tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/church-of-england-4462/articlesChurch of England – The Conversation2023-12-13T16:58:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2193582023-12-13T16:58:27Z2023-12-13T16:58:27ZAre French and English secularist traditions that far apart?<p>Those who watched <a href="https://theconversation.com/king-charles-iiis-coronation-oath-is-a-crucial-part-of-the-ceremony-experts-explain-202870">the coronation of King Charles III</a> in May 2023 would be forgiven for thinking that the United Kingdom is the very opposite of a secular country. In Westminster Abbey the new head of state received his mandate from the Archbishop of Canterbury and thus became head of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/king-charles-defender-of-faith-what-the-monarchys-long-relationship-with-religion-may-look-like-under-the-new-sovereign-190766">Church of England</a>. But appearances can be deceptive. </p>
<p>The current situation in the UK is complex, a product of the contradictions and compromises of British history. In reality, England is on its way to becoming a secular society, but without having adopted the French principle of <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/frances-la-cite-why-the-rest-of-the-world-struggles-to-understand-it-149943">laïcité</a></em>.</p>
<p>The American philosopher <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674986916">Charles Taylor</a> is often quoted as distinguishing three major elements in the secularisation of Western societies: the decline of religious belief, the concept of religion as a personal choice of the believer, and the separation of church and state. With regard to the first two elements, France and England are fairly similar.</p>
<h2>Losing their religion</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/bulletins/religionenglandandwales/census2021">2021 census</a> in England and Wales showed for the first time that less than half the population declared themselves to be Christian: 46%, compared with 59% in 2011. 37% said they had no religion. By comparison, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Europe">the 2019 Eurobarometer</a> pinpoints <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-historique-2022-1-page-171.htm">47% of Christians in France</a>, compared with 40% with no religion. There were 10% of people declaring a religion other than Christianity <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2022/is-religion-dying-in-england-and-wales">in England</a> and 12% in France. <a href="https://www.observationsociete.fr/modes-de-vie/des-croyances-et-pratiques-religieuses-en-declin-en-france/">This decline in religious identity</a> is accompanied by a fall in religious practice in both countries.</p>
<p>There have also been fundamental changes in practices, particularly with regard to what were until recently considered rites of passage. For example, it used to be normal for English men and women to get married in church, but <a href="https://wwww.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2023/19-may/news/uk/figures-for-2020-show-continued-decline-in-religious-wedding-ceremonies">in 2020 only 15% of couples held a religious wedding ceremony</a>. </p>
<p>The average Anglican church held only four funerals and one wedding in 2020. On the other hand <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24565994">alternative rites abound</a>. It is now possible and accepted to get married, or to formalise a civil union, <a href="https://unconventionalwedding.co.uk/the-best-alternative-wedding-venues/">outside the church or the registry office</a>: in a hotel, but also in a garden, on a boat, on the beach, or anywhere else the couple fancies. </p>
<p>Moreovoer, it is now very common for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanist_celebrant">humanists</a> to preside over weddings and other rites in place of priests. Instead of offering the sacraments, they mark the high points of human life in collective celebrations. They can be called upon for both weddings and funerals.</p>
<p>The same trends can be seen in other social institutions. In the courts, for example, where people used to swear on the Bible, the accused or the jurors can now swear on a religious book of their choice, such as the Koran, the Torah or the Bhagavad-Gita (a key Hindu text), or they can simply make a solemn declaration. At a trial I attended last year, 10 out of 12 jurors chose to solemnly swear that they would do their duty. The religious choice is therefore a personal option, but does not change anything in the course of justice.</p>
<h2>Religion at school</h2>
<p>As far as educational institutions are concerned, France and the UK have a mixed economy that includes state and public schools. In the UK, 6% of young people are in <a href="https://tutorful.co.uk/blog/private-school-statistics-uk-independent-schools">private education</a> compared with almost 17% <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/questions-reponses/290729-la-place-de-lenseignement-prive-en-france-en-cinq-questions">in France</a>. British public schools receive no direct financial subsidy from the state, whereas the vast majority <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/rapport/289657-lenseignement-prive-sous-contrat">of French public schools</a> receive substantial public funding.</p>
<p>In the UK, a third of state schools are <a href="https://flashlearners.com/how-many-faith-schools-are-there-in-the-uk/#:%7E:text=The%20number%20of%20faith%20schools%20in%20the%20UK,others%29%2C%20Islam%2C%20Judaism%2C%20Sikhism%2C%20Hinduism%2C%20and%20other%20faiths">so-called “faith” schools</a>, the majority of which are primary schools. In France, on the other hand, religious education takes place mainly in <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enseignement_priv%C3%A9_en_France#cite_note-2">public schools</a>, the vast majority of which (97%) are Catholic schools. </p>
<p>It is in state schools that the differences emerge. The extent to which state schools in France must insist on the exclusion of religious signs and practices is well known. The situation in the UK varies across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as each of the ‘four nations’ oversees the education of its young constituents.</p>
<p>In England, for example, a third of state schools (including secondary schools) have <a href="https://flashlearners.com/how-many-faith-schools-are-there-in-the-uk/">religious status</a> (mostly Anglican and Catholic, but also Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh). This status implies that the school or college is affiliated to a religious organisation, offers religious education courses and maintains a culture informed by the religion in question. The school may accept children of other religions, or of no religion at all, who may manifest their own allegiance while respecting the school’s religious culture. There is a strong resemblance between British state ‘faith’ schools and public schools in France.</p>
<p>It should be noted that since <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/school/overview/educationact1944/">the 1944 Act</a>, state schools in England other than faith schools, at primary and secondary level, have been obliged to provide instruction in religion once a week, and to hold an “act of Christian worship” every day. In practice, the majority of these schools choose to recognise the diversity of beliefs among pupils, either in religion classes or in collective gatherings. </p>
<h2>Families can choose</h2>
<p>In the UK, parents can choose to <a href="https://theconversation.com/parents-are-pulling-children-from-re-lessons-so-they-dont-learn-about-islam-95235">withdraw their children from religious activities</a>, with trends increasingly leaning in that direction. Pupils themselves can exercise this choice from the age of 16. </p>
<p>Schools interpret these obligations in their own way. For example, the act of worship may take the form of a meeting focusing on school life (academic or sporting successes, discipline and behaviour). And lessons on religion can cover beliefs and practices of all kinds. </p>
<p>Not only do parents have the option of withdrawing their children from these activities, but headteachers can also request that the school be exempted. Ultimately, there is a diversity of situations, between religious enthusiasm and secular practice.</p>
<p>Confrontations are rare and it seems that the system of personal choice by pupils, parents and teachers in terms of religious beliefs and practices contributes to school peace.</p>
<h2>The changing role of religion</h2>
<p>The separation of state and church in the political and legal spheres raises more pressing questions. The Anglican Church receives no state subsidy, but it is “established” like the Church of England <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zwcsp4j/articles/zgkcr2p">since Henry VIII’s Reformation in the 16th century</a>. </p>
<p>Today, the monarch is still the head of the church, although decisions are actually taken by the government, which is responsible, for example, for approving the appointment of bishops. 26 bishops sit ex officio in the House of Lords and make their voices heard there. </p>
<p>The Church’s political position is mainly symbolic, but it does act as a spokesperson for spiritual and ethical values, which gives it a certain influence in public opinion.</p>
<h2>Towards a secular regime?</h2>
<p>Criticism of religion is now widespread, and a growing minority is calling for the privileges of religion to be excluded from community life. In the UK, two major associations represent this perspective: Humanists UK and the National Secular Society.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.librairie-intranquille.fr/ebook/9780349425450/the-little-book-of-humanism-universal-lessons--alice-roberts-andrew-copson-piatkus">Humanists</a> present themselves as non-religious freethinkers who propose a rational and ethical worldview. They draw on a long European and even international tradition, and encourage debate on <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/552033/humanly-possible-by-sarah-bakewell/">philosophical</a> and social issues. While in France humanism can be claimed by many intellectual tendencies, the use of the term in the UK is in practice limited to non-believers.</p>
<p><a href="https://humanists.uk/ceremonies/find-a-celebrant/">Humanists</a> form a support network and provide a large number of celebrants for non-religious rites of passage. They are people trained and accredited to conduct ceremonies such as weddings and funerals, without reference to religion.</p>
<p>They are close to <a href="https://www.secularism.org.uk/campaigns/">the National Secular Society</a>, which campaigns for a “secular democracy where everyone is treated equally, whatever their religion or belief”. Its aims include strengthening the separation of church and state, abolishing religious schools, excluding religion from health institutions and affirming the equality of all before the law, regardless of belief. Its outlook therefore corresponds closely to certain interpretations of the French principle of <em>laïcité</em>. </p>
<h2>Two similar but different histories</h2>
<p>The complexity of the current situation could be developed further. The differences between the four “nations” of the United Kingdom are becoming more pronounced with the rise of nationalism in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In addition, the Church of England is part of an international community of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglican_Communion">46 Anglican churches</a> around the world, especially in former colonies. There are a wide variety of perspectives, particularly in relation to social policy, ranging from the role of women, LGBTQ+ rights to relations with the state and with other religions.</p>
<p>Similar complexities can be found in regions of France that have a different relationship with secularism (<a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/eclairage/20210-alsace-moselle-outre-mer-les-exceptions-au-droit-des-cultes-loi-1905">Alsace-Moselle, overseas France</a>). This reinforces the idea that England and France face the same challenges. </p>
<p>However, there is still a lot of work to be done to get to the point where both countries can better understand each other’s experience. The historical paths of France and the UK are very different, despite their geographical proximity. These differences run through their institutions, their political, social and intellectual structures and their languages. And while the two countries often face comparable problems, such as the place of religion in modern society, it is clear that each will have to find solutions suited to their own culture and history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219358/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Kelly is a member of the Labour Party as well as of the South Hampshire Humanists.</span></em></p>On several counts, England is now on its way to becoming a secularist society. Nevertheless, there remain cultural differences that prevent it from embracing the French principle of “laïcité”.Michael Kelly, Emeritus Professor of French in Modern Languages and Linguistics, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2050362023-05-05T11:33:51Z2023-05-05T11:33:51ZHow King Charles’s coronation will reflect his desire to be defender of all faiths<p>Nearly 30 years ago, the then-Prince Charles indicated that as king he wanted not just to inherit the monarch’s traditional title of “defender of the faith”, but also to be a “defender of faith”. The monarch swears oaths of commitment to Protestantism and as supreme governor of the Church of England, but Charles has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/09/king-charles-to-be-defender-of-the-faith-but-also-a-defender-of-faiths">repeatedly said</a> he also wants to be a protector of all main religious faiths, non-Christian as well as Christian.</p>
<p>For decades, royal observers have speculated about the shape <a href="https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/research/2015/09/01/who-wants-a-christian-coronation">the coronation might take</a> in an age of greater devolution, religious pluralism and increased secularisation. Contrary to some proposals for its reform or even its replacement by a civil ceremony, the <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/23-24132%20Coronation%20Liturgy.pdf">new coronation liturgy</a> remains a Church of England service. But seeking balance between old and new, it is now considerably expanded in its symbolic scope, with a larger and more diverse cast of religious participants. </p>
