Xinomorph

As has been widely reported over the past 24 hours or so, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, yesterday stated that the adoption of some aspects of Sharia law within the British criminal and civil judicial systems is inevitable. He states that we must "face up to the fact" that certain communities (translation: some Muslims) do not relate to our legal system.

Well, I've got news for you. Not many people relate to our legal system. The overruling of British courts by European meddlers, the effective ban on protests near Parliament, the banning of hunting with hounds, and God only knows how many other ridiculous pieces of legislation passed (particularly in the past decade). None of them sit will with me, and likewise for thousands of other law-abiding citizens. But we haven't been given our own set of laws because we want to do x, y and/or z. We have to conform to the laws set out by the United Kingdom's Governments, whether we believe and support them or not.

So why should the relatively miniscule Muslim community be awarded its own set of opt-out legislation and allowances? Taking cultural differences into account when dealing with comparitively trivial matters such as divorce, banking and child custody is one thing, but adopting whole sweeping aspects of Sharia (which, I am informed, quite ironically means "path to water") law is another matter entirely.

Whether really being fully proposed or not, the idea of introducing new laws in such a manner for one group just because they don't approve of our existing laws is preposterous. This is (supposedly) a free country, whose laws, cultural aspects and society are based on Christian tolerance, not the backwards logic of people who sentence rape victims to lashings, enjoy public executions as punishment for pretty minor offences, and hand out prison sentences to women who have spoken to men not within her own family. I would not travel to a Muslim state and be able to walk down the street wearing an unbuttoned, loudly-coloured shirt and eating pork sausages, so why should people come here and expect the equivalent? Another example of the twisted, self-centred, intolerant logic of some cultures.

But of course, I can't really believe that Dr Williams is a stupid man, so perhaps his intention was to raise debate and actually make people wake up and realise what is going on in our fair country? If so, he's a crafty bugger. If not, he's just a pillock.

Quite simply, if you don't like our laws, our society, our way of life - the fuck off somewhere else.