Pastoral and Political
There is perhaps a fuller sense of context than critics of the Archbishop’s recent comments are willing to acknowledge. Not only is the Archbishop addressing the complex socio-political situation in England, but his spiritual guidance extends to parts of the African continent in which tension between Muslims and Christians often leads to mistrust, at the least, and bloodshed at worst. For the Archbishop, this is perhaps as much a pastoral issue as a political one. This is a very difficult balance to hold on a public stage.
As for the accommodation of the Scriptural assertions of any faith tradition in civil law, I believe that would occur only through the course of legislative debate on a given point. The civic debate could well contain elements of the implicit values of various faith traditions, and would succeed or fail based upon the reasonableness of the argument to legislate that given point.
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