According to the BBC, Rowan Williams, the Archibishop of Cantebury no less, thinks that the adoption of Islamic Sharia law in the U.K. is unavoidable.

Let’s just re-state that:

The head of the Church of England, which is, let us not forget, a part of the British state, is saying that, in the Christian religious state in which we live, Islamic law should apply in at least some cases?!

I think he’s taken leave of his senses. I certainly hope so.

Even if it only applies if Muslims choose to use it, what about disputes between Muslims and non-Muslims? And why should Muslims be able to choose to adopt a different law from the rest of us, if it so pleases them? And what about situations where a Muslim is forced, against his or her will, to seek an opinion from a Shari‘a court?

No, no, no, no!

If Britain’s many Muslim citizens have a problem with English or Scottish law, they are free to emigrate to a country with different laws. As an atheist, I’d prefer it if English and Scottish law was secular, and if it didn’t grant extra rights to people with silly supernatural beliefs (which, right now, it does), but it’s pretty clear that a piecemeal legal system based on whichever religious laws a person finds most acceptable is just plain crazy.

If some idiot politician tries to push through a bill allowing the use of Islamic religious law in my country, I will be on the streets in London demanding their resignation. And so, I hope, will millions of others.