Archbishop: I was clumsy
Archbishop of Canterbury says Sharia law comments were 'clumsy'
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Monday, 11, Feb 2008 05:20
The Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted his comments on the introduction of Sharia law in Britain were "clumsily deployed".
Last week Dr Rowan Williams implied the advent of Islamic law in the UK was "unavoidable".
Addressing the members of the Synod – the Church of England's governing body – in Westminster, the archbishop said he took full responsibility for his words but did not explicitly apologise for their content.
"I must of course take responsibility for any lack of clarity in the text or in a radio interview, or for any misleading words which have caused distress or misunderstanding among my fellow Christians," he said.
Dr Williams went on to claim it was the Church's "burden and privilege" to provide a "coherent voice on behalf of religious communities" living here.
Earlier, the prime minister had defended the archbishop as a "man of great integrity".
But a Downing Street spokesman added Gordon Brown was "very clear that British laws must be based on British values and that religious law, while respecting other cultures, should be subservient to British criminal and civil law".
Dr Williams has faced calls for his resignation since he suggested last Thursday that Sharia law could be use to resolve personal or domestic disputes in Muslim communities, in the same manner in which Orthodox Jews have their own courts for certain issues.
His suggestion has seen him criticised by former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr George Carey while the Sun newspaper has launched a campaign calling for Dr Williams to step down.
Sharia law, based primarily on the Koran, is viewed with much hesitance by many in the west, due to its stance towards women and its punishments for crimes such as adultery.
A statement published on the clergyman's official website on Saturday aimed at clarifying his comments said: "There has been a strong reaction in the media and elsewhere to the Archbishop of Canterbury's remarks of yesterday on civil and religious law."
It added: "The Archbishop made no proposals for Sharia in either the lecture or the interview, and certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law."