Religion, the Church of England and State Ceremonies

[cakeorwine]

I know we have an established church. I get that. And that's probably the answer to this question.

I do feel uncomfortable with the role that religion - specifically the Church of England - plays in State Ceremonies.

Watching the Cenotaph events on Remembrance Sunday. A moving event - but it does have a lot of religious elements. Prayers, hymns and The Lord's Prayer.

I think that anything religious should stick to events that are just for people of that religion. Or if it is multi-faith, then involve other faiths.

Remembrance Sunday is a national event. Keep religion out of it and just stick to remembering the people who died.

Yes, you may not like what vicars believe, but they see an awful lot of life and death. They get around, and the good ones get very wise.

Have every faith taking part in the service and it'll stretch into the afternoon. As it is the remembrance service is very British - wreaths, prayers, but not going on too long please, vicar.

And yes - my agenda is to ask questions about the role of religion and the State.

And yet you didn't even know what a PP meant by Christian country 🤷‍♀️

You should probably have started with Google and set your agenda after gaining some very basic knowledge.

It is a tradition op. Exchange your complaint for why Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism have x or y on what is a special national day for their people and see where it goes?

I have a faith. It is Anglican. I like the remembrance services for the people who sacrificed their lives for, at that time, God and King. They deserve the faith, tradition and recognition as do their descendents: wives, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc.

Go in peace op.

It's about the majority of people and veterans not all about you. God and religions being comfort to many at a sad time. Why begrudge anyone that?

Reforming the House of Lords is also something I have an opinion on

I am looking forward a Monarch who says "Actually, I don't believe in God". That could cause constitutional issues.

But the Monarchy is also something I have an opinion on as well.

So you want to turn the whole thing into a circus? Different areas all around the country are free to hold ceremonies to represent different religions. But the main one, in our capital, with our king and shown on the BBC should absolutely have a small element to it for our main religion ie; Christianity.

I'm sure you don't ask Easter and Christmas to be changed to represent every other religion.

I bet you do....

…just to mention, other faiths are represented at the ceremony. I’m Catholic, and I’m sure I saw a bit of Cardinal Red poking through

Well, I think the status of the CofE is ridiculous and anachronistic, rather like that of the monarchy (to which it’s strongly allied for obvious reasons), but there would need to be a strong current of feeling in favour of disestablishing it for there to be the political will to carry it out. And alas, many British people are ridiculously hard of thinking about the royals.

If you are going to quote me, at least include the full quote, which was that we can't do anything about OP's grievance and there are places she can contact if she feels that strongly about it.

It depends how you define Christian country.

It will be interesting to see the stats from the ONS about how religious people are in this country.

Church attendance is down.

I think MN needs a green ink option.

What's the point in AIBU then - if people can't do anything about people's grievances?

It depends how you define Christian country

Country where the state religion is Christian. HTH.

Well - I think that Easter and Christmas are actually something to do with Jesus?

So that's an unusual statement.

Of course, we are about to have the Coronation. I imagine God will get a mention there.

And yes - I think that if you are going to have prayers, hymns, then let other faiths have theirs as well..

So you have a problem listening to Christian hymns or "God save the King" or whatever but would have no problem listening to a speech or prayer from another religion? You do realise that the other large, monotheistic religions are quite similar in terms of their prayers and hymns being anachronistic - but hey, at least they're not Christian ones, right!?

Nobody is stopping anyone of any other faith from praying? We don't live in Saudi Arabia - the UK is a very tolerant country and there are hundreds of mosques, synagogues and temples and people are free to worship as they wish.

Actually Jeremy Corbyn was shamed in the Tabloid press for not singing. The Labour party have just reintroduced singing the national anthem at conference, again (imo) to appease the tabloid press and deflect accusations of being unpatriotic.

Rubbish. Speaking as an Anglican republican, I would happily disestablish the church tomorrow if I could. And I don't sing the national anthem because I'd send the monarchy packing in an instant. If you have a bone to pick with Henry VIII then have at it... But the CoE has little hold on its own members, never mind the country.

Remembrance is about honouring and remembering those who went to war; most who would have been Christians and representing their queen and country. Their country being a Christian one.

Either have a range of faiths with their hymns etc and people who aren't religious also saying poems - or have none at all.

I don't have a problem with a diverse ceremony.

Frankly the church doesn’t have a big enough hold on this country!

I don't really understand this. I don't think anyone's religion is particularly relevant when it comes to those who died.

One of my family members died fighting. His religion - or lack thereof - was irrelevant to his death. I'm uncomfortable with the majority of people that died in the wars fighting for this country were either Christian or nominally Christian. Until recent decades, people ticked the CofE box because it was an expectation placed on us, a societal norm and nothing more.

*Either have a range of faiths with their hymns etc and people who aren't religious also saying poems - or have none at all.

I don't have a problem with a diverse ceremony*

What you have a problem with isn't of interest to anyone. We have a Remembrance Sunday ceremony that suits millions of people. Go away and sort out your own 'diverse' ceremony for next year and come back and tell us how well that went.

Poems, FGS. This isn't your nan's memorial service.

I doubt there are many people in the British Legion who are from other faiths, or at least not enough to warrant having hours of poems and hymns to represent every faith.