In the current issues of New Horizons, I ran across an editorial note about the Islamic presence in Britain. According to the Gatestone Institute, an international policy council:
. . . Sharia courts, which operate in mosques and houses across Britain, routinely issue rulings on domestic and marital issues according to Islamic Sharia law that are at odds with British law. Although Sharia rulings are not legally binding, those subject to the rulings often feel obliged to obey them as a matter of religious belief, or because of pressure from family and community members to do so.
I understand that Presbyterianism has never enjoyed a glowing reputation among the English — the 1640s and all that — but would it not be the case that Presbyterian courts also issue rulings on domestic and marital issues according to biblical teachings that are at odds with British law. For instance, Presbyterians likely believe that divorce is a sin. British law, I suspect, does not forbid divorce (even if it regulates it).
Same goes for here in the U.S. The OPC has a constitution that requires sessions, presbyteries, and assemblies to make rulings that do not follow the laws of individual states or federal law. So, part of the OPC’s constitution (Book of Church Order) reveals a way of thinking about marriage and its norms that is not the same as U.S. law:
Accordingly, God has designed marriage for the enrichment of the lives of those who enter into this estate, for the orderly propagation of the human race, for the generation of a holy seed, and for the avoidance of sexual immorality, all to the glory of the covenant God. Husbands and wives thus have responsibilities befitting God’s purposes for their relationship. The Holy Scripture says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for [her].” The husband is to love his wife as his own body, to care for her, and to cherish her. The Holy Scripture says also, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” The wife is to submit to her husband, to respect him, and to entrust herself to his loving care. Both husbands and wives are to be faithful to each other, to assist each other in all good things, to heartily forgive each other their sins and shortcomings, and to love each other as themselves. Thus united in love, they will more and more reflect in their marriage the unity of Christ and his church.
The question, then, is whether Christians either are capable viewing themselves as outsiders under a secular government or recognizing Muslims as sharing a position similar to ours within a secular nation.
Old Life 
The linked report from the Gladstone Institute states that Sharia courts in Britain are legally recognized as providing ADR for some kinds of disputes. I don’t think that church courts in the US have ADR status.
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They are.
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Thanks, MH. Interesting..
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Mad Hung, how about Christian counselors (I’m praying the answer is no)?
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I don’t know about Christian counselors. But it looks like there are Christian ADR groups, such as the one associated with the group Peacemakers. I don’t know of any church court acting as an ADR, but I’m no expert.
As far as Christian ADRs go, I would imagine that they have to be qualified or certified, but I’m not sure how these standards compare to regular ADRs (it appears that there is or was some association of the ICC group with the Christian Legal Society).
The Institute for Christian Conciliation
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Darryl:
Quite a narrow point here and entirely off-topic, but since you mentioned English Presbyterians, 1640 and all that, this is en route. I read it twice in the electronic version and was stunningly impressed by the near-wise photographic identity to the Restoration BCP of 1662. This was done by the Westminster divines of all things. It’s revamped the view that the Westminster Churchmen were anti-BCP. I don’t think so.
I recommend the following (on this exceedingly narrow point), to wit: http://www.amazon.com/The-book-common-prayer-Westminster/dp/114975253X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391132828&sr=8-2&keywords=1661+book+of+common+prayer+westminster+divines
Thank God for the repulse of the Spaniards in the English Channel in 1588 or we might be doing rosary-bead tours for merits and towards our self-invoking justification.
Back to the regularly scheduled programming.
Regards.
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Are Christians as Scary as Muslims?
Not the ones like you, bro. The Little Sisters of the Poor put up a better fight.
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Tomvd, Sure. But I don’t waste my time fighting the Obama administration. I fight against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness.
What do you fight? OL?
Wow! U R da man.
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Tom, those who can’t grow a pair and adhere to a coummunion shouldn’t thump chests.
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The worry over here about sharia courts- besides their existence at all- is that many people- particularly women- are being forced to comply with sharia court rulings, or at the mercy of such rulings. So a woman may be divorced through one of these courts and be shut off from the only support base she had (for example, an immigrant family). She is now left very vulnerable. This is a problem particular to the Muslim community because of their inwardness and ghettoisation.
True Church courts also require stricter behaviour than secular courts, but at least in Britain it would be pretty easy for someone under the jurisdiction of such a court to remove themselves from that jurisdiction if they so wish. Maybe in America there are different issues.
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