London, Feb. 11, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Archbishop of Canterbury has stirred up widespread discontent among Anglican Church leaders, and some calls for his resignation, with his remark that the use of shari'a law may be "unavoidable" in Great Britain.
Dr. Rowan Williams explained his remark in a February 11 address the Church of England synod, saying that some angry reactions had been based on an improper understanding of what he had said in a BBC interview. The Anglican primate said that "some of what has been heard is a very long way indeed from what was actually said."
The archbishop apologized for "any unclarity" and "any misleading choice of words that's helped to cause distress or misunderstanding among the public at large, and especially among my fellow Christians.'
However Dr. Williams did not renounce his statement that it would be appropriate to use shari'a law as an "accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law, as we already do with aspects of other kinds of religious law."
Archbishop Williams spoke to the synod after a number of influential Anglican clerics denounced his statement and several called for his resignation. A former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, said that Dr. Williams had "in my opinion overstated the case for accommodating Islamic legal codes." But Lord Carey said that his successor should not be expected to step down because of the remark. British press sources indicated that Prime Minister Gordon Brown had contacted Dr. Williams, expressing his support but suggesting that the archbishop should issue a clarifying statement to address his critics.
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