<p>The liturgy is as finely crafted as one would expect of a text which will have been prepared over several decades of negotiations between leaders of the church, their liturgical experts, palace officials, civil servants and representatives of the different churches and faiths. It attempts to adapt a very old rite, with medieval origins and largely unchanged since the Reformation of the 16th century, into a ritual with contemporary resonances.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518785/original/file-20230331-28-8u26d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518785/original/file-20230331-28-8u26d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518785/original/file-20230331-28-8u26d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518785/original/file-20230331-28-8u26d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518785/original/file-20230331-28-8u26d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518785/original/file-20230331-28-8u26d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518785/original/file-20230331-28-8u26d4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>This piece is part of our coverage of <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/coronation-of-king-charles-iii-134594?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Coronation2023&utm_content=InArticleTop">King Charles III’s coronation</a>. The first coronation of a British monarch since 1953 comes at a time of reckoning for the monarchy, the royal family and the Commonwealth.</em></p>
<p><em>For more royal analysis, revisit our coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/platinum-jubilee-116056?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Coronation2023&utm_content=InArticleTop">Platinum jubilee</a>, and her <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/death-of-queen-elizabeth-ii-126761?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Coronation2023&utm_content=InArticleTop">death in September 2022</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The homage by hereditary aristocrats is replaced by an homage of the people. Where once there was exclusion there is now inclusion. For the first time, women conduct elements of the ceremony. Rishi Sunak, Britain’s first Hindu prime minister, will recite a biblical verse. </p>
<p>The most striking difference from the <a href="https://www.oremus.org/liturgy/coronation/1953/">1953 coronation service</a> is the participation by members of non-Christian faiths. The liturgy opens with a procession of leaders and representatives of faith communities. The presentation of regalia to the king has been made more elaborate, chiefly in order to accommodate actions by Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh members of the House of Lords. </p>
<p>The end of the ceremony includes a greeting spoken collectively by leaders and representatives of the Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist communities. This statement spells out the leading theme of “public service” that has been added to the traditional service of consecration of the king:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Neighbours in faith, we acknowledge the value of public service. We unite with people of all faiths and beliefs in thanksgiving, and in service with you for the common good.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Prayers during the blessing are said by leaders of the Greek Orthodox church in Britain, the Free Churches, and Churches Together in England, and even more notably, given the historic Protestantism of the monarchy and the British state, by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster.</p>
<p>One innovation in 1953 was that a copy of the Bible was presented to the queen by the moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, the head of the second established church in the UK. Now, the archbishops of the Church of Ireland, the archbishop of the Church in Wales and the primus of the Episcopal Church of Scotland will assist with various acts. Music will be sung in Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic. </p>
<h2>Coronation for a modern audience</h2>
<p>For the modern and global audience of millions expected to watch the ceremony, many of the ancient elements of the coronation will need to be explained. Not just the meanings of seemingly archaic words, actions and regalia, but also their intended symbolism and relevance for contemporary society. With this in mind, a second version of the liturgy has been published, with <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/23-24132%20Coronation%20Liturgy%20Commentary_02%20May.pdf">added commentary</a>, and a sermon by the archbishop of Canterbury (omitted in 1953) is now re-introduced to enable further explanation.</p>
<p>In effect, the whole ritual has been revised. The ancient structure and actions are retained, but many of the accompanying words have been redrafted and shortened. The holy communion, integral for the consecration of a Christian monarch, is conducted not according to The Book of Common Prayer used since 1559, but by extracts from Common Worship, introduced in 2000. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/sites/constitution_unit/files/197_swearing_in_the_new_king_complete.pdf">The religious oaths</a>, which are required by long established laws and are awkward matters to have altered by parliament, are preceded by a qualification. The archbishop declares the Church of England, which the king swears to uphold, is committed not just to “the true profession of the Gospel”, but also to “foster an environment in which people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/king-charles-iiis-coronation-oath-is-a-crucial-part-of-the-ceremony-experts-explain-202870">King Charles III's coronation oath is a crucial part of the ceremony – experts explain</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Leaders of other churches have had parts in great royal and national services since the 1980s, and other faith communities have been represented for over 20 years. </p>
<p>At a faith reception during her diamond jubilee year in 2012, Queen Elizabeth II <a href="https://www.royal.uk/queens-speech-lambeth-palace-15-february-2012">expressed her belief</a> that the church’s purpose should include protection of the free practice of all faiths in Britain. </p>
<p>As the symbolic head of the nation, the monarch has to try to be representative. In a transformed religious culture, the Church of England has needed new ways to justify its privileged status as a <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781783274680/the-church-of-england-and-british-politics-since-1900/">national and established church</a>. All this explains the re-styled coronation of King Charles III.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Williamson has received funding from The Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>The coronation is a Church of England service, expanded for the contemporary age.Philip Williamson, Emeritus Professor of Modern British History, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2045442023-05-02T20:00:13Z2023-05-02T20:00:13ZA new monarch who is a divorcee would once have scandalised. But Charles’ accession shows how much has changed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523710/original/file-20230502-28-k8mn3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jon Super/AP/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>King Charles III is the first British monarch who has previously had a civil marriage and a civil divorce.</p>
<p>In 1981, Charles, then the Prince of Wales, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/july/wedding-of-prince-charles-and-lady-diana-spencer">married Lady Diana Spencer</a> in a fairytale wedding watched by 750 million people worldwide.</p>
<p>However, the royal couple <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1992-12-09/debates/ecfacae4-f52c-461c-b253-d7c04a299735/PrinceAndPrincessOfWales">separated in 1992</a> and they were <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9608/28/royal.divorce/decree/">divorced in 1996</a>. The marriage had spectacularly broken down.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523726/original/file-20230502-963-pxjgz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523726/original/file-20230502-963-pxjgz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523726/original/file-20230502-963-pxjgz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523726/original/file-20230502-963-pxjgz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523726/original/file-20230502-963-pxjgz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523726/original/file-20230502-963-pxjgz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523726/original/file-20230502-963-pxjgz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Charles and Diana’s marriage in 1981 ended with separation in 1992 and divorce in 1996.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Charles later went on to marry his long-time love interest Camilla Parker-Bowles. They married in a civil ceremony in 2005. This broke with the tradition of royal family members getting married in an Anglican church ceremony.</p>
<p>The extramarital relationship of Charles and Camilla prevented them from being remarried in church. But there was a subsequent <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/g19135643/prince-charles-camilla-wedding-photos/">service of prayer and dedication</a>. Queen Elizabeth II <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4289225.stm">declined to attend the wedding</a>, reportedly because it conflicted with her role to uphold the Christian faith as supreme governor of the Church of England.</p>
<p>The accession of Charles to the throne is not only politically significant, but also carries religious importance. Charles is the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/king-charles-defender-of-faith-what-the-monarchys-long-relationship-with-religion-may-look-like-under-the-new-sovereign-190766">defender of the faith</a>” and the supreme governor. Charles’ status as a divorcee puts him at odds with his religious roles.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/king-charles-defender-of-faith-what-the-monarchys-long-relationship-with-religion-may-look-like-under-the-new-sovereign-190766">King Charles, defender of faith: what the monarchy's long relationship with religion may look like under the new sovereign</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Royal divorces</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.history.com/news/henry-viii-wives">King Henry VIII</a> was infamous for having six wives in the 16th century. He annulled his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon. This meant the marriage was never legally valid to begin with.</p>
<p><a href="https://archives.blog.parliament.uk/2020/06/02/the-queen-caroline-affair/">King George IV</a> was almost successful in divorcing his wife Queen Caroline in 1820. At the time, divorce could only be granted by Act of Parliament. The trial took place in the House of Lords. The king accused his wife of committing adultery as grounds for divorce. However, Prime Minister Lord Liverpool eventually withdrew the divorce bill due to political pressure.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.royal.uk/edward-viii">King Edward VIII</a> was forced to abdicate in 1936 because he wanted to marry an American divorcee Wallis Simpson. This conflicted with his role as supreme governor.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523729/original/file-20230502-22-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523729/original/file-20230502-22-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523729/original/file-20230502-22-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523729/original/file-20230502-22-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523729/original/file-20230502-22-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523729/original/file-20230502-22-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523729/original/file-20230502-22-2nj0t8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Henry VIII knew a thing or two about divorce.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/henry-the-8th/">English History</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While Charles was in a similar position to his great-uncle in his marriage to Camilla, they lived in different worlds. The Conservative government and the Church of England simply could not tolerate Edward’s marriage to a divorcee. It was viewed as an affront to morality. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/news/a8139/princess-margaret-peter-townsend-love-affair/">Princess Margaret</a> was pressured to not marry the divorcee Group Captain Peter Townsend. As the sister of the queen, the marriage would have been scandalous in some circles.</p>
<p>Queen Elizabeth called 1992 the “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-22/2021-could-be-queen-elizabeth-ii-second-annus-horibilis/100643696">annus horribilis</a>” (horrible year) for the royal family. Her three children Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Prince Andrew’s marriages had all broken down. Divorce by then had become increasingly acceptable in society.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-new-head-of-state-what-will-charles-be-like-as-king-176878">Australia has a new head of state: what will Charles be like as king?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Royal civil marriage</h2>
<p>Charles had to seek his mother’s permission to marry Camilla. The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo3/12/11/1991-02-01?view=extent">Royal Marriages Act 1772</a> stipulated that all descendants of King George II were required to seek the consent of the sovereign to marry. </p>
<p>This law was repealed in 2013. Only the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/20/enacted">first six persons</a> in the line of succession now have to seek the sovereign’s permission to marry.</p>
<p>There was controversy at the time whether a member of the royal family could legally marry in a civil ceremony. The <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/overview/lawofmarriage-/">Marriage Act 1836</a> permitted civil marriages. But the law stated this did not apply to members of the royal family.</p>
