I sincerely hope that the rejection of women bishops (as it turned out to be) is a step towards disestablishment. It was certainly hugely embarrasing for the Church but even more so for the laity, who went against the clergy and stopped it happening. It throws up all sorts of interesting ripples, by far the most important being that of political representation in the House of Lords. As if the HoL wasn't already a hideously archaic thing, now it contains the CoE clergy who are denying all of those seats to women. No other political party would be allowed to do that. Clashes like that between the Church and fundamental political life here should eventually mean that they have to seperate.
That's absolutely true but I think it still serves as a cover for conservatives who use it to keep the Government in check over issues such as abortion and gay marriage and they will fight to keep it. The gay marriage issue is one that particularly makes my blood boil. I cannot fathom how it is that civil partnerships have been given almost exactly the same rights as civil marriage, and yet they choke on using the word "marriage". I find it really disgusting that the state won't over-rule the objectors and just call it a marriage! But it illustrates the level of political fear that can still be generated by the conservatives and I don't know if the state will ever find the cohones to stick their fingers up at them and get rid of the Church.
The other problem is the Monarchy. The CoE is fundamentally tied to the Monarchy and I'm not sure that you can have one without the other. After all, if we reject the Church, can we still maintain as our Head of State a divinely-elected sovereign who is the Governor of the Church? People here may well be apathetic towards the CoE but most people are very sentimental about the royal family and would likely be hostile to any removal of the CoE that threatened Republicanism.
(November 22, 2012 at 6:15 am)Fidel_Castronaut Wrote: The church is entirely irrelevent to the majority of people in the UK. The last census revealed it, various studies since then have revealed it, and the new 2011 census when published in 2013 will undoubtedly reveal the trend continuing.
That's absolutely true but I think it still serves as a cover for conservatives who use it to keep the Government in check over issues such as abortion and gay marriage and they will fight to keep it. The gay marriage issue is one that particularly makes my blood boil. I cannot fathom how it is that civil partnerships have been given almost exactly the same rights as civil marriage, and yet they choke on using the word "marriage". I find it really disgusting that the state won't over-rule the objectors and just call it a marriage! But it illustrates the level of political fear that can still be generated by the conservatives and I don't know if the state will ever find the cohones to stick their fingers up at them and get rid of the Church.
The other problem is the Monarchy. The CoE is fundamentally tied to the Monarchy and I'm not sure that you can have one without the other. After all, if we reject the Church, can we still maintain as our Head of State a divinely-elected sovereign who is the Governor of the Church? People here may well be apathetic towards the CoE but most people are very sentimental about the royal family and would likely be hostile to any removal of the CoE that threatened Republicanism.
