Religious Intelligence reports that the acclaimed German philosopher Jürgen Habermas has spoken in support of the Archbishop of Canterbury on the subject of Shariah.

The archbishop, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, caused a stir in February when he said there might be room in Britain for “overlapping jurisdictions” between national law and Shariah, or Islamic law. He suggested that “individuals might choose in certain limited areas whether to seek justice under one system or another.” (For some responses to the archbishop’s remarks, see The Chronicle’s February 29 Critical Mass column here.)

Writing this month in a German journal, in an article adapted from a March talk at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, Habermas, according to Religious Intelligence, “accepted the contention of secularists who insist on the ‘absolute essentialness of equal inclusion of all citizens in civil society.’”

“Religious citizens and religious communities should not only assimilate on the surface level. They must embrace the secular legitimisation of the community within the premises of their own belief,” he said.

“However, the state must make room for religious belief and avoid rushing to reduce the polyphonic complexity of the spectrum of public voices because it cannot be certain that this might not sever society from the meager resources that generate meaning and identity.”

Needless to say, the controversy and Habermas’s views are complex, so if you’re interested, you should visit the links above. You might also find some useful context for the debate, and Habermas’s views, in Richard Wolin’s 2005 Chronicle Review essay “Jürgen Habermas and Post-Secular Societies.”