<p>The British government released a <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200405/ldhansrd/vo050224/text/50224-51.htm#50224-51_head0">statement</a> declaring Charles could legally enter into a civil marriage. The view was the Marriage Act 1949 had repealed the previous legislation. The government also argued there was a right to marry under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights.</p>
<p>The civil marriage of Charles and Camilla symbolised the changing values of society. The view of marriage had shifted from a moral commitment to a celebratory union. This marked the modernisation of the monarchy over tradition.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523733/original/file-20230502-1446-zimc5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523733/original/file-20230502-1446-zimc5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523733/original/file-20230502-1446-zimc5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523733/original/file-20230502-1446-zimc5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523733/original/file-20230502-1446-zimc5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523733/original/file-20230502-1446-zimc5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523733/original/file-20230502-1446-zimc5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The civil marriage of Charles and Camilla symbolised the changing values of society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alastair Grant/AP/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A modern monarchy</h2>
<p>The accession of a divorcee as king a generation earlier would have been unpalatable to many. But Charles embodies the modern character of monarchy and the liberal values of wider society.</p>
<p>Charles has recently <a href="https://www.royal.uk/kings-remarks-faith-leaders">affirmed</a> his commitment to Anglican Christianity. This is an acknowledgement of his constitutional role in the <a href="https://www.royal.uk/act-settlement-0#:%7E:text=The%20Act%20of%20Settlement%20of,succession%20for%20Mary%20II's%20heirs.">Act of Settlement 1701</a>. Only Protestant Christians can claim succession to the crown. </p>
<p>It also affirms his role as nominal ruler of the Church of England. The monarch still <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/about/leadership-and-governance">appoints bishops</a> on the advice of the prime minister. Anglicanism is the official state religion of England.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/beheaded-and-exiled-the-two-previous-king-charleses-bookended-the-abolition-of-the-monarchy-190410">Beheaded and exiled: the two previous King Charleses bookended the abolition of the monarchy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Yet Charles is also pushing for a modern monarchy. He has viewed himself as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/09/king-charles-to-be-defender-of-the-faith-but-also-a-defender-of-faiths">defender of diversity</a>. Upholding a space for multifaith practice and expression of secular ideals form part of the agenda of his reign.</p>
<p>The monarchy faces a tension between modernity and tradition. As a divorced and remarried monarch, Charles III represents the reinvention of the crown, an ancient institution that seeks to embrace its role in a multicultural, religiously diverse and more open and tolerant society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204544/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Kha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In previous generations, a divorcee becoming king would have been unpalatable to many. But Charles embodies the modern character of monarchy and the liberal values of wider society.Henry Kha, Senior Lecturer in Law, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2001412023-02-28T13:25:44Z2023-02-28T13:25:44ZA feminist theologian says, ‘Our Father’ is not the only way of referring to God<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511779/original/file-20230222-27-qqs83c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C8%2C5552%2C3855&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A service in the village church of St. Paul de Leon in Devon, England. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-congregation-stand-before-taking-holy-news-photo/1452321203?phrase=church%20of%20england&adppopup=true">Hugh R Hastings/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Christian communities refer to God as “Father.” This takes root in the Gospels, where Jesus teaches his followers to pray “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206%3A9-13&version=ESV">Our Father</a>,” which Christians continue to say today. It is certainly appropriate to refer to God as Father, yet it is not the only way to depict God.</p>
<p>As a Catholic <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z64meKEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">feminist theologian</a> who runs a women’s center at a Catholic university, I understand the impact of the pronouns Christians use for God. Historically, Christian tradition has recognized many depictions for God, including father and mother. This is partly because God does not have a gender.</p>
<p>Despite the diverse images used for God in Scripture and Christian tradition, male language and images predominate in contemporary Christian worship. </p>
<h2>Many images for God</h2>
<p>When we speak about God, we do so knowing that what we say is incomplete. All images for God reveal something about God. No image of God is literal or reveals everything about God. </p>
<p>For example, while Christians can refer to God as a king, they must also remember that God is not literally a king. Calling God a king expresses that God is powerful. However, it is not expressing factual accuracy about God’s gender or implying that God is human.</p>
<p>Referring to God with many titles, descriptions and images invites many of us to recognize the mystery of God. God is like all of these things but also more than all of these things. </p>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/">Thomas Aquinas</a>, an influential 13th-century Catholic theologian, asserted that individuals can talk about God in ways that are true <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1013.htm#:%7E:text=We%20cannot%20know%20the%20essence,Him%20in%20that%20manner%20only">but always inadequate</a>. Aquinas explained that our language about God affirms something about God, yet God is always beyond that which we can express. We express truths about God in human terms and constructs, but since God is mystery, God is always beyond these categories. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511781/original/file-20230222-695-t0pmon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A colored engraving showing a man dressed in robes with a halo around his head, reading a book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511781/original/file-20230222-695-t0pmon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511781/original/file-20230222-695-t0pmon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511781/original/file-20230222-695-t0pmon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511781/original/file-20230222-695-t0pmon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511781/original/file-20230222-695-t0pmon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511781/original/file-20230222-695-t0pmon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511781/original/file-20230222-695-t0pmon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Painting of the 13th-century theologian Thomas Aquinas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/saint-thomas-aquinas-dominican-friar-theologian-and-italian-news-photo/700192393?phrase=thomas%20aquinas&adppopup=true">Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scripture is filled with multiple images of God. In some of these images, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%3A9-13&version=NABRE">God is depicted as a father or male</a>. In other parts of Scripture, God is female. The prophet Isaiah compares God to a nursing mother in the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+49%3A15&version=NABRE">Book of Isaiah</a>. A mother hen gathering her chicks is an <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mt+23%3A37&version=NABRE">analogy for God in the Gospel of Matthew</a>. The Book of Wisdom, a book in the Catholic Bible, depicts wisdom personified as a woman. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Wisdom+10%3A18&version=NABRE">Wisdom 10:18-19</a> states: “She took them across the Red Sea and brought them through deep waters. Their enemies she overwhelmed.” This account presents God as female, leading Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.</p>
<p>Depicting God as female in Scripture speaks to God’s tenderness as well as strength and power. For example, the prophet <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea+13%3A8&version=NABRE">Hosea</a> compares God to a bear robbed of her cubs, promising to “attack and rip open” those who break the covenant.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in Scripture, God has no gender. God appears to Moses in the burning bush in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+3&version=NABRE">Exodus 3</a>, defying all gender categories. The <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+19%3A9-12&version=NABRE">Book of 1 Kings</a> presents a gentle image of a gender-neutral God. God asked the prophet Elijah to go to a mountain. While there, Elijah experienced a strong wind, an earthquake and fire, but God was not present in those. Instead, God was present in a gentle whisper. The creation stories of Genesis <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen+1%3A26&version=NABRE">refer to God</a> <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen+3%3A22&version=NABRE">in the plural</a>. These examples emphasize that God has no gender and is beyond any human categories. </p>
<h2>The social impact of male pronouns</h2>
<p>Pronouns, like “He/Him” in the Christian tradition, can limit one’s understanding of God. It can also make many individuals think that God is male. </p>
<p>It is not wrong to refer to God with male pronouns, but it can have negative social and theological consequences to refer to God with only male pronouns.</p>
<p>Feminist theologian <a href="https://liberationtheology.org/people-organizations/mary-daly/">Mary Daly</a> <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Beyond-God-The-Father-P211.aspx">famously stated</a>, “If God is male, then the male is God.” In other words, referring to God only as the male gender has a significant social impact that can exalt one gender at the expense of others. </p>
<p>Referring to God only as male can also limit one’s theological imagination: Using many pronouns for God emphasizes that God is mystery, beyond all human categories.</p>
<p>On Father’s Day, people can remember God not only as a father, but as a mother and mystery.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a piece originally published on Feb. 28, 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Selak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite the diverse images used for God in Scripture and Christian tradition, male language and images predominate in contemporary Christian worship.Annie Selak, Associate Director, Women's Center, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1995412023-02-10T12:41:35Z2023-02-10T12:41:35ZChurch of England to explore gender-neutral terms for God – women clergy’s suggestions for replacing ‘Our Father’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509440/original/file-20230210-19-4ysbj8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=67%2C44%2C3677%2C2453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-girl-praying-church-standing-on-1575772525">Vitalii Stock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/church-of-england-god-gender-neutral-b2277911.html">Church of England</a> has announced it will explore alternative words to describe God, after some clergy asked to use more inclusive language in services. </p>
<p>The dominance of masculine language for God certainly matters. As feminist theologian <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Beyond-God-The-Father-P211.aspx">Mary Daly</a> wrote: “If God is male, the male is god”. In other words, talking about the Christian God in exclusively masculine terms privileges men in society and underpins male dominance. </p>
<p>According to a Church spokesperson, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/church-england-explores-gender-neutral-god-2023-02-08/">official Christian doctrine</a> is that God has no gender. Yet “He” is described almost exclusively in masculine terms. And since the Church continues to struggle with issues of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/10/philip-north-cleric-opposed-ordination-female-priests-bishop-blackburn">gender equality</a>, this project is likely to be contentious.</p>
<p>Critics will see this as an attempt to undo the long Christian tradition of calling God “He” and “Father”. But feminine language and imagery has also been part of Church history. </p>
<p><a href="https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9780140436044">Hildegard of Bingen</a>, a respected abbess (also known as a mother superior) in the Middle Ages, imagined the feminine side of God in her artistry and writings. And in the 1300s, female mystic <a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/05/god-as-mother.html">Julian of Norwich</a> spoke of the motherhood of God. </p>
<p>Modern feminist commentators such as <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Beyond-God-The-Father-P211.aspx">Mary Daly</a> and <a href="https://chironpublications.com/shop/feminine-dimension-divine/">Joan Engelsman</a>, have argued that God in feminine form has been strategically written out of Christian history. </p>
<p>Initial reports indicate the Church’s project will explore gender-neutral terminology – “Parent” instead of “Father”. But there have been other recent proposals to use feminine language like “She”.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11641880/Calls-to-overhaul-service-texts-to-refer-to-God-as-first-female-bishops-take-up-posts.html">Libby Lane</a> was appointed the Church of England’s first female bishop in 2014, she called for the mainstream acceptance of feminine names and pronouns for God. </p>
