they hangeth together

Here's the archbish:

The Archbishop of Canterbury prompted controversy today when he said the introduction of sharia law for British Muslims was "unavoidable".

Rowan Williams told BBC Radio 4's World at One that Muslims should be able to choose whether to have matters such as marital disputes dealt with under sharia law or the British legal system.

It’s been interesting to see open Christian politicking over the past few years, if only because it’s something that was much less visible before in Britain. Having said that, I definitely got the impression back when Rushdie was under the Fatwa that elements within the C of E, for instance, saw a certain utility in having Muslims as stormtroopers enforcing respect for religious belief generally that it seemed to be incapable of earning for itself.

I’m taking this particular venture as a countermeasure to recent attempts to get the blasphemy laws off the books. If the C of E is unable to defend its privileges alone, it needs to create allies through offering legal privileges to other religions. Yea, verily: for those that do not hangeth together will surely hangeth apart.

It may seem odd to have the accommodating Rowan Williams in the same church as the crazed Bishop Nazir-Ali. What you have to remember here is that until recently the Anglicans faced a real threat of dying out through sheer inanition, with the Catholics not far off following them. Now the big feller’s sent them an opportunity to revive their profile through involvement in religious controversy, via his good buddy Allah. Controversy over what is a secondary issue. The main thing is to keep the faith in the public eye, to somehow establish in the public mind that it matters one way or another what clerics think simply because they are clerics.

Look what happened when Nick Clegg declared himself to be an atheist. Very few people care about Nick Clegg in general; many fewer care about his cosmological outlook. But because religion is now officially controversial, Clegg’s lack of it also became a controversy even though to most of the population it’s a matter of complete indifference.

I don’t blame Williams for doing his job, which is to advance the fortunes of the Anglican church, even if his chosen methods are a little on the Jesuitical side. He's quite a sly and cunning fellow behind that big vegetarian beard of his. But for everyone else…well, I’m not arguing that it’s time to disestablish the Church of England. I’m just saying that I think it’s unavoidable.

Comments

[Nick L]

There is also value in whipping up fear of a rising Islamic tide. If I recall correctly, the last census showed a greater number of people identifying as Christian, despite the long term fall in church attendence. Fear of outsiders does wonders for shoring up group identity.

[jamie]

yep: and the beneficiary of any Christian identityt backlash would inevitably be the established church, led by Williams, R. Like I say, a sly and cunning fellow.