More on the Archbishop’s position on Sharia, from Andrew Copson, Education & Public Affairs Officer at the BHA:

Imagine that you are sitting in Lambeth Palace as Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the established church in England. It may not seem an enviable position (even without the fracas of recent days).

Although your church is nominally the national church, most people don’t even get married (pdf) in it any more, hardly anyone comes to your services, most people don’t believe in the doctrines that your church promotes, they’re not religious and a lot of them don’t even believe in god(s) at all.

Still, it’s not all bad. You and 25 bishops of your church sit as of right in the nation’s parliament, something no other religious group can claim; your church controls a third of all the state schools in the country at almost no expense to itself and the government actually wants you to take on the provision of more public services at no cost but with potentially positive consequences for your claim to national significance.

Comment is free: The archbishop adapts to survive.

Tags: Archbishop+of+Canterbury, Andrew+Copson, BHA, Comment+is+Free