<p>At the same time, the chair of <a href="https://womenandthechurch.org">Women and the Church</a>, a group that advocates for gender equality in the Church, <a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/5-june/news/uk/watch-reignites-debate-on-gender-language-and-god">stated</a> that the introduction of female bishops would impact women’s lives in the Church “only if God is she as often as she is he – because this is such a formative aspect of our church life, and a real bastion of sexism”. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/24/bishop-rachel-treweek-gods-not-a-he-or-a-she">Rachel Treweek</a>, consecrated as bishop in 2015, joined the debate by arguing for the elimination of all gendered pronouns for God.</p>
<h2>A genderless ‘Father’?</h2>
<p><a href="https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/24736/1/The%20Dialectic%20of%20Belonging%20PhD%20Sharon%20Jagger%20.pdf">In my research</a> with women clergy, there are clues that some might be unsettled by moves away from traditional masculine language. One woman vicar described how in a bible study “all hell broke out” at the suggestion that the Lord’s Prayer could begin with “Our Mother”. </p>
<p>The more gender-neutral “Parent” worries <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/church-of-england-god-gender-neutral-b2277911.html">Rev Ian Paul</a>, who has commented that such words are not interchangeable and have different meanings. The way words collect gendered meaning is, of course, part of the problem. Feminist theologian <a href="http://www.beacon.org/cw_Search.aspx?k=sexism+and+god+talk">Rosemary Radford Ruether</a> argues that even words that seem neutral are not – “God” conjures male imagery. </p>
<p>Complicating this further, I found that sometimes masculine words are forced to mean both male and female. This is awkward and ultimately unsatisfactory. One woman priest, for example, told me that she sees “Father” as the only way of describing God, but “it might be that ideas about fatherhood need to change”. </p>
<p>Another interviewee told me she sees the term “Father” to include male and female. These complications around language and gender suggest that a project exploring gender-neutral language will need to think deeply about what constitutes “neutral”.</p>
<h2>Exploring other names for God</h2>
<p>While my research suggests there is an attachment to words such as “Father” among some women clergy, several interviewees told me they tried to avoid any gendered language for God. Some mentioned “Godself” as a possible candidate to replace masculine pronouns. One woman told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Where I heard ‘Godself’ being used, I quite like that. That is a suggested way. Again, at the moment … [but] within the parishes I think it would draw attention when it’s not necessarily what you want them to focus on.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There’s a sense here that some congregations may not be willing to embrace language change, even if there is a desire among clergy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman's hands holding a wooden cross" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509441/original/file-20230210-15-z0low.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509441/original/file-20230210-15-z0low.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509441/original/file-20230210-15-z0low.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509441/original/file-20230210-15-z0low.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509441/original/file-20230210-15-z0low.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509441/original/file-20230210-15-z0low.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509441/original/file-20230210-15-z0low.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Would gender-neutral language open the door to other, more progressive changes in the Church?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/womans-hand-cross-concept-hope-faith-1759700549">Puwadon Sang/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The project to look at gender-neutral language to describe God is, at the very least, a recognition that the dominance of masculine language is a problem. Many would welcome the possibility of worshipping in Church without the constant references to “He” and “Father”, given that God is supposed to be beyond gender. A reform of patriarchal language may open the door to tackling other social injustices. Perhaps we are witnessing a sea change in the Church.</p>
<p>But right now the Church of England’s inclusivity credentials are in tatters. It has problems with <a href="https://scmpress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780334059356/ghost-ship">institutional racism</a>, there is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/11/discrimination-against-women-church-of-england-women-priests">gender inequality</a> in the priesthood and after years of discussion, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/05/same-sex-marriage-row-looms-over-church-of-england-synod">same-sex marriage</a> is still not recognised. Given the institution’s record on equality, any radical change coming out of this project would be quite miraculous.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon Jagger has received funding from Women and the Church for a current research project which is paid to York St. John University. </span></em></p>This is far from the first time alternative words for God have been discussed.Sharon Jagger, Lecturer in Religion, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1907662022-09-20T20:14:06Z2022-09-20T20:14:06ZKing Charles, defender of faith: what the monarchy’s long relationship with religion may look like under the new sovereign<p>When Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1953, she took on the role of “defender of the faith” (<em>Fidei Defensor</em> in the original Latin) – a title first granted to Henry VIII <a href="https://stories.sal.org.uk/henryviii/">by the Pope in 1521</a>. He subsequently broke with Rome and became the first head of the Church of England.</p>
<p>In the past 70 years, the role of religion in British public life has evolved significantly. As King Charles III assumes the role of monarch, his relationship with faith will also come into focus, and may look different from his mother’s.</p>
<p>At a memorial service for the Queen in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-62878272">Belfast cathedral</a>, the new king took care on his arrival to meet representatives of all religious groups in the province. It is expected that there will be a full, similar presence of religious representatives at his forthcoming coronation. Although the Archbishop of Canterbury and Anglican clergy will remain the principal celebrants, other Christian denominations and non-Christian religions are expected to have a place in the ceremony.</p>
<p>Since 1945, two concurrent social processes have changed Britain’s <a href="https://bsa.natcen.ac.uk/latest-report/british-social-attitudes-36/religion.aspx">relationship with religion</a>. Increased secularisation, meaning that just over 50% of the population now have no religious affiliation. And increased pluralisation, meaning the number of non-Christian religions has grown – their followers amount to about 9% of the population. </p>
<p>The monarchy has responded to these changes in two ways. First, as Prince of Wales in the 1990s, the now-King <a href="https://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/will-prince-wales-be-defender-faith-or-defender-faith">mused aloud</a> whether the monarchical title defender of the faith should not be reinterpreted as “defender of faith”. This is understood to have been his reaction to the growing presence of non-Christian religions in the UK, as well as signalling a more relaxed and inclusive attitude towards non-Anglican Christians.</p>
<p>Second, at a Lambeth Palace ecumenical meeting hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in February 2012, the Queen, speaking as <a href="https://www.royal.uk/queens-speech-lambeth-palace-15-february-2012">supreme governor of the Church of England</a> in her diamond jubilee year, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In practice, this was thought to confer a role on the Church of England distinct from its previous concern to defend its exclusivity. At the same time, it was welcome to many of the members of non-Christian religions whose presence had grown in the post-war period, and also accepted by the Anglican hierarchy, which seems to have encouraged the Queen to take the initiative.</p>
<p>And at a <a href="https://www.royal.uk/kings-remarks-faith-leaders">recent meeting</a> with faith leaders, the King remarked that, as monarch, he intends to protect the diversity of religion in Britain, and to “respect those who follow other spiritual paths, as well as those who seek to live their lives in accordance with secular ideals”.</p>
<h2>The monarchy and religion</h2>
<p>The King’s constitutional links with the Christian churches derive from the 16th century Protestant reformations, which took different forms in England and Scotland (then separate countries). Towards the end of the 17th century, when threatened by Catholic states, legislation banned Roman Catholics, or (until 2013) anyone married to one, from succeeding to the throne.</p>
<p>Roman Catholics and all Protestant groups not belonging to the Anglican Church of England or the Church of Scotland were deprived of most of their civic freedoms. These were finally restored, after some earlier relaxations, in the late 1820s – and last of all for the Roman Catholics in 1829.</p>
<p>The present position is that a British king cannot be a Roman Catholic, must be “in communion with” the Church of England, and swear that he is a faithful Protestant. Following the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England, he must, after accession, swear to “inviolably maintain and preserve” the Presbyterian form of church government established in the more autonomous Church of Scotland. This was one of Charles III’s <a href="https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/news-and-events/news/2022/articles/king-charles-vows-to-protect-the-security-of-the-church-of-scotland">first acts as king</a>.</p>
<p>The King’s coronation consists of a service of Holy Communion, and a rite during which he is anointed and crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, primate of the Church of England. In coronation oaths prescribed by parliament in 1689, the King will swear, among other things, to “maintain and preserve inviolately” the establishment of the Church of England and the rights and privileges of its clergy. </p>
<p>The monarch has been supreme head of the Church of England <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Eliz1/1/1">since 1558</a>. The monarch appoints all the senior clergy in England on the advice of the UK prime minister, after a selection process run by the Church of England.</p>
<p>In Scotland, the greater autonomy of the Church of Scotland means the King has no similar relationship. However, he will appoint a <a href="https://www.royal.uk/lord-high-commissioner-general-assembly-church-scotland">Lord High Commissioner</a> every year to attend and observe the proceedings of the Church’s annual General Assembly, and will occasionally attend himself in the same capacity. At the coronation in 1953, that year’s moderator (clerical chairman) of the Church of Scotland was the sole non-Anglican present among the officiating clergy.</p>
<h2>King Charles and the faith</h2>
<p>The new King’s coronation is still some months’ away, but the changing face of religion in the United Kingdom, combined with his and his mother’s past comments, suggest that the title <em>Fidei Defensor</em> will be interpreted in more inclusive and positive ways.</p>
<p>He has said as much himself in his <a href="https://www.royal.uk/kings-remarks-faith-leaders">recent comments</a> to faith leaders after ascending the throne: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The beliefs that flourish in, and contribute to, our richly diverse society differ. They, and our society, can only thrive through a clear collective commitment to those vital principles of freedom of conscience, generosity of spirit and care for others which are, to me, the essence of our nationhood. I am determined, as King, to preserve and promote those principles across all communities, and for all beliefs, with all my heart.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob Morris has received funding from the Rowntree Trust, and is a member of the honorary staff of the Constitution Unit, University College London.</span></em></p>King Charles inherits a multi-faith Britain. An expert explains the monarch’s complicated relationship with religion.Bob Morris, Honorary Senior Research Associate, Constitution Unit, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908782022-09-20T12:35:35Z2022-09-20T12:35:35ZWestminster Abbey has witnessed nearly a millennium of British history – but many rituals, like those at royal funerals, aren’t so old<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485339/original/file-20220919-7047-mcc5ue.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C11%2C7829%2C5204&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the British royal family follow behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is carried out of Westminster Abbey after her state funeral.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BritainRoyalsFuneral/a7b6cd96c5c14224a2c7645065e2a633/photo?Query=westminster&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=17017&currentItemNo=88">Gareth Cattermole/Pool Photo via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The royal funeral for Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on Sept. 19, 2022, was a public ceremony on a truly global scale. In the days before, long snaking queues of mourners waited to file past her coffin as it lay in state in Westminster Hall. Hundreds of the world’s leaders descended upon London <a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-funeral-bfe59d9c8f31d339f2cec2f8479cc3ce">for the event</a> while international media covered the pageantry with seemingly endless interest. </p>
<p>After the funeral at Westminster, the late queen’s body was taken to Windsor Castle for burial. Yet Elizabeth’s death added a remarkable new chapter to the long relationship between English sovereigns and the complex of buildings at Westminster that form the seat of the modern British state. </p>
