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It's a shame that things like this do tend to lead to a degree of hyperbole.

I'm normally one to defend the AofC when he says something stupid. After all, he is a deep thinking, intellectual man whose musing are often wilfully misinterpreted by the press, and it's his job to sometimes take an unpopular position on matters of morality. However, in this case, he seems to have lost his bloody marbles. Anybody with a IQ over 60 would be able to tell how it would sound. He's handed a huge propaganda victory to Islamic fundamentalists, and confirmed that the CofE is weak. It's time for him to go.

An interesting side note that I've noticed:

He's in charge of the day-to-day running of the Church of England, and a member of the House of Lords, so no real political power, but his opinions are generally listened to.

I don't imagine that you English-types would understand how alien and riot-inducing it would be if we had a headline that said something like, "Cardinal of New York Archdiocese to sit in House of Representatives."

I understand that his position in the House of Lords may well be fairly toothless, but the idea of a high-ranking (the highest-ranking, in this case) official of an organized religion sitting in any parliamentary capacity is so weird-sounding to my American ears that it almost presupposes some sort of lunacy.

In my opinion, If we introduce other muslim laws for muslims, then the Muslim countries should implement our laws for our citizens.

Reliant, you've hit on the crux of the matter. Most Americans (and near as I can tell, most British) would, if they lived in a nation where they found the judicial/legal/regulatory/cultural system unsuitable, would go live somehwere else, rather than stay there to piss and moan.

Mikey wrote:I don't imagine that you English-types would understand how alien and riot-inducing it would be if we had a headline that said something like, "Cardinal of New York Archdiocese to sit in House of Representatives."

I understand that his position in the House of Lords may well be fairly toothless, but the idea of a high-ranking (the highest-ranking, in this case) official of an organized religion sitting in any parliamentary capacity is so weird-sounding to my American ears that it almost presupposes some sort of lunacy.

True, though the original principle was a sound one - gather the most important individuals in the country together to advise the monarch. Since the Church was a major landowner prior to the antics of Henry VIII, they counted not merely as a religious power but a secular one too. Unfortunately over the centuries it's deteriorated to its present status as the preserve of retired politicians and Labour Party donors.