back back to Letters previous previous story  |  next story next

Islamic societies are not a patch on ours

From Kathryn Dobson

Sir, — I feel somewhat uneasy that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s fierce attack on US policy was made in the context of an interview with a Muslim magazine. While agreeing with a great deal of what he said both about the US and Western sociey in general, it is still infinitely preferable to any Muslim-run society, especially if you are female.

The Archbishop may well have protested against the shameful state visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to this country and gone unreported. I hope he did, as Saudi Arabia is certainly one of the worst regimes in the world for its treatment of women. At least in the West we do not give lashes and a term of imprisonment to a young woman after she was gang-raped, just because she chose to be alone with a young man she knew.

A British teacher has just been arrested in the Sudan because she let little children in her care choose a name for a teddy bear and they chose Muhammad. Perhaps she should have been better briefed, but it is impossible to find a parallel for such an action in the West.

The extremist racist groups in our own country will grow in strength if the liberals continue to turn a blind eye to the appalling human-rights records of the majority of Muslim countries, especially where shariah law, a system that is incompatible with democracy and free speech, is in the ascendant.

KATHRYN DOBSON
31 Princess Victoria Street
Bristol BS8 4BX



back back to Letters up back to top previous previous story  |  next story next


© Church Times 2006 - All rights reserved

Website by Baigent