Seriously, though: let's ignore for now the hopelessness conveyed by a Christian prelate who thinks Islam is stronger than his own faith and the Muslim citizen incapable of tolerance. Speaking strictly of politics, when he says this:
It seems unavoidable and, as a matter of fact, certain conditions of Sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law, so it is not as if we are bringing in an alien and rival system.We already have in this country a number of situations in which the internal law of religious communities is recognised by the law of the land as justifying conscientious objections in certain circumstances.
Does he really see no difference between conscientious objections and treating different citizens by different rules --with different courts? With police able to arrest some citizens but not others? Your right to life is protected unless you are a Muslim or offend one? Your right to religious liberty is protected unless you are a Muslim or offend one? That spells the end of justice under the law in Britain, not a minor accommodation. That's to say, politically speaking, some are more equal than others.
[Private wish: please, oh please, public Christians! Study political philosophy a tiny wee bit before making sweeping political proclamations. Heavy sigh.]
Perhaps this would be the time to note there are now more practicing Catholics in Great Britain than members of the Church of England. And don't think Catholics haven't noticed. Fr. Aidan Nichols' program in that final link is programatically the opposite of the Archbishop of Canterbury's. The former expects the springtime of evangelization, the latter the inevitability of Islam.
Update: Britons losing grip on reality. Perhaps this explains everything: a quarter of the Brits think Churchill is a fictional character, while 58% think Sherlock Holmes was a real historical personage. Others who never existed: Richard the Lionhearted, Florence Nightingale, the Duke of Wellington, Charles Dickens, Gandhi.