<p>The sight of scores of sailors pulling the queen’s coffin on a gun carriage and the distinctly Tudor-style red uniforms of the Yeomen of the Guard were among the many details of the royal funeral that evoked powerful ties to Britain’s imperial past. However, many aspects – including the sailors – are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295636.004">by no means ancient</a>. Despite their emphasis upon tradition, royal ceremonies have always been somewhat fluid and reflective of the politics of their day.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/history/paul-e-j-hammer">a historian early modern England</a>, I am conscious that the public rituals of monarchy in the 16th and 17th centuries sought to project reassuring elements of continuity amid dramatic changes. Modern royal weddings and funerals at Westminster Abbey have been similarly adapted to contemporary needs, and are largely products of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.</p>
<p>Westminster Palace, dominating the skyline with Big Ben and the Victoria Tower, is of a similar vintage. Built to replace the ramshackle old medieval and Tudor Westminster Palace which <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/architecture/palacestructure/great-fire/">burned down in 1834</a>, the current Westminster Palace complex was designed to provide a suitably historic-looking <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.endeavour.2018.07.005">new home for the Houses of Parliament</a>. </p>
<p>However, nearby Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall, the major surviving section of the old structure, hark back to England’s medieval past. They offer genuinely ancient settings for the modern rituals of monarchy, often televised for a global audience.</p>
<h2>Projecting power</h2>
<p>Westminster Abbey became a church of royal importance in the 1040s, when Edward the Confessor, one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England, replaced an older monastery dedicated with a new construction of suitably royal proportions. The project was so important that Edward and his new royal abbey were featured in the famous, 70 meter-long <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday/world-of-domesday/church.htm">Bayeux Tapestry</a>, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066 after Edward’s death. </p>
<p>Edward himself was buried within the Abbey, and <a href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05322a.htm">canonized as a saint</a> a century later, turning his tomb into a royal shrine. Westminster also served as the venue for the coronation of Edward’s eventual successor on the throne, William the Conqueror. William’s crowning began a tradition of coronations in the abbey that will presumably continue with Charles III some time in 2023. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A centuries-old tapestry shows a king on a throne talking with two men on the left." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485347/original/file-20220919-27-7l56uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485347/original/file-20220919-27-7l56uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485347/original/file-20220919-27-7l56uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485347/original/file-20220919-27-7l56uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485347/original/file-20220919-27-7l56uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485347/original/file-20220919-27-7l56uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485347/original/file-20220919-27-7l56uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Edward the Confessor on his throne, in a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/edward-the-confessor-anglo-saxon-king-of-england-1070s-news-photo/463916041?adppopup=true">Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Edward’s Westminster Abbey was replaced in the mid-1200s with the modern-day building, although the two great towers that now loom above the abbey were not added <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/F/bo22281992.html">until the early 18th century</a>. This rebuilding was carried out during the long and tumultuous reign of Henry III, whose father King John had famously been forced to agree to the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt9qdgws">Magna Carta</a>, which put limits on the monarch’s power. </p>
<p>Henry endeavored to rebuild authority in response to royals’ troubles during his father’s reign, not to mention his own. Part of this plan involved trying to bring Westminster Abbey even greater fame, especially since he regarded Edward the Confessor as his patron saint. Henry presented its monks with a crystalline vial of what was supposedly Christ’s own blood, brought from Jerusalem by Crusaders. <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Matthew_Paris_s_English_history_from_123.html?id=ET0IAAAAQAAJ">Matthew Paris</a>, a monk and chronicler in the 13th century, describes how the king himself carried the dubious relic on foot from St. Paul’s Cathedral in London to Westminster Abbey on the feast day of St. Edward the Confessor in 1247.</p>
<p>A more enduring addition by Henry III was the so-called <a href="https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about-the-abbey/history/cosmati-pavement">Cosmati Pavement</a>, a mosaic installed by craftsmen from Rome in 1268 to 1269. Laid in front of the abbey’s high altar, the pavement ensured that subsequent kings of England would not only be crowned while seated upon the throne of Edward the Confessor, but also within a 24-foot square artwork which <a href="https://worldcat.org/title/48154322">symbolically represents the cosmos</a> and represented the new sovereign as the motivating force of the universe.</p>
<h2>King, queens and poets</h2>
<p>Westminster Abbey has also been a frequent venue for royal funerals and burials. Since the early 19th century, almost all British sovereigns have been buried at Windsor Castle, including Elizabeth II. However, most earlier kings and queens were interred in tombs and vaults at Westminster.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most spectacular contribution to this tradition was <a href="https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781843830375/westminster-abbey-the-lady-chapel-of-henry-vii/">the new chapel</a> at the eastern end of the abbey, which was built in the early 1500s by Henry VII. The first of the Tudor sovereigns, he had a tenuous dynastic claim on the throne and, by the end of his life, a heavy burden of tyranny and illegality – and the chapel was a way to atone. It became the final resting place for most of the Tudors, arguably England’s most famous and glamorous royal dynasty.</p>
<p>Westminster Abbey was never solely a burial place for monarchs and their families, however. For centuries, aristocrats and favored commoners have also been interred there. One part of the abbey is known as Poets’ Corner, where a selection of illustrious literary figures have been buried, beginning with Geoffrey Chaucer, author of “The Canterbury Tales,” in 1400. In 1599, he was joined by <a href="https://philological.cal.bham.ac.uk/camden/1598e.html#spenser">Edmund Spenser</a>, whose allegorical poem “<a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-faerie-queene-by-edmund-spenser-1590#:%7E:text=The%20Faerie%20Queene%20is%20an,of%20Elizabethan%20notions%20of%20virtue.">The Faerie Queene</a>” included elaborate praise for Elizabeth I. Spenser’s coffin was accompanied to his grave by the leading poets of Elizabethan London, including William Shakespeare.</p>
<p>When Shakespeare himself died in 1616, he was buried at his hometown church in Stratford-upon-Avon, but a memorial in his honor was installed at Westminster Abbey in 1740. Other illustrious individuals <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-hawking-ashes/stephen-hawking-to-join-newton-darwin-in-final-resting-place-idUSKBN1GW2GV">interred there</a> include scientists Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A statue of Shakespeare stands surrounded by other statues and busts of artists." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485352/original/file-20220919-791-a9cg8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485352/original/file-20220919-791-a9cg8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485352/original/file-20220919-791-a9cg8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485352/original/file-20220919-791-a9cg8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485352/original/file-20220919-791-a9cg8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485352/original/file-20220919-791-a9cg8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485352/original/file-20220919-791-a9cg8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Shakespeare statue in Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/england-london-westminster-abbey-poets-corner-shakespeare-news-photo/636132542?adppopup=true">Prisma by Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the centuries, Westminster Abbey has endured a variety of dangers: everything from 17th-century Puritans trying to destroy religious images inside, which they considered idolatrous, to a homemade nail bomb <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03058034.2019.1687222">planted by a suffragette</a> in 1914, to the bombs dropped by the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War.</p>
<p>Westminster has done more than recover; the church has effectively become a kind of national cathedral. It offers a deep sense of historical continuity, which reassuringly obscures the relative modernity of many public rituals of monarchy – the same ones millions of people around the world have watched play out this week.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190878/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Hammer has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
</span></em></p>A scholar of British history explains how the ornate church and its significance to the monarchy have changed over centuries.Paul Hammer, Professor of History, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1904922022-09-16T12:17:56Z2022-09-16T12:17:56ZQueen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne at a time of deep religious divisions and worked to bring tolerance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484357/original/file-20220913-4826-8wgrqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1941%2C1339&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In her efforts to build a new relationship with the Catholic Church, Queen Elizabeth II had interactions with several pontiffs. She is seen here with Pope John Paul II. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BritainQueensReignPhotoGallery/bc023d4fdcf446b1a44081e39bf7facd/photo?Query=queen%20Pope%20John%20Paul%20II&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=48&currentItemNo=20">AP Photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Pool, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thousands of Christian cathedrals and churches <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/13/1104560863/queen-elizabeth-ii-is-the-second-longest-reigning-monarch-in-history">rang their bells</a> for an hour at noon the day after Queen Elizabeth II died in honor of the 96-year-old monarch and her 70 years of service as queen of the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>The ringing of church bells across the country on the death of the monarch is a custom dating back to the early 13th century in Great Britain. As an <a href="https://college.holycross.edu//faculty/jpierce/">expert in medieval liturgy</a> and longtime participant in official <a href="https://www.usccb.org/committees/ecumenical-interreligious-affairs/interreligious">dialogue between</a> the Episcopal Church – a member of the community of global Anglican churches – and the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, the sound had a special poignance for me, and I thought of the queen’s lifelong commitment to British religious life. </p>
<p>Based on her Christian faith, the Queen encouraged dialogue and tolerance among different Christian churches and with other religions as well. This is especially true of the two oldest faiths in Great Britain: Catholicism and Judaism. </p>
<p>But to appreciate the significance of her efforts, it is necessary to understand the complicated history of these religions in the United Kingdom. </p>
<h2>‘Defender of the Faith’</h2>
<p>For centuries, English monarchs reigned as king or queen of England. But since the 16th century, they have also <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/06/03/elizabeth-iis-70-years-as-head-of-the-church-of-england/">held the titles</a> Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. </p>
<p>King Henry VIII received the title <a href="https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2020/07/defender-of-the-faith.html">Defender of the Faith</a> from Pope Leo X, then head of the Catholic Church, in 1521 after the king published a rebuttal of the ideas of Martin Luther, whose reforms launched the Protestant Reformation. Henry retained this title even after later breaking from the authority of the pope, titling himself Head of the Church in England. </p>
<p>With the exception of his Catholic successor – his daughter Mary I – all British monarchs have retained this title.</p>
<p>In the 17th century, some of the kings of England became personally sympathetic toward Catholicism. This was so unpopular that in 1689, <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/religion/overview/catholicsnonconformists-/#">Parliament passed a Bill of Rights</a>, forbidding Catholics from ascending to the throne; it remains in force today. Until the 2013 Succession to the Crown Act, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-32073399">sovereigns were forbidden</a> to even marry Catholics.</p>
<p>After the 1707 passage of the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/heritage/articlesofunion.pdf">Articles of Union</a>, these kings and queens reigned over an expanded realm consisting of England, Scotland and Ireland – the United Kingdom – but retained leadership only of the Church of England, the Anglican Church.</p>
