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: Begging the Question

An Archbishop, a religious code, and an offended mob walk into a bar

By "Milbarge" and "Fitz-Hume"

So I can't help but notice my newly adopted church is in the news these days. I will never be a preeminent blogger, because during the time I've procrastinated posting about this much of what I was going to say has already been covered. Given that my association with the church is in it's infancy, I can't speak to Dr. Williams' history on big issues and/or his penchant for stirring up controversy. However, I do have a few thoughts to throw out.

First, I think that a great deal of the outraged response has come from people who read the news headlines about the lecture, and didn't bother to actually read, you know, the lecture. One of those who did came away with a calm and reasoned view. Over at Instapundit, Prof. Reynolds claims such reasoned response does not take into account the explosive context. My thinking is perhaps Dr. Williams did take it into account and either A) held the naive believe that those reporting on it would actually read his words before crafting explosive headlines or B) counted on the resulting media storm to actually get a conversation started on the topic. A man who has risen to that level probly had a good idea what was going to happen.

Second, I've been reading a great deal of the outrage over at The Corner. Dr. Williams' remarks are being universally condemned there. However, this is the same group that heaped praise upon their own Mark Steyn and his book America Alone, when he argued that just such an Islamic take over of Europe was underway and largely unstoppable. I find it interesting that when their own journalist points out cultural and demographic changes, he is praised. When a clergyman does essentially the same, he is a traitor to his faith/England/the West.

Third, no one to date (that I've seen) has said a peep about the fact there is exactly they same type of thing in Britain already for Jews and Catholics on certain matters, as Dr. Williams was kind enough to point out. If the issue is religious courts operating separately from the civil courts, why isn't there an outcry to abolish these?

The key element of the lecture is found in the opening paragraphs:

This lecture will not attempt a detailed discussion of the nature of sharia, which would be far beyond my competence; my aim is only, as I have said, to tease out some of the broader issues around the rights of religious groups within a secular state...

For the record, I'm on the fence about whether or not I agree with all of Dr. Williams' points. However, it seems a shame that the Archbishop is seemingly the only one interested in the broader issues, while everyone else appears content to kill the messenger.

Full post as published by Begging the Question on February 10, 2008 (boomark / email).