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Baptists and National Law

Baptist minister of 31 years Mark Tronson, chairman of Well-Being Australia and cricket chaplain of 24 years claims that the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent comments on sharia law 'impacts' Baptist thinking.

[ Mark Tronson is chairman of Well-Being Australia which encompasses respite centres for AIS athletes and coaches and the extended Cricket family at ‘Basil Sellers Tweed’ and ‘Basil Sellers Moruya’. M V Tronson, who has been a Baptist minister for 31 years, established the Sports and Leisure Ministry in 1982. He is also an accomplished artist specialising in abstract paintings. ]

Baptist minister of 31 years Mark Tronson, chairman of Well-Being Australia and cricket chaplain of 24 years claims that the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent comments on sharia law 'impacts' Baptist thinking.

“In my view there has been considerable confusion by do-gooders who are claiming Archbishop Rowland Williams' comments implied that 'religious laws' would not co-exist with the same legal right as British common law,” M V Tronson noted.

In contradiction, he cites Melanie Phillips the author of 'Londonistan' who was interviewed on the ABC's Religion Report on 13 February who was at the meeting in which Williams spoke. Phillips counters that the Archbishop's view was indeed precisely a 'parallel legal jurisdiction' in Britain and explained how such a situation would be so explosive in Britain.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2008/2161185.htm

Stephen Crittenden who convenes the ABC Religion Report illustrated that the furor was not isolated to a few religionists, rather the reaction to his comments was spontaneous across Britain.

Crittenden aired the response of Britain's Anjem Choudary: “Quite honestly I do believe that there is a clash of civilisations. There's a clash between a civilisation based upon God's law, who believe sovereignty and supremacy belong to God, who want to live under the sharia, who believe authority should be in the hands of Muslims, and of course people who believe that man should continue to rule according to his whims and desires, and this conflict is not going to end until one is victorious, and as Muslims, we believe that one day the whole world will be dominated by the sharia law”.

Moreover M V Tronson notes that Phillips explains that if this brand of Islam and never the more liberal takes centre stage and with the incremental nature of the sharia, the stealth of Islamisation of Britain would follow.

Although spokespeople of both Australian major political parties have stated that this will not be considered in this nation, M V Tronson contends that should such a situation be countenanced in Australia the following scenario might fall into place.

As there are more people attending Baptist churches every week than mosques, yet Baptists compared to Catholics are a minority, they too would have parallel legal jurisdiction.

“A sacred tenant of Baptist belief and practice is 'soul liberty' in that each believer is guided on their daily living philosophy by the Spirit of God. Therefore with Baptists having parallel legal jurisdiction, Australian Law would only apply where a Baptist's 'soul liberty' was not impinged,” M V Tronson contends.

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