Most religious communities have laws that govern their own adherents. For example, Roman Catholicism has a highly developed legal code called canon law that governs the internal workings of the church. This code stipulates a range of matters from the ecclesial legitimacy of marriages to the functions of bishops. It does not, however, dictate civil codes of law.

For those who follow a religious tradition the law of the religious community may take precedence to the civil law, provided that the religious law does not interfere with or negate the civil law. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is immoral and directs its adherents not to procure an abortion. The civil law of the United States permits abortion under certain conditions. Thus, the law of the church and the civil law conflict. Catholics who follow the church’s teaching and law by choosing not to procure abortions do not breach the civil law.

I do think we all owe a debt of gratitude to Archbishop Williams for having the courage to bring this issue to our attention and to treat it so carefully in his lecture (of which many only got a sound bite). After all, the issues underlying Archbishop Williams’ comments will have to be addressed in the United States as they will in the United Kingdom.

For example, permission to be absent from public school on certain Muslim holy days may have to be considered for school districts that have large number of Muslim students, just as in many school districts consideration is afforded to the Jewish and Christian students to accommodate their holy days.

There are reasonable measures that can be accorded the Muslim community (and other religious communities) without establishing a parallel legal structure and it is not too early to consider them.