Anglican leader backs some Sharia law

LONDON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The archbishop of Canterbury has called for including elements of Sharia law in the British legal system, suggesting it would speed Muslim integration.

Rowan Williams, in an interview with the BBC, suggested that marriage and divorce are an area where the legal system could recognize Sharia law.

"Nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that has sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states: the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women," he said.

Williams said most in Britain and other European countries know little about Sharia law. For example, he said, people do not realize that there is no one Sharia law because Muslim countries interpret the law in different ways.

The Muslim Council of Britain supported Williams. Leaders said the council does not back the introduction of Sharia for criminal proceedings, The Guardian reported.

The National Secular Society said the country is "sleepwalking to segregation."

"You can't have a country where you have separate laws for separate faith groups," the group said. "The same religious groups who are calling for integration are the same one who want segregation."