Ruth Gledhill's Blog: Sharia show shuts down? No it doesn't. Bad luck Rowan.

[...] In his World at One interview on BBC Radio 4 last Thursday, the Archbishop of Canterbury confessed he believed Sharia was inevitable in Britain. He said: "It seem unavoidable and indeed as a matter of fact certain provisions of Sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law; so it's not as if we're bringing in an alien and rival system."

In his speech delivered that evening to an audience of judges and lawyers at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, he spoke about a "supplementary jurisdiction" that might be effected to accommodate the needs of Muslims in Britain. Advocating a scheme in which individuals could choose the jurisdiction under which to resolve certain matters, he said: "Certainly, no-one is likely to suppose that a scheme allowing for supplementary jurisdiction will be simple, and the history of experiments in this direction amply illustrates the problems."

In his presidential address to General Synod on Monday, he appeared to calm the waters when he insisted he was not advocating parallel jurisdiction. But he went on: "So the question remains of whether certain additional choices could and should be made available under the law of the United Kingdom for resolving disputes and regulating transactions."

Has he been misrepresented? I don't think so.

For access to all the best links of the various papers that have covered this story, go as usual to Thinking Anglicans. Some of my own thoughts can be heard on the BBC's Listen Again service from Saturday's Today programme (about ten minutes in on the clip). I also did a comment piece for the paper used yesterday.

But I am fairly certain that many if not most of you here have had enough of me. I know I have So here are some of my favourite things from this whole sharia show. I thought I'ld list my top stories. Do feel free to add your own. Read more
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