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The Anglican Communion
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 The Anglican CommunionWhere I am. in the UK. we have what we call the Church of England. Various church groups around the world, particularly in places which we British once colonised, are affiliated to the Church of England in what we know as the Anglican Communion. Some of you may belong to such a church. The Church of England has various historical ties to the State. It's the reason why the Coronation of Charles III was a religious ceremony. Its principal Bishops belong to the unelected upper house of our parliament. And our King or Queen is the nominal Head of the Church. That bit arises because Henry VIII was mainly concerned to get the Pope out of the picture and to replace him with someone not opposed to granting Henry a divorce. Some of the Reformers of the day had enough influence for the C of E to emerge as a Protestant body, but Henry was just interested in change at the top. The late Elizabeth II took the role of Head of the Church seriously. She has been described as the Servant Queen who served The Servant King. There is some doubt as to whether Charles' beliefs fall within the parameters of mainstream Christianity, but he does at the least seem to have an awareness that he will one day answer to a greater King. However, the reason why this is in focus in the news at present, is that Charles' heir Prince William has apparently let it be known that he is not interested in taking on the Head of the Church role when his time comes. So people here are beginning to discuss the implications of this. It might well mean the eventual disestablishment of the Church of England. Presumably the Archbishop of Canterbury would be the choice to take over as Head of the Church, since in practice that's his job anyway. The UK does have other church denominations which are not linked to the State, such as Baptist (I'm a Baptist), and Methodist (Wesleyan). Are any of you in Anglican churches outside the UK, and do you have a view on this? |
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Colin 15:25 I was a member of Sydney Anglicans for almost 50 years, from my conversion as a teen up until the beginning of 2018. In that time I had been on Parish Council in three different parishes as my family moved around, and a Warden in two of them. I was asked to be Rector's Warden in the third, but at the time my business was going under and I was technically bankrupt; so I wasn't eligible. I had also served as a Diocesan Representative, Youth Leader, etc. It was also my intention to act in my retirement as an unpaid member of staff in a parish that needed an assistant but couldn't afford the extra stipend. That's why I did the B.Th. But I was considered 'unsuitable' because I disagreed with 'Male Headship' as understood by the Sydney Diocese, which is the last of the conservative bastions in Australian Anglicanism. So I moved across to the Uniting Church, which was the offspring of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches. The Uniting Church is gender-blind and has many females in leadership and ministry roles. I understand that Elizabeth was quite pious in her commitment, but Charles seems to be more a 'nominal' Anglican. He has spoken about being title 'Defender of Faith' rather than 'Defender of THE Faith'. How much of this is personal persuasion and how much is an awareness of the reality of the modern religious world is known only to him and those close to him. As for 'Disestablishment', I'm all in favour. I hold that the establishment of Christianity as the State Religion is the worst thing that can happen to the Church, short of the opposite extreme of a 'Christian Genocide'. Establishment makes the church just another Department of State, and subject to politicians' whims or worse. Look at what the Nazis did to the 'Deutsche Christen' movement! en.wikipedia.org Here in the Land of the Pious Platypus we have no established church, and we're doing just fine without that interference. |
