Anglican Mainstream

From John Richardson

Right now I’m feeling rather less sympathetic towards Rowan Williams than I was on Friday night. The reason is this. Go to the Archbishop’s website, as I (and doubtless many others) did in the wake of the controversy in the press, for the text of his talk where he spoke about the relationship between Sharia law and English society and you will find it under this title:

Archbishop’s Lecture – Civil and Religious Law in England: a Religious Perspective

Thus on Newsnight I focussed on the question why the Archbishop chose this particular subject to deal with a general point about the relationship between the law and religious communities.

Thanks to a lead on the Fulcrum website, however, I just found my way via this link to the website of the Temple Church where there is another transcript of the lecture here. In this case, however, the title is as follows:

Islam and British Law: A Lecture by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, given in the Royal Courts of Justice on 7 February 2008 as the Foundation Lecture in the series “Islam in English Law”, part of the Temple Festival 2008.

Spot the difference? Read more

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