The Archbishop of Canterbury today defended his controversial remarks on Sharia law, but also took responsibility for any "misleading choice of words" that had helped to cause distress or misunderstanding among the wider public.After days of turbulence surrounding his views on the way the British legal system might accommodate Islamic law, Dr Rowan Williams made his presidential address to General Synod, the Church of England's national assembly, in an atmosphere of some tension.
Having torn up his original speech to address the remarks first given in a BBC interview and then in a lengthy speech at the Royal Courts of Justice, he took responsibility for "unclarity" that may have caused "distress or misunderstanding" among the public, especially his fellow Christians.