<p>Most Irish were Catholic, while the <a href="https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about-us/our-structure">Church of Scotland was Presbyterian</a>. This Protestant church eliminated the ancient office of bishop and placed leadership in the hands of ordinary pastors, called presbyters or elders. </p>
<p>In the Articles of Union, the British monarch <a href="https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about-us/church-law/church-constitution#article1">guaranteed the rights of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland</a>, and every monarch since has sworn an oath to uphold them upon ascending to the throne.</p>
<p>No such protection was guaranteed to any other church or religion.</p>
<h2>Continuing problems in Catholic Ireland</h2>
<p>In 1649, King Charles I, who favored Catholicism, was <a href="https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/british-civil-wars">deposed and executed by Parliament</a> after a bloody civil war. The <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/40084/chapter-abstract/341041967?redirectedFrom=fulltext">invasion of Catholic Ireland</a> by Oliver Cromwell, a former member of Parliament, followed soon after, resulting in brutal massacres. Although the English monarchy was <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/430/chapter-abstract/135223697?redirectedFrom=fulltext">restored in England and Ireland</a> in 1660, restrictions on Catholics in Ireland and Britain continued long after. </p>
<p>The freedoms of non-Anglican groups, including Jews, continued to be curtailed through <a href="http://moses.law.umn.edu/irishlaws/intro.html">penal laws</a> until the 19th century. Tensions between Catholic Irish and Anglican British continued <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74373-4_4">even after the laws were repealed</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2010.01.016">They worsened</a> when the Irish economy and population were devastated by the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliamentandireland/overview/the-great-famine/">Irish Potato Famine</a>, beginning in 1845, and Parliament was slow to respond.</p>
<h2>Judaism in England</h2>
<p>For two centuries, small communities of Jews in Britain lived quietly, protected by the British monarchy. They faced growing hostility in the 13th century due to the Crusades, religious wars to capture the Holy Land from its Muslim rulers, when Christian attitudes toward “foreign” religions hardened. </p>
<p>Since only <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2854044">Jews were allowed to lend money and collect interest</a> – Christians considered this a sin – nobles in debt began to accuse Jewish lenders of “usury,” charging exorbitant interest on loans. They pressured the crown to take action, and in 1290, King Edward I <a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/::ognode-637356::/files/download-resource-printable-pdf-5">expelled all Jews from the kingdom</a>. They were not allowed to return until the 17th century by law. </p>
<p>Under Cromwell, Jews were unofficially allowed to return to England. Some were already residents there, including <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Jews_of_Britain_1656_to_2000/RNyvgPAuvhAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA26&printsec=frontcover">New Christians</a> – Spanish Jews who had at least superficially converted to Christianity to avoid expulsion from Spain after 1492. Gradually, other groups of openly Jewish refugees were unofficially <a href="https://victorianweb.org/religion/judaism/gossman2.html">allowed to resettle in England</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of young people waving while aboard a ship." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484379/original/file-20220913-4760-j43d1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young Jewish refugees arrive in Harwich, England, from Germany, on Dec. 2, 1937.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PersecutedJewsInEngland1937/251d7cb657524bacb21b401978c990c9/photo?Query=jews%20england&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=28&currentItemNo=22">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Jewish immigration increased throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, restrictions were lifted and Jewish business <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/29778906">became an important part of</a> the British economy. <a href="https://theconversation.com/bevis-marks-britains-oldest-synagogue-is-central-to-londons-history-heres-why-it-needs-protecting-170326">Synagogues were constructed</a> in London and <a href="https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/leeds/articles/leeds-vic3.htm">other major British cities</a> at this time, and worship was openly permitted. <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/21-22/49/enacted">The Jews Relief Act of 1858</a> granted Jews the right to serve in Parliament. Despite this, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-judaism/jews-of-great-britain-16501815/627C706CD6DF45A84E64140F287DBFD5">antisemitism remained a strong part</a> of British social and cultural life.</p>
<h2>The queen and the past</h2>
<p>In the early decades of the 20th century, British monarchs <a href="https://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/visiting-the-pope-the-monarchs-private-visit">began to adopt a more tolerant attitude</a>. The Queen’s great-grandfather, King Edward VII, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/british-history-after-1450/monarchy-and-british-nation-1780-present?format=PB">took some important first steps</a>. But Queen Elizabeth II made dialogue with non-Anglican Christian churches and non-Christian religious communities <a href="https://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/news/statement-on-her-majesty-queen-elizabeth-ii-1">a priority during her reign</a>, <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/united-kingdom/#:%7E:text=Census%20figures%20from%202011%2C%20the,percent%20Jewish%3B%20and%200.4%20Buddhist">recognizing the increasing reality of Great Britain</a>, especially England, as a multifaith nation. </p>
<p>In 1951, two years before Queen Elizabeth II took the throne, she met privately with Pope Pius XII – almost 400 years after Queen Elizabeth I was <a href="https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/PapalBull1570_M/index.htm">officially excommunicated</a> by Pope Pius V for taking the title Supreme Head of the Church of England. </p>
<p>Queen Elizabeth II had a private audience with Pope John XXIII 10 years later – only the second reigning monarch of the U.K. to visit with any pope. </p>
<p>Her efforts to build a new relationship with the Catholic Church included ongoing interactions with the popes. An official state visit with Pope John Paul II followed in 1980, and that <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2020-05/john-paul-s-1982-visit-to-britain-an-extraordinary-event.html">pope made a pastoral visit to Great Britain</a> two years later — the first time any pope had ever traveled there. </p>
<p>Another private audience with John Paul II followed in 2000, and in 2010 the queen <a href="https://www.christiantoday.com/article/catholic.church.seeks.to.clarify.purpose.of.popes.visit/26105.htm">met with Pope Benedict XVI</a> during his official state visit to the U.K. In 2014, she met with Pope Francis at the Vatican, a meeting commemorating 100 years of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252238/queen-elizabeth-met-five-popes-in-her-lifetime">renewed diplomatic relations</a> between the two sovereign states.</p>
<p>Violent resistance and tension continued in the independent Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland over independence until the <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/accord/northern-ireland-good-friday-agreement">Good Friday peace accords</a> were approved by both sides in 1998. In 2011, the queen became the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-13420053">first reigning monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland</a>, a signal of support of the republic’s <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2022-09-09/an-historic-visit-reflections-on-queens-2011-trip-to-the-republic-of-ireland">independence</a> and what has been called one of the “<a href="https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2022-09-09/an-historic-visit-reflections-on-queens-2011-trip-to-the-republic-of-ireland">most significant</a>” acts of her long reign. </p>
<p>The Jewish community in Britain <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/queen-elizabeths-long-complex-relationship-with-the-british-jewish-community/">has also been supported</a> by the queen. Although she herself never visited Israel, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-716696">several other members of the royal family did</a>. </p>
<p>The queen also received visits from several presidents of Israel. Several times, she participated in Holocaust commemorations and visited memorials, including <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/queen-elizabeth-to-travel-to-nazi-concentration-camp/">a 2015 trip to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp</a>, 70 years after it was liberated by the Allies. And in 2022, the Church of England issued <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/church-of-england-on-christian-jewish-relations">an apology for its contribution to the expulsion of Jews</a> from England in the 13th century.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip bending down to pay homage and lay a wreath at the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen on June 26, 2015." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/484376/original/file-20220913-4760-lbjby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Elizabeth II participated in Holocaust commemorations and visited the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GermanyBritain/614ea48062434aab9398e7e622f24e51/photo?Query=queen%20visit%20concentration%20camps&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=42&currentItemNo=34">Julian Stratenschulte/Pool Photo via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2012, Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, called the queen the “<a href="https://www.rabbisacks.org/archive/the-queen-is-defender-of-all-britains-faiths/">Defender of all Britain’s Faiths</a>,” writing that, “No one does interfaith better than the Royal Family, and it begins with the Queen herself.”</p>
<h2>The king and the future</h2>
<p>Indeed, the former Prince of Wales suggested in 2015 that the title Defender of the Faith be understood more broadly, as simply “<a href="https://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/will-prince-wales-be-defender-faith-or-defender-faith">Defender of Faith</a>.” He stressed that he wanted to be seen as a defender of religious rights in general, not just the Anglican faith.</p>
<p>And when his accession was proclaimed on Sept. 10, 2022, King Charles III took the long-standing oath to preserve the rights of the Church of Scotland using the same wording that his predecessors have since the 16th century – <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/09/10/king-charles-iii-proclamation-oath-accession-council-vpx.cnn">as Defender of the Faith</a>. </p>
<p>There is little doubt that during his reign, King Charles III will continue to build on the foundation of toleration and dialogue laid down firmly by his mother. Modern Britain is a nation of many faiths, and a contemporary monarch will need to ensure that each of them is vigorously defended and warmly celebrated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I was a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the US for several years, as a Roman Catholic member appointed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.</span></em></p>Queen Elizabeth II encouraged tolerance in a multifaith United Kingdom. To appreciate the significance of her efforts, it is important to understand the country’s complicated religious history.Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1645332021-07-16T10:45:01Z2021-07-16T10:45:01ZThe Church of England is apologising for medieval antisemitism – why now?<p>The Church of England has confirmed plans to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/12/church-issue-first-ever-apology-expulsion-jews-medieval-england/">apologise to UK Jews</a> for medieval antisemitic laws, put in place centuries before the church itself existed. </p>
<p>The anticipated apology is a curious one, especially as the modern British Jewish community has not been actively calling for it. </p>
<p>The measures in question, put in place by the Synod of Oxford in 1222 (a gathering of leading bishops and church leaders) and <a href="https://www.bl.uk/people/archbishop-stephen-langton">Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury</a>, were not the first against medieval Anglo-Jewry, but they did lead to increased pressure on this small (a few thousand) community. </p>
<p>The Oxford decrees forbade the Jews from building synagogues where they had not settled before, introduced badges so that the Jews could be differentiated and forbade sexual and many social relations between Jews and non-Jews. Jews were not to remain in England unless they could support themselves. While the implementation of these regulations was slow and uneven, it is not unreasonable to see them as paving the way for the <a href="https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item103483.html">expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290</a>. </p>
<p>Alongside these measures, Jews were put under greater pressure to convert by the church in houses specially built for this purpose. This took place in a variety of towns as another way of solving an imaginary “Jewish problem” (in particular a fear that Jews were in league with the Devil and undermining Christianity by Judaising the nation). The numbers of these converted Jews increased during the 13th century as the persecution intensified. Indeed, some converted Jews were to remain in England after 1290, and the <em>Domus Conversorum</em> – “House of Converts” – remained until the 16th century.</p>
<p>What is odd about this apology is that the Anglican church would not come into existence until over three centuries after these decrees. What’s more, the synod was a “local” response to the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, which provided papal guidelines for Jewish-Christian relations. In short, the dominant Protestant voice in the UK is now apologising for pre-Reformation Catholic initiatives. </p>
