Republic
I just wanted to put my voice out at this time, while a lot of people are celebrating the Queen's 80th birthday, and say that I am a republican (not in the US political sense, but in the sense of thinking there should not be a monarchy of the UK). I also think that hereditory peers are not a great idea. Why can we not put these past traditions behind us, and re-create our political system in a democratic way that best serves the people.
Also, I am now starting to lean in the direction of disestablishmentariamism. I don't think that giving the prime minister final say in which of two recomended bishops becomes arch-bishop is a good thing. Also, I see that the links of church and state could well harm unity of the anglican church and others, and I think church unity is important.
Okay, those are my thoughts at this time, but please comment, I'd love to hear your opinions on this. Let the discussion begin...
Labels: political comment
posted by Martin at 09:29
3 Comments:
I'm moving increasingly towards antidisestablishmentarianism myself, although I agree in principle with your point about the PM.
For one thing, I think that establishment actually aids unity, at least in the sense of holding the church together. Why haven't the liberals or evangelicals or anyone else abandoned the church? Because if they did, they'd lose the status of establishment and therefore become less relevant - just one more denomination like the Baptists, Methodists, etc. In a sense the faction leaving would have lost the argument and "the church of England" would become a body which took the opposite view.
Of course true unity is more than just living together, it should involve a common pursuit of truth. But being part of the same organization helps that too. If the church were to split, then the problems which large numbers of churches have (e.g. liberalism or ritualism) would be cast in stone - even the lack of social focus that shames many prosperous evangelical churches.
I could easily see a disestablished church fragmenting into smaller and smaller groups, based on increasingly obscure and bitter theological differences. The nationwide voice which only the church's established position provides would be lost at a stroke, just at a time when the senior bishops were rediscovering their importance in civil life. Consider the various comments of John Sentamu in particular which were reported in the press.
In the US, it's hard to find a church when you move to a new area. You even have to find out what happens to the church funds, to see how much the pastor appropriates for himself! Here, you know that being part of the C of E places certain structural restrictions on a church, if not as many theological restrictions as we'd perhaps like.
Even the apparently arbitrary choice of bishops can have a positive impact. By putting the final choice outside of the church, it means that the choice doesn't always reinforce the church's already extant direction. In a way it also ensures that the church is to some extent driven from bottom-up processes and not just top-down. We need a balance: you only have to look at the Roman Catholic church to see the perils of the top-down approach, and I'm sure there are plenty of bad examples of the opposite course too.
I think that following long periods of decline, the spiritual health of the C of E is actually on the mend. So, strange as it seems, I'm starting to think that establishment is now working in God's favour after all.
As far as I'm aware, the Church hsa been slowly disestablishing itself for a while now. And I'm pretty sure the Archbishop of Canterbury is a disestablishmentarianist.
As for the monarchy: well, if I were to create a civilisation from scratch, I wouldn't have a monarchy. However, since
1. We already do
2. It's part of our history
3. They have practically no real power
4. They bring in far, far more money in tourism than they take from the state
5. Many of them devote a lot of time and money to good causes
it seems rather impracticle just to do away with them simply because we don't like the principle of having a monarchy.
It's interesting that the argument I used on another blog for retaining personalised car regisration plates is the same one used for retaining the monarchy here - they bring in much-needed revenue.
Bring on the republic. Disestablish the church.
Let's see what happens.
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