Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O\u2019Connor has signalled a change of direction for the Church in England and Wales with an outspoken attack on the ideology of multiculturalism.
\nThe Cardinal said efforts to create a multicultural society had led to a \u201clessening of the kinds of unity that a country needs\u201d\u009d.<\/p>\n
He made his comments after Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said that Britain needed to accommodate religious legal codes, such as Islamic Sharia law, in order to achieve community cohesion.<\/p>\n
The Anglican leader told the BBC that the adoption of some aspects of the Sharia in Britain \u201cseems unavoidable\u201d\u009d. He faced a storm of protest after the remark and was forced to fight off calls for his resignation from several members of the General Synod.<\/p>\n
The Cardinal intervened in the debate to say that migrants should embrace the idea of equality under the law rather than live by other legal codes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe in a multicultural society,\u201d\u009d he told the Sunday Telegraph. \u201cWhen people come into this country they have to obey the laws of the land. There are going to be certain things which might clash in the overall culture of the country. That\u2019s where one has to make a judgment.”<\/p>\n