<h2>Growing recognition</h2>
<p>There are a few factors that may explain the nature and timing of this apology, but also why it fails to be wholly impactful. A more meaningful shift of Anglican theology, when it comes to Jewish relations, would be a rejection of all efforts to convert Jews to Christianity. </p>
<p>While the Church of England no longer actively seeks out Jews to convert (it spent a fortune without much reward doing so in the 19th century, continuing well into the 20th with its <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0424208400011475">Church Mission to the Jews</a>), it has not ruled out the <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/godsunfailingwordweb.pdf">theological principle</a> of doing so.</p>
<p>The move to apologise for the medieval laws comes as part of a growing recognition within the Church of England that Christian anti-Judaism was a key, if not the only, cause of modern antisemitism. </p>
<p>This was recognised as early as the 1920s by the <a href="https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-31528;jsessionid=20FECC63D05245CCC3B0A0FC817B485C">radical Anglican clergyman James Parkes</a>, who spent his whole career fighting for the Jews – before, during and after the Nazi era. Confronting the scale of violent, racial antisemitism in the university campuses of Europe during the 1920s, Parkes carried out deep research into the roots of this animosity. </p>
<p>In his 1969 <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/voyage-of-discoveries/oclc/17056">autobiography</a>, Parkes wrote how he was “completely unprepared for the discovery that it was the … Christian Church alone, which turned a normal xenophobia and normal good and bad communal relations into the unique evil of anti-Semitism”.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/godsunfailingwordweb.pdf">God’s Unfailing Word</a>, the 2019 Church of England document on Christian-Jewish relations, accepts the pivotal work of Parkes in acknowledging that troubling legacy. In that sense, the apology is an extension of the 2019 document. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photo of James Parkes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411441/original/file-20210715-15-44mxpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411441/original/file-20210715-15-44mxpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411441/original/file-20210715-15-44mxpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411441/original/file-20210715-15-44mxpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411441/original/file-20210715-15-44mxpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411441/original/file-20210715-15-44mxpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411441/original/file-20210715-15-44mxpb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Radical Anglican clergyman James Parkes (R) carried out research on antisemitism in the 1920s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Southampton archives</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The apology reflects the concern over contemporary antisemitism which, according to communal figures, has been <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/17/europes-worrying-surge-antisemitism">rising in numbers and intensity</a> across Europe, including the UK. It has ultimately become an issue of general concern within and beyond the Jewish world. </p>
<p>It is also part of the <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/news-releases/new-guidance-will-help-churches-and-cathedrals-address-questions">general reassessment of ideas and heritage</a> following the murder of George Floyd and the work of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-lives-matter-how-the-uk-movement-struggled-to-be-heard-in-the-2010s-161763">Black Lives Matter movement</a>. The Church of England, since the summer of 2020, has been exploring potentially offensive physical heritage relating to Black people and, where necessary, removing it – such as gravestones in Rottingdean, East Sussex commemorating “blackface” entertainers.</p>
<h2>Changing times</h2>
<p>In the early 1990s, I organised a conference on Jewish heritage in the UK. It included a critical analysis of how the medieval heritage, both religious and secular, was still presented [in both religious and secular buildings and sites] by the Church. This included its dealing with the vicious anti-Jewish blood libel myth (that the Jews took young Christian children and ritually murdered them at Easter time, drinking their blood) as was the case in several cathedrals such as Lincoln and Winchester, or the failure to confront the horror of the <a href="https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/cliffords-tower-york/history-and-stories/massacre-of-the-jews/">1190 massacre at York</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, there has been much progress at these sites, including <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-tower-of-londons-jewish-history/id1065848261?i=1000489213478">the Tower of London</a>, where many Jews were imprisoned and hanged for trumped-up offences. In Winchester, the Jewish presence will be celebrated in the form of a <a href="https://licoricia.org/">statue to the remarkable businesswoman, Licoricia</a>, recognising also the persecution this important community faced before the expulsion.</p>
<p>In that sense, the apology from the Church of England is most welcome. But there is something missing. James Parkes fought to make the world “safe to be a Jew” – not just in the physical sphere, but also religiously and culturally. Parkes fought against any attempt of Christians to convert the Jews. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/godsunfailingwordweb.pdf">God’s Unfailing Word</a>, as Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis politely but firmly notes in its afterword, did not make that pledge. To honour one of its greatest figures, James Parkes, it is now crucial for the Church of England to condemn the conversionism that blights its past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Kushner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Church of England’s apology for medieval antisemitism is welcome. But there is something missing.Tony Kushner, James Parkes Professor of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1598912021-04-29T12:22:21Z2021-04-29T12:22:21ZThe Pilgrims’ attack on a May Day celebration was a dress rehearsal for removing Native Americans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397625/original/file-20210428-25-10l5hjo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=488%2C145%2C3588%2C2389&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Puritans saw May Day celebrations as a test from God.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pilgrims-observing-the-anglicans-led-by-thomas-morton-news-photo/629432881?adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since the ancient Romans decided to honor the agricultural goddess Flora with <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/floralia.html">lewd spectacles in the Circus Maximus</a>, the beginning of May has signaled the coming of spring, a time of revival after a long, dark winter.</p>
<p>In Europe, the holiday – usually celebrated on May 1 – became known as May Day. Though traditions varied by country and culture, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/A-History-of-Pagan-Europe/Jones-Pennick/p/book/9780415158046">celebrants often erected maypoles and decorated them with long colorful ribbons</a>. Townspeople, while indulging in food and drink, would frolic for hours. <a href="https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hatlas/traditions/mayday.htm">These rituals continue today</a> in parks and on college campuses across the U.S. and Europe.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Revelers dance around a maypole in Germany in the 16th century." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397622/original/file-20210428-21-1h54tik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397622/original/file-20210428-21-1h54tik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397622/original/file-20210428-21-1h54tik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397622/original/file-20210428-21-1h54tik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397622/original/file-20210428-21-1h54tik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397622/original/file-20210428-21-1h54tik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397622/original/file-20210428-21-1h54tik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Revelers dance around a maypole in Germany in the 16th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/villagers-celebration-circa-1530-1949-medieval-villagers-news-photo/598816499?adppopup=true">Print Collector/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Throughout history, millions have embraced the holiday – except for the Puritans of early modern England. Though we tend to lump them together, the term “Puritans” included different groups of religious dissenters. Among them were the Pilgrims, who eventually decided to migrate to North America <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/pilgrims">to create new communities according to their religious vision</a>.</p>
<p>It is tempting to attribute the Pilgrims’ hostility toward the holiday to the <a href="https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/puritans-behind-the-myths">doom-and-gloom stereotype of the Puritans</a> as humorless and overly pious – the same tendencies that led them <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-puritans-cracked-down-on-celebrating-christmas-151359">to ban Christmas festivities</a>. But their attack on a maypole in Plymouth Colony in 1628 reveals much about their approach toward those who didn’t conform to their vision for the world.</p>
<h2>Good-natured fun or blasphemy?</h2>
<p>Before they arrived in New England, some Pilgrims must have read the <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-anatomy-of-abuses-by-philip-stubbes-1583#">diatribe against May Day</a> penned by a moralist named <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-Stubbs">Philip Stubbes</a>, who lamented the mayhem that erupted in communities across England each year as the holiday approached.</p>
<p>Stubbes described how eager participants would select one of the men among them to be the “Lord of Misrule,” who then led them into pits of debauchery. They would sing and dance in church, much to the consternation of devout ministers. And the participants in these rites always dragged a large tree from a nearby forest to be erected in the town, which became a symbol of their irreligious behavior. </p>
<p>But most in England didn’t see the holiday in such a poor light. For many, these maypoles simply represented raucous, good-natured fun. King James, who reigned from 1603 to 1625, <a href="http://www.christiandoctrine.com/christian-doctrine/history/700-the-book-of-sports-or-declaration-of-sports-king-james-1st">believed that erecting such poles</a> was “harmless” and he castigated Puritans’ efforts to quash the holiday.</p>
<p>In England, Puritans needed to abide by national laws, so there was little they could do to stop the celebrations outside of voicing their disapproval. More effective protests would need to wait. </p>
<h2>Morton becomes the ‘Lord of Misrule’</h2>
<p>Once in New England, the Puritans believed they needed to be exemplars of proper Christian behavior. Everyone in their towns had to abide by their rules, <a href="https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/puritans-ban-gambling-and-whole-lot-things/">and they punished colonists whose actions seemed to undermine devout religious practice</a>.</p>
<p>As the future governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, <a href="https://religionandpolitics.org/2020/02/18/city-on-a-hill-and-the-making-of-an-american-origin-story/">John Winthrop allegedly declared</a> the Puritans would build their “city on a hill.” Citing <a href="https://biblehub.com/matthew/5-14.htm">language from the Book of Matthew</a>, he claimed that all of the Puritans’ actions would be visible to the entire world, including – most importantly – their God. Any departure from strict obedience to Scripture could threaten their entire mission.</p>
<p>The Pilgrims established their community of Plymouth on the site of the Wampanoag town of Patuxet in 1620. In the years that followed, other English migrants arrived in the region, though many eschewed the Pilgrims’ strict teachings. They came to make money from trading, not escape persecution for their beliefs.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Thomas Morton with a white beard and a hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397623/original/file-20210428-21-188x9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397623/original/file-20210428-21-188x9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397623/original/file-20210428-21-188x9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397623/original/file-20210428-21-188x9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397623/original/file-20210428-21-188x9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397623/original/file-20210428-21-188x9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397623/original/file-20210428-21-188x9fk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thomas Morton saw no harm in having a little fun.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/thomas-morton-thomas-morton-american-colonist-c-1576-1647-news-photo/171073049?adppopup=true">Culture Club/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A small group of these colonists moved about 25 miles northwest of Plymouth. <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300230109/trials-thomas-morton">A lawyer named Thomas Morton</a>, who had arrived in New England in 1624 or 1625, eventually became the unofficial leader of this camp, which came to be known as Merrymount. In 1628, with Morton’s blessing, the colonists set up an 80-foot maypole crowned with deer antlers in preparation for May Day. </p>
