The Sharia extends beyond what Westerners consider law. Sharia deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime, politics and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexuality, hygiene, diet, prayer and fasting, dietary matters, games, marriage and divorce, customs and behavior, and dress codes. It is applied by Islamic judges. [1]
Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made by or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of churches. The way that such church law is legislated, interpreted and at times adjudicated varies widely among these three bodies of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was initially a rule adopted by an early ecumenical council; these canons formed the foundation of canon law.
In the Orthodox Church, these laws are to be obeyed rather than to be treated as guidelines, since they are essential for the Church's unity. However under other mainline U.S. denominations, they still function under their own private systems of canon law. Each establishes its own system of church order and discipline. [2]
At the heart of the American legal system, it is fundamentally different than that of Muslim countries. Since we have separation of church and state, we are considered a secular state. However, a theocracy is a form of government in which a God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, such as Muslim countries and their legal system.
Canon Law Unleashed
In a Socialist or Communist country, a state religion (or established church) is religious body officially endorsed by the state. In some jurisdictions, this means that they operate legal systems of their own or play a part in the legal system of those governments. Canon is one such sort of legal system; it was administered in ecclesiastical courts. Unlike courts of common law tradition, ecclesiastical tribunals do not follow the adversarial system. Based on the same Roman civil law that is behind much European law, the procedure of a canonical court is more akin to the inquisitorial system, with the judges leading the investigation. [3]
There is also a difference between a "state church" and "state religion." A "state church" is created by the state, as in the cases of the Anglican Church, created by Henry VIII. An example of "state religion" is Argentina's acceptance of Roman Catholicism as its religion. In the case of the state church, the state has absolute control over the church, but in the case of the state religion, the Vatican has control over the church. As for the final one-world religion, I suggest that it will be a state church. [4]
The Archbishop of Canterbury's decision to announce the feasibility of functioning under Sharia Law is radical, and it gets the wheels moving for government control of the one-world religion. Some may think that I'm blowing this out of perspective, but it is a foot in the door.
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The Archbishop has not been sacked. Don't you love that groovy Maltese Templar cross?
