Anglican leader's Sharia comments stir furious British response

Canterbury, England (ENI). A suggestion by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, that certain aspects of Islamic Sharia law be incorporated into the British legal system has triggered a political fury and a heated debate on religious tolerance. The archbishop, who is the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, made his comments first on the BBC radio programme The World at One on 7 January and then expanded on them later in the day during a lecture at the Temple Festival Series in London. His suggestion was that a small portion of Sharia, which itself is a portion of Islamic law based on text in the Qu'ran but which is not codified, could be incorporated into British law. [689 words, ENI-08-0107]

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