In My View
Posted by Robert Walter, MP for North Dorset, at 14:54, Thu 14 February 2008:
IN MY VIEW
However well intentioned, the Archbishop of Canterbury has, I fear, got it wrong on Sharia law. Many constituents have written to me expressing their outrage at the suggestion that Muslim communities could create an unofficial system of justice that would be recognised as legitimate by the wider society.
Any such suggestion contradicts the basic tenets of our Parliamentary democracy and our belief in human rights and equality between men and women. Over centuries we have developed a system of laws in this country which are not, and never will be, perfect. We have fought wars to defend our rights and those of our fellow man to live in freedom.
There is often a debate about what it is politically correct to say in public. As someone who is elected to represent the people of Dorset I should not be afraid to defend those values for which my forebears gave their lives.
I have very many dear Muslim friends and I have the utmost respect for their faith. We all worship the same God whether we are Christian, Jew or Muslim. But faith is our human interpretation of the teaching of God. We would not have the multitude of churches, denominations and sects if we humans did not disagree about the word of God.
I am however clear in my own mind that the practice of Sharia law is an affront to basic rights of man that I was elected to protect and promote. At its most extreme it sentences people to death for activities that we regard as perfectly normal. The Bible tells me that adultery is a sin, but not a mortal sin. We all regularly break a commandment or two, but we do not expect to be publicly flogged or have our limbs chopped off for it.
Those are the extreme examples, but by no means uncommon. The Islamic leaders in Britain suggest that they would just like to use Sharia law to settle family disputes and property matters. Family law is delicate balance between the rights of individual men and women and their children. Even in the eleven years I have been in Parliament we have spent many hours debating that balance.
I will not accept for the citizens of my country, nor for that matter any human being, a system that treats women as inferior, that condones forced marriages or regards divorce as a matter instant choice, like selling your car.
To suggest, that as a matter of religious freedom we should condone such behaviour is totally unacceptable. As responsible citizens we should be working to stamp out that kind of oppression wherever it occurs in the world. In our own country there are just too many examples of second and third generation immigrant children who live in fear of family pressure to enter into arranged marriages. There are too many women and children whose lives would be devastated by divorce on demand.
We are a civilised society and we should be proud of it. We have been the architects of many of the human rights conventions that the rest of the world has signed up to. In the name of humanity, and the God so many of us profess to worship, we can neither support, condone nor turn a blind eye to those who fail to live to those same standards.
Comments
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Posted by Karen Harrison, 20:16, Thu 14 February 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #
I do not have a fixed view on this matter, but of course the orthodox Jewish community in this country already have their own laws. I know that the Golders Green community in London caused an uproar by wanting a fence or wire of some kind erected to delineate the area they could travel on their Sabbath. This was some 10+ years ago and I think they got it. And of course the reporting of Rown Williams' speech were utterly tabloid in their response. He is an academic and intellectual, both of which are harangued in this country. Karen Harrision
Posted by Dave May, 15:42, Fri 15 February 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #
I don't claim to be a jew, christian or muslim and without knowing what "Sharia Law" says at first hand I can't comment as my information is filtered through the variuos media that comment on it.
I do, however fully support and applaud the statement above: "I will not accept for ... any human being, a system that treats women as inferior, [or] that condones forced marriages " regardless of the faith that it claims to be of/from.
Was it the Dalai Lama who said "my relegion is kindness" and "at the very least we should strive to do no harm"
I think there's a lesson (or 2) for every one there