Poor advice?
by Scoop Shachtman, 10 February 2008
Rowan Williams ought to go and speak to the people of Bradford, rather than whoever he was talking to before.
If Sharia was to be formalised, this is one city where the effects would be widespread.
But I found it impossible to find anyone who advocates such a move. In Canada similar proposals were abandoned following protests that women’s rights would be affected.
So what do Muslim women in West Yorkshire think?
Rihana Basharat, a mosque welfare secretary, said: “To me Islam, as we’ve been taught, is equal in divorce for women and men. Bringing it into this legal system is going to be totally confusing for everyone.”
Her friend Maria Ahmad told me: “We are striving for integration but I’m worrying that something like this will breed division rather than integration.”
It does make you wonder who his interfaith liaison was. Probably some sort of “representative” group, with all that entails.
Monday 11 February 2008 at 2:59
Williams has managed to piss off progressive Muslims, such as British Muslims for Secular Democracy ( http://www.bmsd.org.uk/ ) and MECO with his desire to accommodate shar’ia, as well as Jewish figures for his misleading suggestion that the Beth Din tribunals somehow incorporate Jewish religious law into English law, thereby causing all sorts of rumours to sprout about Jewish special privileges.
It’s likely that his interfaith liaison is limited to big bodies such as the MCB. I note also that Williams has taken it upon himself to form a close relationship with al-Azhar University in Cairo, many of whose alumni now fill the most reactionary bodies in Islam (though it should be said that the real hardliners do not approve of any interfaith work)
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/williams.to.unite.anglicans.and.muslims.with.trust.in.alazhar.meetings/1339.htm
The subtext here is that in his own Church Williams is involved in a power struggle with the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Nazir-Ali, who was his rival for the see of Canterbury in 2002 and is still seen as a possible successor. Nazir-Ali, who was exiled from Pakistan by General Zia, is a harsh critic of Islamic hardliners, so I think Williams compensates by seeing it as his role to accommodate them.
Monday 11 February 2008 at 10:53
Nazir-Ali is not a serious rival to Williams, and will never be given the keys to Lambeth Palace. His power base is restricted to one small faction of the church’s evangelical wing, and he is despised by just about everyone else. Nazir-Ali is seen as too reactionary to hold a position that requires … ahem … bridge-building and diplomatic skills.
Monday 11 February 2008 at 22:46
Francis - my understanding was that the evangelical base is dominant in the Church of England, being the most numerous and wealthy faction.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/evangelicals.to.be.dominant.force.in.uk.church.development.research.finds/4027.htm
Nazir-Ali has set himself up as their champion, the most senior bishop on their side, and also seems to be gaining support from the traditionalist Catholic wing (apparently he started out as a Catholic). He was on the final shortlist of two for Canterbury in 2002, and his influence can only have increased as a result of the present fiasco, especially as the right-wing press are already openly championing him as the man to replace Williams.
I wonder whether we also should take into account Gordon Brown’s plans that would allow the Church to select their own bishops and archbishops, rather than the Prime Minister, which would make the position of Nazir-Ali seem even more favourable. If it came to an election by churchpeople in the coming few years then his only serious challenger would seem to be Sentamu.
Alternatively, if the Anglicans do fracture sooner rather than later over the gay priests issue, Nazir-Ali must be in prime position among English bishops to become leader of the reactionaries.
I’m not sure it is safe to write him off just yet. He strikes me as extraordinarily ambitious.
Monday 11 February 2008 at 23:57
He is indeed ambitious, and at the same time not particularly bright.
As for the ‘dominance’ of the evangelical wing, a lot of this is hype put about by … evangelicals. You should never trust anything published by the evangelical front “Christian Research”. They make everything up as they go along.
The evangelicals are certainly a gobby lot, and not short of a bob or two, but they do not dominate the CofE, and are in no position to attempt a coup. Also, there is a wide spectrum of belief and action within evangelical Anglicanism. The balance of power is pretty much as it’s been for decades, and the wiser evangelical voices in the church know full well that unless things carry on as they are, they are all up shit creek.
I’m not saying that Nazir Ali’s fortunes will not change, but if he does rise to the top the CofE will likely collapse. As an atheist one might think that I’d rejoice in this. But no, it would only serve to increase the power of the Church of Rome in England, and also the Baptists.