Last Friday, the Church of England appointed Sarah Mullally as its new Archbishop. She will become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, and the first woman to lead a church with a history stretching back more than 1,400 years.
Mullally replaces her predecessor, who resigned after failing to properly investigate widespread allegations of sexual abuse involving children and young men by clergy members.
A 63-year-old former nurse, Mullally is known for her strong advocacy of women’s rights within the Church of England. She steps into her new role at a time when the church is facing major challenges. Its credibility has been damaged by past scandals, internal divisions over same-sex marriage, and a steady decline in attendance in an increasingly secular society.
Mullally will need to restore the church’s credibility on youth protection and other critical issues, particularly in light of the rejection of her leadership by bishops in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Currently, there are approximately 40,000 church buildings in Britain open and in use for worship, including Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, and hundreds of other denominations. This number, combined with an additional 4,000 churches, outnumbers major public buildings such as supermarkets, post offices, and even pubs in the United Kingdom.
More than three decades ago, the Church of England gradually approved the inclusion of women in senior church positions, following extensive theological and social debates. This shift reflected the changing role of women in British society, the rise of gender equality movements, and the church’s desire to stay relevant and vibrant in contemporary times.
What has happened in the British church community has also occurred in many other religious communities, including Islam, with no exception. Stagnation means decline. While Islam has seen significant developments over the centuries, these changes have generally been slow and limited. Time is not on our side; it demands more and better reforms, some of which I have previously addressed in several articles.
These include ending slave ownership, abolishing the amputation of thieves’ hands, enforcing mandatory wills, assigning courts to handle divorce and alimony cases, ending leniency toward murderers in adultery cases, stopping the stoning of married adulterers and flogging of unmarried adulterers, replacing some punishments with imprisonment or psychiatric treatment, reducing penalties for alcohol consumption, and transitioning to modern legal systems in line with international human rights conventions and global judicial standards. Suspending some punishments must be part of a set of urgent reforms we desperately need. For example, combining the noon and afternoon prayers has become a practical necessity, as the noon prayer often falls in the middle of the workday. The stagnation and resistance to change for the benefit of humanity are truly astonishing.
We cannot claim to be right when the rest of the world, with its billions of people, is moving forward. Many of these changes were initially opposed by religious authorities, yet it has been proven that faith among Muslims was not diminished. On the contrary, these reforms brought them closer to the rest of humanity and more in harmony with their humanity.
By Ahmad alsarraf
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