Archbishop faces calls to quit over sharia row

By Adrian Croft

LONDON (Reuters) - Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, faced calls to resign on Saturday for suggesting that the introduction in Britain of some aspects of Islamic law was unavoidable.

In a BBC interview on Thursday, the Archbishop of Canterbury talked about the use of sharia to resolve some personal or domestic issues among Britain's Muslims, much like the way Orthodox Jews have their own courts for some matters.

Asked if sharia needed to be applied in some cases for community cohesion, Williams said: "It seems unavoidable."

Williams' comments sparked outrage in some newspapers, led by the mass circulation Sun, which on Saturday launched a campaign to remove him from office, accusing him of giving heart to "Muslim terrorists".

The issue of integrating Britain's 1.8 million Muslims has been widely debated since July 2005, when four British Islamists carried out suicide bombings on London's transport system, killing 52 people.

Williams' predecessor as archbishop, George Carey, joined the criticism, saying in a newspaper article to be published on Sunday that Williams' "acceptance of some Muslim laws within British law would be disastrous for the nation".

However, he said Williams, who is already battling divisions within his church over gay priests, should not resign.

Some bishops criticised Williams and several members of the Church of England's governing body, the general synod, called for his resignation.