Monday 25 February 2008

The Importance of Appearance




I have long been the kind of bloke who dosen't care much about my appearance. And I have never really cared much what others thought of my appearance. I mostly just can't be bothered.

But I've changed my mind, thanks to the Archbishoip of Canterbury. Recently Rowan Williams made statements on English Radio more or less in favour of Sharia law in England. One of the blogs I read carried a picture of him. When I saw the picture something clicked for me. With his unkempt beard, unclipped hair, spectacles and befuddled expression, I at once thought, "No wonder he speaks nonsense, he even looks confused."

A good hair cut and a whisker trim would help him to look much more credible. Of course what he says would still be that curious mix of the uninteligible and the unacceptable that he is becoming reknowned for.


What's Wrong With What the Archbishop Said

What's Wrong With What the Archbishop Said

Basically, the Archbishop of Canterbury is an anti-Moses. When he seeks to use Sharia law in some vague attempt to unify Britain he is trying to use a snake as a walking stick. (The point not being that Islam is reptilian but that it will bite you if you try to lean on it).

But worse than that, Williams would happily lead his people out of freedom into slavery. He holds the misguided understanding that Sharia law can be used as a system of law without bringing on board the inherent assumptions of Sharia law. Whatever we call them, axioms or principles, Sharia law contains assumptions that are integral to it and not negotiable. These are such things as the value of testimony of a woman. A woman's testimony has half the weight of a man's. An infidel's testimony has half the weight of a Muslim's. So the testimony of four Christian women that one of them was raped is only just equal to the testimony of the one Muslim man who (allegedly) raped them. With three Christian women, the charge is unprovable under Sharia law. That is unacceptable to our society.

Sharia law also has strict and often deadly consequences for apostasy, that is, for leaving the Muslim faith. So Rowan Williams would have a British Muslim who becomes a Christian suffer at the hands of his family with the British legal system's full consent.

It is unwise for the leader of the Anglican Church to welcome Islam when he knows so little about it and unacceptable for him to care so little about the believers under his care.