"This is a tension at the heart of the Church of England which demands resolution. The Church of England wishes – as a church – to promote Christianity and of course it should be free to do so, but it should not be privileged in doing so, and it is not legitimate for it to enlist our shared and publicly-funded schools, social services and our parliament in its evangelistic task."
Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!
ReplyDeleteHaving a monarchy may be good for tourism because of the pageantry but it is anachronistic of itself in a supposedly democratic country and the present Queen's position as 'Defender of the Faith' is worth nothing since she was a party to inviting the Pope here.
As a first step let's stop pretending we're a Protestant country and disestablish NOW with a view to then electing Charles to be followed by electing one of his sons when Elizabeth is finally too worn out to want to serve any longer.
It would also then mean that Charles and succeeding Presidents could have a civil ceremony of appointment rather than roping in a has-been religious person to do it. I mean nobody seriously believes that the Queen was guided by any god when she snubbed Diana or when she turned to the Pope, are we?
After that it'll be sensible to elect almost anyone else.