An Unholy Row

So, that hairy hippie in Canterbury is 'shocked' over the reaction to his comments that it was 'inevitable' that some aspects of Islamic Sharia law would have to be introduced in some parts of the UK. Well, no shit, Sherlock - you didn't think that would be controversial? The reaction of the right wing press has been predictable but, leaving aside these knee-jerk reactions and the inevitable headlines ranting on about how our British culture is being undermined, the real issue here is the fact that Britain's most senior cleric seems to think that religion (any religion) should in any way inform the law. One the fundamental planks of our constitution is separation of church and state - it is for the latter to frame laws, not the former. What many would consider to be Christian ideas undoubtedly incorporated into British law. However, ultimately it is for Parliament, and most precisely the House of Commons, a secular body, to make laws.

And thank God for that! I mean, really, would you honestly want any of these religious fruit cakes to have anything to do with framing our laws? If some of those C of E nutters had their way we'd be burning homosexuals at the stake and stoning atheists to death in the street. Do we really want to risk living in a country where the God squad can legislate the Theory of Evolution, or any other inconvenient scientic research which might call the Bible into question, out of existence? Of course not. No, the better solution would simply be to disestablish the Church of England, kick the Bishops, Rabbis and other purveyors of dubious ghost stories out of the Lords and ban the teaching of all religions in state schools. Getting back to the original point, the Archbishop must be incredibly naive if he really thought that a) religion has any place in law and, b) that this view wouldn't be controversial. But then again, this is the week in which the new Housing Minister expressed surprise at discovering that many people who live in social housing are unemployed or low paid. Well, fuck my hat, I never knew that!