The Archbishop of Canterbury is a fool
With all respect to Anglicans and Episcopalians reading this, but Archbishop Rowan Williams is a danger to the West in its struggle with jihadist Islam: Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'
Where do I begin? His interview is chock-full of appalling multiculturalist nonsense and amounts not only to an abandonment of thousands of years of Western legal and political tradition, but in all but name hastens the balkanization of society and is a large step further down the road to intellectual dhimmitude. Let's take just one example:
But Dr Williams said an approach to law which simply said "there's one law for everybody and that's all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts - I think that's a bit of a danger".
Say what? One law for all is a danger? Pardon me, Your Grace, but the concept of one law for all in society --rulers and ruled, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or economic circumstance-- is one of the signal accomplishments of Western civilization, born of the marriage of our Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian heritages. Sure, it has been and still is imperfectly applied, but to say it represents any sort of "danger" is supremely fatuous. And it's downright offensive to say it should in any circumstance accommodate Sharia law, the barbarities of which include stoning, whipping for the rape victim, and the punishment of free speech.
The Archbishop goes on to equate Sharia courts with the Jewish Beth Din courts, which is tripe. Beth din courts always recognize the primacy of national laws in a democracy; Sharia demands to supplant those laws. For Dr. Williams to make such a comparison shows either a profound ignorance or intellectual laziness -- or both.
The French Center-Right philosopher Jean-François Revel once wrote:
"A civilization that feels guilty for everything it is and does will lack the energy and conviction to defend itself."
And Archbishop Williams is the poster boy of that self-loathing guilt.
(hat tip: Reader John in Shikoku)
LINKS: Lots of people have chimed in on this. Melanie Phillips dismantles him here and here. Little Green Footballs takes note of the Archbishop's co-useful idiots in the news media. Blue Crab Boulevard reports on calls for Dr. Williams' resignation, including from Muslim politicians, and of his attempts to back away from what he clearly said. Captain's Quarters comments on the Archbishop's "resistance is futile" attitude. Finally, Roger Kimball asks the inevitable question.
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