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THE BRITISH ORTHODOX CHURCH

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          The response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recently reported comments on Sharia law shows the deep concerns held by many British people about the growth of Islam in the United Kingdom and its impact on our society.

The Archbishop is a compassionate and informed churchman and has shown a readiness to dialogue with those of other faiths and none. It is sad, therefore, that much of what he has said has been over-simplified or taken out of context and I would urge all those interested in these issues to read the full text of his lecture “Civil and Religious Law in England: a religious perspective” and the BBC interview he gave on Radio 4 “World at One”, which can both be viewed on the Archbishop’s website: www.archbishopofcanterbury.org

Having said that, however, I find I cannot agree with his suggestion that the introduction of Sharia in “certain circumstances” will assist social cohesion. Islam, at its core, is not a faith content to regard itself as one of many options. It has a profound sense of its superiority and of the inadequacy of all other faiths. Nor is this awareness restricted to spiritual matters alone, as Islam is a system which embraces every aspect of human existence. It is, by nature, an evangelising and uncompromising faith. For many people here in the United Kingdom, of diverse faith or none, it is “an alien and rival system.”

        Sensitivity to adherents of other faiths, even when we profoundly disagree with them, is something which has come to be a defining characteristic of British society. It does not prevent us from cherishing our own beliefs, but it allows us to live amicably side by side with those who do not share them and, at its best, allows us to identify with values which we do hold in common.

        Our society allows others to practise their religion with assurance that the law offers them its full protection against persecution or discrimination. Sadly, the same tolerance is not always demonstrated in other cultures and a number of Islamic countries still discriminate against Christians in a way that is intolerable. In some other Islamic societies, where the Christians have survived as the indigenous population, an inequality exists, which is unjust and discriminatory.

        Too often our society concedes significant ground to demonstrate its commitment to humane and equitable principles without requiring mutual concessions from others. Perhaps it is now time for some Islamic societies to show comparable concessions, not only to foreign visitors, but also to those ancient Christian communities among their own citizens, who predate the advent of Islam, so that respect may be seen as truly mutual and provide the soundest foundation for the social cohesion which we all seek.

+ Seraphim

Metropolitan of Glastonbury

8 February, 2008