Anglican leader backs wearing of veils

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Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, has said he is opposed to any government interference in a Muslim woman's right to wear a veil or a Christian's right to wear a cross.

Jack Straw, a British government minister, provoked heated debate earlier this month by saying Muslim women who wore full veils made community relations difficult.

Williams said on Friday: "The ideal of a society where no visible public signs of religion would be seen, no crosses around necks, no sidelocks, turbans or veils, is a politically dangerous one.

"It assumes that what comes first in society is the central political 'licensing authority', which has all the resource it needs to create a workable public morality."

al Jazeera