In a over-enthusiastic observation of a usually ignored traditional Christian festival, Archbishop Rowan Williams has apparently chosen to give up using his higher brain functions for the next 40 days.

As evidence, he is splattered over the news on every terrestrial channel and on the BBC website, expressing a belief  that

some Sharia law in the UK seems “unavoidable”.

Allegedly, for “community cohesion” 😀

(Splitting a country into different groups with different sets of laws for specific purposes is cohesive? I run screaming to a dictionary. I am relieved to find out that “cohesive” has indeed not magically come to mean “utterly divisive,” since I last looked.)

How impressive that a career religious man can reach the age and novelty-of-eyebrow-development of Rowan Williams, without having gained the slightest idea that “marital disputes” involve relations between men and woman.    And whatever else one might think of Islam, female equality has not traditionally been considered its strong suit.

Shari’a law seems to involve stoning adulterers. Wouldn’t that come under the “marital disputes” category?

There are several countries in the world that claim to apply shari’a law. If anyone chooses to live under it, let them move to one of these countries. How difficult an argument is that to follow?  If I wanted to live under the Netherlands’ legal system, I would have to move to the Netherlands.   Surely the same self-evident principle applies to religiously motivated law.  Ironically, many foreign-born muslims in Europe migrated specifically to enjoy the personal freedoms of the west.  Are they also to be thrown on the mercy of the mullahs, in the name of community cohesion?

There are enough reports of bad things happening to non-muslims living in places – such as the North of Nigeria – where shari’a law has been newly applied. These would make anyone –  male or female &  muslim or infidel – feel a bit uneasy (well, all right then, terrified and aghast…) about living under those legal systems.