London

THE INCOHERENT DEBATE over sharia, or Islamic law, continues in Britain. The main culprit: multicultural confusion among non-Muslim leaders. In February, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams argued that the introduction of sharia as a separate legal system for British Muslims is “unavoidable” (see this article). Williams’s comments produced widespread alarm and condemnation, so Britain’s Lord Chief Justice, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers then stepped in. (He’s the rough equivalent of our Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but with more latitude for public tomfoolery.)