Having just watched the BBC 10'0 Clock News it is now obvious that Rowan Williams has done England a favour. The shock and outrage at his speech on sharia law has spread far and wide. From Archbishops and parish priests to ordinary church goers they are all appalled and disgusted and are now also looking at the wider issues of the Islamification of Britain.
Middle England has woken up, he has let the genie out of the bottle and it cannot be put back. This is the wake up call that was needed. This week has been a good week. Instead of the Islamists winning at every turn they are on losing ground. Firstly, al-Qaradawi, the “eminent scholar" has been refused a visa to visit the UK, secondly Abu Hamza is to be extradited to the US, and thirdly the "Sharia Shindig" put a very negative spotlight on Islam.
It's not often we can report victories for the cause, small though they may appear to be, perhaps the tide is turning. From the BBC:
Friends of Dr Rowan Williams say he is in a state of shock and dismayed by the criticism from his own Church.
All the main political parties, secular groups and some senior Muslims have expressed dismay at his comments.
The Muslims are dismayed, that can't be bad.
The BBC understands from sources who work on Christian-Muslim interfaith issues that Dr Williams has faced a barrage of criticism from within the Church and has been genuinely taken aback by how his words were received.
BBC News religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott says both traditionalists and liberals in the Church have their own reasons for criticising Dr Williams.
Traditionalists maintain that English law is based on Biblical values and that no parallel system could be tolerated in the UK.
Liberal Anglicans believe giving Sharia legal status would be to the detriment of women and gay people.
Among those critical of the archbishop is the chairman of evangelical Church group Reform, the Reverend Rod Thomas.
"The Church at the moment, and the country, needs a clear lead. The country is itself in a debate about its own sense of identity," he said.
"The moral values that we pursue are ones that we need to know are clearly grounded, and it would be most helpful for the leader of the Church to be able to explain to people how the values we cherish stem from our Christian tradition."
Looks like he's pleased no one. Except me.
4 comments:
I understand exactly what you mean, Ray.
The sad truth is, the worse things get, the bigger the shock. The bigger the shock, the better it is for the cause of waking people up.
I am often accused of being a borderline Pollyanna because I am "optimistic." I see no reason to believe we will lose this was, as we can obliterate our enemy ten minutes after we decide to do so.
The only question in my mind is, will tens of thousands of people die, or will tens of millions of people die?
That question will only be answered by how long it takes for us to wake up.
Consequently, I am rooting for bad shit to happen in the short term, so that fewer people die in the long term.
Having just watched the BBC 10'0 Clock News it is now obvious that Rowan Williams has done England a favour. The shock and outrage at his speech on sharia law has spread far and wide.
A good sign.
Now, the shock and outrage should stay fresh--not wither away.
Guys and girls, what I did notice is an interesting reaction coming from the Muslims: while the leaders of the Muslim communities in Britain embrace or keep silent on the Archbishop's statement, the common Muslim folk, especially the middle class, are speaking strongly against it. I went through the readers' comments on several UK newspapers websites and I was surprised to see that there are far more of the Muslims who completely reject the idea, than those who support it.
Having said that, in the time of crisis it is unpredictable how this middle class will react. And it is the risk that, in my opinion, cannot be taken.
Vadim,
Last night I watched the BBC (they play it on the Public Broadcasting System here in the U.S.) and they did a report on the reaction to the Archbishop's comments. The Muslims they interveiwed were from various Muslim organizations. They did not reject the idea at all. They, instead, talked AS IF they rejected the idea, advising "caution" and the like. They also emphasized that this might cause "problems" for them as a Muslim community. But, NOWHERE did they reject the idea of Sharia law in Britain.
As much as I believe there are many many decent human beings who self-identify as Muslims, I do not believe you can trust the words of Muslims in general on this subject. Sharia is a deeply held belief of theirs. It is, literally, "the way" of the Koran, their holy book. For many many Muslims to reject the idea of Sharia is to reject the idea of Islam itself.
It would be similar to a Jew or Christian rejecting the Torah.
The problem is, Islam does not encourage critical thinking. Jews and Christians have reasons why they reject the notion of stoning apostates to death. But, as Islam has not gone through a Talmudic process, they have no intellectual tools with which to fight off the more extreme notions presented in their centuries old religious texts.
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