Realism is what counts. Are the handful of Beth Din courts, in which, I gather, Orthodox Jews -- those so orthodox as to wish to use these courts -- have a Jewish divorce, that is one recognized in Jewish as opposed to civil law -- really, in their significance, equivalent to the introduction of Shari'a?

This is a kind of missing-the-point equivalence, akin to that of the person who brightly says "Gee, if Australia is allowed to have nuclear weapons, then why should it be different for North Korea?" Or "since Israel has nuclear weapons, how can anyone argue against nuclear weapons for Iran or Saudi Arabia?"

This equivalence, and the denunciation, of a handful of Beth Din courts, ignores quite a few things. There may well be patriarchy in Orthodox Judaism. But there is no fear of physical coercion, or death, and women are free not to submit to Beth Din courts, and free to cease being fully orthodox in their observances, free to rely on the civil courts. And many, no doubt, do. The imposition of family law based on the Shari'a in Western countries, however, ignores the fantastic pressures -- including physical coercion - on Muslim women. It is not surprising that those who led the fight to prevent the imposition of Shari'a family law in Canada, not by uncomprehending and eager-to-please multiculturalists, but Muslim women, who knew exactly what was at stake.

Furthermore, Beth Din courts are so small, so few in number, so limited in scope, and are not part of some larger plan to push, and push, and push, unlike the Muslim scheme of things. For if Shari'a were to be recognized in those countries where it has never been, that would be rightly seen, by Muslims, as confirmation that they are on the path to undoing, little by little, all the obstacles to the spread, and the dominance, of Islam. That is clearly understood by Muslims and by non-Muslims who have taken the trouble to study the texts, tenets, attitudes of Islam. But it is not understood by the holier-than-thou (rip that collar off him), insensate Defender of the Faith (that Faith being Islam) Rowan Williams.

It would be easy to indulge in the game that "they are all the same" or that "they are all equally abhorrent" and that, therefore, we must throw out the Beth-Din baby with the bathwater of the Shari'a." Not so fast. Distinctions matter.