widely known as one of the most intellectual of the 1,400-year-old line of archbishops, Williams is a poet who was once arrested at a nuclear weapons protest. He has been deeply critical of the war in Iraq, outspoken about making religion relevant to thinking believers and eager to build bridges with the other religious communities that form an integral part of the British population.

He stepped into the Sharia debate with open eyes in a widely publicized lecture Thursday night at the Royal Courts of Justice, and a lengthy interview with the BBC, in which he argued that the traditions of other religious communities often have a foothold in law, while Muslims may be forced into conflict between their traditions and the law of the land.

“If what we want socially is a pattern of relations in which a plurality of diverse and overlapping affiliations work for a common good, and in which groups of serious and profound conviction are not systematically faced with the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty, it seems unavoidable,” he said in his speech before about 1,000 people, mostly lawyers.

“We have Orthodox Jewish courts operating in this country legally and in a regulated way because there are modes of dispute resolution and customary provisions which apply there in the light of Talmud,” he said.

“It’s not a new problem, not to mention the questions . . . about how the consciences of Catholics, Anglicans and others who have difficulty over issues like abortion are accommodated within the law; so the whole idea that there are perfectly proper ways in which the law of the land pays respect to custom and community, that’s already there.”

Government responds

The archbishop emphasized that he was not proposing to open the door to laws allowing women to be forced into marriage or stoned if they commit adultery.

“Nobody in their right mind, I think, would want to see in this country a kind of inhumanity that sometimes appears to be associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states -- the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well,” he said.

The prime minister’s spokesman, who speaks under standard conditions of anonymity, did not rule out that some aspects of Sharia could be considered, such as the imposition of taxes on purchases of land. The British government revisited its stamp duty for Muslims buying property under Islamic banking provisions to avoid the unintended effect of a double taxation.

“If there are specific instances, like stamp duty, where changes can be made in a way that’s consistent with British law . . . to accommodate the values of fundamental Muslims, that is something the government would look at,” he said.

“Our general position is that Sharia law cannot be used as a justification for committing breaches of English law, nor should the principles of Sharia law be included in a civil court for resolving contractual disputes,” he said.

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kim.murphy@latimes.com