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.

Our traditions are built around Christianity which the vast majority of people celebrate so yes, of course its a Christian country.

You can't answer that question?

It's not difficult.

If less than half the country are Christian, is it a Christian country?

The state religion might be Christianity but it fewer than half the country are Christian, then I think it's Christian in name only.

In principle it's totally wrong. They shouldn't be there.

The UK doesn't have a state religion, England and Scotland do.

Many other countries have a separation of church and state

So what? this is the UK, and we don't.

@cakeorwine

if you want a country where religion has a ‘hold’ over the population - look at the good old US of A

Well, that's a whole new discussion.

And a good potential thread.

How does the UK demonstrate it's a Christian country (and would Jesus agree?)

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

You are going to be turning yourself inside out with that come the coronation next year.

Maybe we should?

I think God might get a mention.

Being a Christian country relies on more than what % of the population regard themselves as Christian. History, tradition, law, education, health services, entertainment, all have fundamental roots in the fact that the people of this country have, for hundreds of years, lived by a somewhat Christian creed. You don't have to be religious to agree with tenets of that creed.

You've taken my post out of context. It was in reply to another poster claiming every country works in the same way.

It's not in name only though. The obvious ones, Christmas and Easter. Where our laws say if Christmas falls on a weekend we have to have bank holidays to make up for it. Do we have bank holidays if other religious days fall on a weekend?

Sunday trading laws (rightly or wrongly) are based on Christianity.

Are you getting it yet? People may not go to church but our traditions and laws are based around Christianity.

So no, it's not just in name only.

Why? Or are you suggesting the whole upper house is wrong? As I said, many of the Lord's Spiritual have a wide ranging knowledge and experience of the issues facing their communities. They are intelligent, thoughtful men and women. Which is more than can be said for many of the appointees to the HoL.

You did indeed answer it yourself. We have an established church. Unlike many countries, our established religion, which runs a lots of schools and other institutions, is also extremely welcoming and does not exclude or push people of other religions none to convert. Armistice Day, which looks back to WW1 in particular, remembers people who were predominantly Christian and who did not feel the discomfort you feel. It would be disrespectful to them to change this. No one requires you to attend a Remembrance Sunday service. You don't have to.

I don't mind the religious aspect of remembrance ceremonies. They are probably relevant to the people of the generations mainly involved.

However, I do have a problem with the privileges given to the Anglican church over other religions.

The Anglican church is the established church in England only, not in the UK. There is no reason why its priests should have seats in the house of Lords above members of other Christian denominations and other religions.

Also, even as a Christian I don't think forced religion in school assemblies is suitable in the 21st Century.

I'm really surprised at the reactions OP's getting, many of which are childish accusations that she is in a minority. The points she raises aren't particularly controversial.

How does the UK demonstrate it's a Christian country (and would Jesus agree?)

Jesus was Jewish, I don't think he'd know or care.

YABU.

Just because something isn’t important to you personally doesn’t mean that it isn’t important to other people and also to the culture and history of the UK.

"Why? Or are you suggesting the whole upper house is wrong"

Both things are true.

Your point is about the Lords themselves, not about the principle of having them there, which I think is much harder to defend.

What an odd comment. Christians are obviously followers of Christ. You say that he was Jewish as if it’s some ‘haha!’ moment that is unknown to Christians or something?

Oh dear. I think you need to do some research OP as you're either on a wind up or you're just not very aware. If you've lived in this country your whole life you will have grown up with traditions and laws which demonstrate how this is a Christian country. And I'm not just talking about going to church.

Something that's very often forgotten. Plus, of course, Jesus wouldn't even have known of the existence of the UK.

I am not a person of faith, but I am English, Christisnity is the culture I grew up in, I don’t have an issue acknowledging that.

Should the bishops be in the Lords is an interesting debate, but looking at some people who end up in the Lords, at least they add something more rigourous to the proceedings, probably take it far more seriously and crucially they don’t pass it down to undeserving children.

The Church of England has a hold over precisely nothing in this country.

Really?
How about shop opening hours?
The lack of secular primary schools in many areas
The mandatory "act of worship" in every primary school
The bishops in the House of Lords influencing our laws

The % of people identifying as Christian is now almost certainly below 50% and only 6% identify themselves as practising Christians.

The disestablishment of the CoE is now long overdue and we should have complete separation of church and state.