Watch video of churchgoers’ reaction
Read the Archbishop’s presidential address to the General Synod in full
The Archbishop of Canterbury apologised to the Church of England yesterday for any “misleading choice of words” when he delivered his controversial speech on Islam, but insisted that he stood by his right to tackle such issues.
Remaining bullish about an address for which he was attacked by church members, government ministers and other faiths, Dr Rowan Williams said: “I believe quite strongly that it is not inappropriate for a pastor of the Church of England to address issues around the perceived concerns of other religious communities and to try and bring them into better public focus.”
Explaining that his Thursday evening lecture was written as an opening contribution to a series on Islam and English law mounted by the Temple Church and London University, the Archbishop said he had been posing the question to the legal establishment of whether attempts to accommodate aspects of Islamic law would create an area where the law of the land doesn’t run.
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“We are not talking about parallel jurisdictions; I tried to make clear there could be no blank cheques in this regard, in particular as regards some of the sensitive questions about the status and liberties of women,” he said. But he went on to repeat some of the propositions that he put forward last week. “The question remains of whether certain additional choices could and should be made available under the law of the United Kingdom for resolving disputes and regulating transactions.
“It would be analogous to what is already possible in terms of the legal recognition of certain kinds of financial transactions under Islamic regulation, including special provision around mortgage arrangements. And it would create a helpful interaction between the courts and the practice of Muslim legal scholars in this country.”
He also made clear that he was not backtracking on his plea for more formal legal exemptions to be made, under the law, for religious conscience to counter the increasing secularisation of society. “While there is no dispute about our common allegiance to the law of the land, that law still recognises that religious communities form the consciences of believers and has not pressed for universal compliance with aspects of civil law where conscientious matters are in question.
“There are signs that this cannot necessarily be taken quite so easily for granted as the assumptions of our society become more secular. We ought to keep an eye on this trend; and if we do, we shall have to do more thinking about the models of society and law we work with. It’s an area where Christians and people of other faiths ought to be doing some reflecting together.”
He was immediately condemned by the National Secular Society, among others. Terry Sanderson, its president, said: “The Achbishop has dug himself in deeper with his call for special legal privileges for all religions. There are already unacceptable religious opt-outs in equality legislation.”
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He said that Christian and Muslim pharmacists were refusing to process prescriptions for contraception. “There are calls for conscience clauses in other medical and legal matters. The Archbishop seems insensitive to where religious conscience ends and unfair discrimination begins.”
Evangelical leaders called for the General Synod to schedule a special debate on the issue, and at least one member urged that a Muslim scholar was invited to address the gathering.
Dr Chris Sugden, of Anglican Mainstream, a conservative evangelical group, called for a debate on “the proper inclusion and accommodation of people of other faiths and legal systems into British society”. He told the Synod that he had over the past few days received e-mails from concerned clergy in Sudan, Nigeria and Pakistan. They had warned him that “Islam has never allowed itself to remain a subservient legal system. Neither can its system be taken piecemeal. It is exclusive and integral.”
Dr Williams spoke about the crisis in Zimbabwe in which a former Anglican bishop colluded with the oppressive regime of President Mugabe. He said: “We have had some in leadership positions \ who have been uncritically supportive of a violent and lawless administration.” One of the most welcome developments had been that the Anglican Church had appointed Bishop Sebastian Bakare as the chief pastor in Harare.
Earlier the Prime Minister defended the Archbishop. Gordon Brown’s spokesman said: “The Prime Minister believes the Archbishop of Canterbury is a man of great integrity and dedication to public and community services.
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“The Archbishop has been clarifying and setting in a wider context the comments he has made. The Prime Minister is very clear that British laws must be based on British values, and that religious law should be subservient to British criminal and civil law.”
Religious lawmaker
— The General Synod is the national assembly of the Church of England and is a lawmaking body, a status afforded by the Church’s established status
— The Synod was formed in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly. There are three “houses”, with 53 bishops, 205 clergy and 207 laity
— Members of the clergy and laity are elected by deanery synods, which in turn are elected by parishes
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— Recent attempts have been made to make the Synod more responsive to current affairs. It meets two or three times a year. Much of its time, as this week, is devoted to legislative “measures” and “canons” covering areas such as liturgy, the discipline of clergy and ownership of church property
Source: Times database