St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Rowan Williams was recently exploring how British law might accomodate Islamic communities. Unfortunately, his comments were generally misunderstood. I have a couple observations. First is the facts on the ground: The C of E has lost a discrimination case regarding a gay employee. The second is that Islamic Communities in England are already using forms of Islamic Law in the UK to settle disputes - outside of secular law. Knowing these events, the Archbishop is trying to explore what this might mean and how to accommodate the needs of both communities.

1) Because this is a media created conflict, lots of people are saying "keep it simple, stupid." They think he might be saying something smart, but don't want to work at reading what he's saying. So they blame him for being too scholarly. A few commenters seem to think he's supporting mass conversion to Islam! We should be working harder to understand, instead of excusing ourselves for being illiterate. Rowan was honoring our intelligence rather than assuming we'd be media dupes.

2) The masses are calling for his head. Public officials, high priests, the mob. Has this ever been done before? So we should crucify Rowan for trying to open up a serious discussion?

3) He might be an easy scapegoat for not bringing an easy end to our other family issues.

4) He should continue saying what he has been and stay the course. People will hate him. That's the nature of good leadership. Not everyone loves a good leader.

5) Secularists are using this to demonstrate the irrationality of all faith communities. If he goes, not only Islamic, but Christian and Jewish legal systems will be confronted. The state, by its nature, cannot prioritize one over the other.

6) It looks like conservatives are using this because they think Rowan's moving too slow regarding the other family issue, and this demonstrates his lack of nerve.

7) Lots of people think that +Rowan is superman, and they are disappointed. If anything, I think the local chaos and anger toward him demonstrates some wisdom.

8) Africans get the sound bites.

I am not a big fan of the Archbishop, but I think he's suffering a lot of cheap shots. Personally, I think it is good he touched upon this hot-button issue, and the chaos he's created brings the simmering conflict out into the open. Conflict is good, in my view. Can he remain generous and magnanimous in the face of it? I hope so. If anything, that Sharia law is being discussed seriously in the west may mitigate the instinctive hostility of some Arabs toward the west. The archbishop was clearly saying that he did not expect that the more extreme forms of sharia would apply in Britain, but those who already hate him will assume that he is supporting this, and creating a ghettoized society. More closely, he is looking at ways people create social cohesion.

However, perhaps he should have remembered Marx's discussion of citizenship and religion in his essay On the Jewish Question.