A letter to our members.
The Archbishop of Canterbury's lecture about sharia law has caused waves of controversy through the media.
When a long speech is reduced to a few soundbites, with the unfortunate statement that sharia "seems unavoidable" thrown in, it's particularly easy to react with the shock reflected in many commentators' columns.
But this is a complex matter, which demands more sophisticated debate than the media can provide. Our primary response should not be to rush headlong into an emotive reaction fuelled by ignorance or fear, but to try to engage intelligently and prophetically with Dr Williams' words.
While there is some confusion about what Dr Williams really intended to achieve, his self-proclaimed aim in giving this speech was to look at the issues around the rights of religious groups within a secular state.
The issue of protection of religious conscience for all faiths cannot be trivialised or ignored. Christian organisations, including the Alliance, regularly lobby the Government to give legal protection to religious conscience; just in the last year on issues including the Sexual Orientation Regulations and the Human Tissue and Embryology Bill.
Provisions already exist in law for religious belief and practice - for example, Orthodox Jews have Beth Din procedures and Sikhs don’t have to wear motorcycle helmets.
But neither the Archbishop nor anyone else wants extreme laws to creep in, and it is essential to protect the foundational principles of the British legal system.
We should use this debate as a spring-board to find a way forward for those in our, and other, faith communities who feel disenfranchised on matters of conscience by the changing meaning of what it is to be British.
The complex implications for British law need to be clarified, and the Alliance has consulted with experts and will continue to work with our partners on these issues over the coming months.
With every blessing,
Joel Edwards
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