Should we listen to Archbishops?

[Griffin NoName]

Canterbury off his head?

[Opsa]

I give up.

Why don't religions just up and say they won't abide by the laws of the state and get it over with?

[Pachyderm]

For all that he holds a Doctorate, and is one of the senior figures in his chosen profession, the man is a clown.

Live in the UK, live by the UK laws.

Don't want to, no problem, live where you feel happiest about living by the laws governing that country, be that Sharia, Beth Din, Rule of the Purple Spotted Mongoose....

[pieces o nine]

Via Media in all things, but only to a median degree.

I think he's trying to be open-minded, but he's ignoring what happens when two different sets of laws, from two different cultures, based on two different ways of looking at people, are set on a collision course. The Archbishop's own guidebook says, "No man can obey two masters."

If you move to a country, you obey the laws of that country. You don't get to bring along your own -- from a situation you are leaving -- and follow them when convenient instead.

[Griffin NoName]

It seems that his remarks may have been sparked off by a recent Works and Pensions decision.

Husbands with multiple wives have been given the go-ahead to claim extra welfare benefits following a year-long Government review, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

Even though bigamy is a crime in Britain, the decision by ministers means that polygamous marriages can now be recognised formally by the state, so long as the weddings took place in countries where the arrangement is legal.

The outcome will chiefly benefit Muslim men with more than one wife, as is permitted under Islamic law. Ministers estimate that up to a thousand polygamous partnerships exist in Britain, although they admit there is no exact record.

[Pachyderm]

Everybody already knows DWP are clowns....

[beagle]

Canterbury off his head?

Yep. But if it gets Griffin reading the Telegraph it can't be all bad.

Suspect the archbish will go off the idea when they start beheading adulterous women in Kent.

[Swatopluk]

Maybe it is just the stalking horse to get all the old church laws back again too (but the beheading would probably be restricted to the royal and prime minister families as far as adultery is concerned )
England kept anti-witchcraft laws longer than most other nations while abandoning the actual persecution before most others. The laws were kept because it showed that the state was prepared and citizens could sleep undisturbed. Hm, some parallels to the terrorist threats (with the difference of course that there are real terrorists around while there is doubt about true witches)?

[Darlica]

Or digging holes in the middle of town square so they can half bury the woman so she can't run away when they throw stones at her...

Muslims could choose to have marital disputes//dealt with in a Sharia court

Talk about undermining woman's position in the society as a whole...
Thinking about it why should Sharia laws only be for Muslims??? Every one is equal before the law, right?

Why don't plainly tell us that rape is no longer a crime unless the woman can bring three independent witnesses. And that woman belongs to her husband or if unmarried to her father or if she is unmarried and her father is dead she should obey her oldest bothers every whim (even if he is much younger than her).



I have nothing against Islam, or Muslims in general, but I have have great issues with how Sharia laws are practised especially regarding women's rights. I do find the mutilation punishments disgusting but I feel the same about torture or death penalty no matter what country or religion that endorse it.     

[Griffin NoName]

Another bit of the same ruccus relates to divorce; calls for divorce to according to Sharia Law.

SIDE NOTE Can't fathom that one. I am divorced according to the Royal Courts of Justice.... but I never bothered to get a "Get", a Jewish divorce, so according to Jewish Law I am still married. I suppose if I did bother, the rabbis may refuse me, but since my ex broke every law in the bible (ok I exagerate slightly) I bet I'd get it easy peasy. In any case it didn't stop him celebrating his 2nd marriage to a Ukraine Orthodox with a massive Jewish blessing drama, it's all a bit silly. I am prohbited from marrying in an orthodox synagogue but having found perfect Jewish men aren't why would I want to?

Jewish Law is pretty strict. But has managed to adapt to whatever country it lands in. Makes me wonder why Sharia law cannot similarly adapt. Until I remember the stuff Darlica and Beagle write of.

Re. Telegraph, if that's the sort of twaddle they report, it encourageth me notteth to read it.   Where was the headline: Works and Pensions Review (sic.) called for?

[Pachyderm]

Suspect the archbish will go off the idea when they start beheading adulterous women in Kent.

Wouldn't be around to see it.As a major religious figure, he'd have been executed for preaching Christianity.....

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Hm, so he's suggesting that two sets of laws will help social cohesion, is he?
So Muslims can pick and choose which set they follow?

Yeah, that'll help. 
I tend to believe that certain aspects of the host culture need to be assimilated into the minority culture--respect for the national law is one of them.
If they can't, well, then they don't really belong there, do they?

I looooathe Sharia law. It scares me, particularly its view of women. How can any self-respecting Western country even think about adopting a set of laws that reduces half its population to mere brood mares and house elves?

[Sibling Chatty]

How can any self-respecting Western country even think about adopting a set of laws that reduces half its population to mere brood mares and house elves?

That's the Far Right Wing Republican's Dream...

Scary, huh? 

[beagle]

England kept anti-witchcraft laws longer than most other nations while abandoning the actual persecution before most others. The laws were kept because it showed that the state was prepared and citizens could sleep undisturbed.

And to keep them out of the approaches to Heathrow.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Chatty--True. I don't think I'd make for a very good kitchen wench. I may just try to find a way to disguise the taste of Draino at that point.

And we wimmin can always gang up on the men, should they try. Well, we wimmin and our smart men, anyway.