<p>The maypole immediately drew the attention of Plymouth authorities. So did Morton’s antics. <a href="https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/who-were-the-pilgrims/2020/march/william-bradford/">According to William Bradford</a>, then the colony’s governor, Morton had become the “Lord of Misrule.” The assembled at Merrymount sang bawdy songs and invited Native American women to join them. The colonists in the small community, the governor wrote, had “revived and celebrated the feasts of the Roman goddess Flora,” which he linked to “the beastly practices of the mad Bacchanalians.” </p>
<p>Morton was running, in Bradford’s words, “a School of Atheism.”</p>
<p>Bradford claimed that Morton and his followers had fallen “to great licentiousness” and led “dissolute” lives. Rather than allow them their fun, the Pilgrims sent a group of armed men to arrest their leader. Soon they exiled Morton back to England.</p>
<p>The next year, John Endecott, a recent immigrant who shared many of the Pilgrims’ beliefs, <a href="https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/maypole-infuriated-puritans/">chopped down the maypole</a>, much to Bradford’s satisfaction.</p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p>
<h2>A harbinger of more destruction</h2>
<p>Why, one might ask, would it matter that stern Puritans would want to quash a good-natured holiday? After all, given many of their other actions, felling a tall tree topped with deer antlers hardly seems worth mentioning.</p>
<p>But as a historian of early New England, I see Bradford’s condemnation of Morton and the destruction of the maypole as a harbinger of future violence.</p>
<p>When they chopped down the maypole, the Puritans believed that they were cleansing the landscape, making it more suitable for pious colonists to occupy. It was their way of demonstrating that they could live up their ideals. </p>
<p><a href="https://public.wsu.edu/%7Ecampbelld/amlit/purdef.htm">Since they believed in predestination</a>, the conviction that everything that occurs is part of a divine plan, they must have figured that God had sent Morton to test them. By exiling him and destroying the maypole, they confirmed what they saw as the righteousness of their cause.</p>
<p>A decade later, with tensions rising between colonists and Indigenous people, the Pilgrims of Plymouth, along with the Puritans of Massachusetts, saw themselves confronting a new test. This time the threat came not from a maypole, but instead from a Native American community that seemed, as Bradford wrote – <a href="http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/nereligioushistory/bradford-plimoth/bradford-plymouthplantation.pdf">using language that echoed his condemnation of Morton</a> – “proud and insulting.” </p>
<p>The consequences in 1637 were far worse than at Merrymount. The colonists set a Pequot town aflame and shot those who tried to escape. Historians estimate that <a href="https://www.mptn-nsn.gov/pequotwar.aspx">at least 400 Native Americans lost their lives in a single night</a>.</p>
<p>Like other English colonizers, the Pilgrims believed they needed to displace Native Americans to create their own communities. But before they did so, they had to get their own houses in order. They could not tolerate any who crossed them, attacking those deemed a threat.</p>
<p>Colonial leaders like Winthrop and Bradford believed any sign of disobedience had to be punished. Clearing Merrymount of its maypole was a dress rehearsal for what was to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159891/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter C. Mancall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Puritans had little tolerance for those who didn’t conform to their vision of the world.Peter C. Mancall, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1579222021-04-19T12:51:45Z2021-04-19T12:51:45ZBritain’s changing religious vote: why Catholics are leaving Labour and Conservatives are hoovering up Christian support<p>The past six years have seen the old rules of British politics torn up. Identities such as “Tory”, “Labour”, “working class” or “middle class” have been replaced by “Remainer” or “Brexiteer” and voters are deserting their traditional parties.</p>
<p>The Conservatives, once the party of choice for middle-class professionals, increasingly dominate among working-class voters in what used to be Labour strongholds. Labour, meanwhile, has become a party for young professionals and university graduates. Its position as the dominant party in industrial England, and virtually all of Scotland and Wales, has been challenged or usurped entirely.</p>
<p>In our new book, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Religion-and-Euroscepticism-in-Brexit-Britain/Kolpinskaya-Fox/p/book/9780367342258">Religion and Euroscepticism in Brexit Britain</a>, we show how this realignment of British politics is also transforming the “religious vote”. The same changes to the British electorate that helped deliver Brexit are also changing the the historic links between Britain’s largest Christian communities and the political parties. Labour’s Catholic vote has collapsed, while the Conservatives are increasingly the party of choice for Christians.</p>
<p>The tumult stems largely from longer-term change in the ideological priorities of the electorate. Issues relating to national identity, ethnicity, cultural change and migration have become more important and the result has been starker divides between socially liberal people and social conservatives. The 2016 EU referendum and the 2017 and 2019 general elections divided voters into those who were pro-EU, pro-migration and pro-cultural change and those who were eurosceptic, socially conservative and held to traditional conceptions of national identity. These divisions continue to shape party support and attitudes towards issues such as the UK/EU relationship, climate change and the government’s response to COVID-19.</p>
<h2>The religious vote</h2>
<p>Britain’s Christian communities have long tended to support one of the major parties over the other, largely as a result of historical ties and the tendency for families to pass their political allegiances down from one generation to the next.</p>
<p>Anglicans and Presbyterians, as members of the national churches of England and Scotland, have tended to support the Conservatives as the party that represented “the establishment” (of which those churches are a part). This is so much the case that the Church of England has been known as “the Conservative Party at prayer”.</p>
<p>Catholics and nonconformists (such as Methodists), on the other hand, were historically persecuted by the Church of England and the British state. They have tended to support radical, anti-establishment parties such as the Liberals and, more recently, Labour. Many British Catholics also descend from Irish migrants with roots in the trade union movement, and hence have stronger ties to Labour.</p>
<p>But the tendency of most Christians to be typically more socially conservative than non-religious voters has meant that their voting behaviour has been acutely affected by the rising importance of social conservatism and the “culture wars”. </p>
<p><strong>The Anglican vote</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395027/original/file-20210414-17-19487vp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395027/original/file-20210414-17-19487vp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395027/original/file-20210414-17-19487vp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395027/original/file-20210414-17-19487vp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395027/original/file-20210414-17-19487vp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395027/original/file-20210414-17-19487vp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395027/original/file-20210414-17-19487vp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anglican preferences (net of wider electorate).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Religion and Euroscepticism in Brexit Britain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Support for the Conservatives among Anglicans and Presbyterians has grown significantly since 1979. Among Anglicans, support for the Tories was, on average, ten points higher than the party’s support in the wider electorate between 1979 and 2001. Even in 1997 and 2001, two of the worst results of the last century for the Conservatives, support among Anglicans was nine points higher than in the electorate.</p>
<p>After 2005, this “Anglican boost” started to grow, reaching 13 points by 2015 and 20 points in 2017 and 2019. A similar (though less pronounced) pattern is clear in Scotland among Presbyterians, with the “Tory boost” growing from an average of six points between 1979 and 2015 to 13 points in 2017 and 2019.</p>
<p><strong>The Catholic vote</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395028/original/file-20210414-22-1mi2uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395028/original/file-20210414-22-1mi2uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395028/original/file-20210414-22-1mi2uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395028/original/file-20210414-22-1mi2uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395028/original/file-20210414-22-1mi2uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395028/original/file-20210414-22-1mi2uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395028/original/file-20210414-22-1mi2uhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catholic preferences (net of wider electorate).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Religion and Euroscepticism in Brexit Britain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More remarkable still is that Conservative support has grown among those communities that have historically opposed the party. In 1979, support for Tories among Catholics was 17 points lower than that of the wider electorate. Over the following 40 years the “anti-Tory” sentiment eroded to such an extent that by 2019 Catholic support for the Tories was two points higher than in the wider electorate. A similar, though weaker, trend is apparent among Methodists, among whom Tory support was three points higher than the wider electorate between 1979 and 2001, but then increased to an average of 13 points by 2017 and 2019. </p>
<h2>Catholics leave Labour</h2>
<p>The loser from this change is the Labour Party. In the 1980s, Catholic support for Labour was around 13 points higher than in the wider electorate (even during the party’s 1983 disaster). By 2019, Catholics were no more likely to vote Labour than non-Catholics. Methodists are also moving away from Labour, with their support for the party seven points lower than in the wider electorate in 2019.</p>
<p><strong>The Presbyterian vote</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395029/original/file-20210414-15-1mibwa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395029/original/file-20210414-15-1mibwa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395029/original/file-20210414-15-1mibwa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395029/original/file-20210414-15-1mibwa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395029/original/file-20210414-15-1mibwa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395029/original/file-20210414-15-1mibwa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395029/original/file-20210414-15-1mibwa1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Presbyterian preferences in Scotland (net of wider Scottish electorate).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Religion and Euroscepticism in Brexit Britain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Anglicans have never been particularly likely to support Labour, but they are becoming even less likely to do so as their support for the Tories grows. In 2019, Labour’s support among Anglicans was nine points lower than the wider electorate. Perhaps the only good news for the party (relatively speaking) is that in Scotland, where Labour has neither enjoyed a boost nor faced a penalty among Presbyterians, the situation has not deteriorated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395030/original/file-20210414-21-x3gg53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395030/original/file-20210414-21-x3gg53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395030/original/file-20210414-21-x3gg53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395030/original/file-20210414-21-x3gg53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395030/original/file-20210414-21-x3gg53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395030/original/file-20210414-21-x3gg53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395030/original/file-20210414-21-x3gg53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Methodist preferences (net of wider electorate).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Religion and Euroscepticism in Brexit Britain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are many distinctions between the theological beliefs and historic experiences of Britain’s Christian communities but they share a tendency to be more socially conservative than non-religious voters. And as Boris Johnson’s Conservatives position themselves as the protectors of these social values, even more Christians are likely to end up beyond the electoral reach of the Labour party. It will be a struggle to win over socially conservative “red wall” voters without alienating the (far more liberal) youth vote.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Fox is a Lecturer in British Politics at Brunel University London. He has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods for his research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ekaterina Kolpinskaya does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Religious voters have long, historical ties to particular parties, but the changing nature of politics is shifting their allegiances.Stuart Fox, Lecturer in British Politics, Brunel University LondonEkaterina Kolpinskaya, Lecturer in British Politics, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1537572021-01-21T20:38:38Z2021-01-21T20:38:38ZSen. Ossoff was sworn in on pioneering Atlanta rabbi’s Bible – a nod to historic role of American Jews in civil rights struggle<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380059/original/file-20210121-21-1n3uc4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C12%2C2802%2C1552&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vice President Kamala Harris swears in Sen. Raphael Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff on Capitol Hill in Washington. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/HarrisSenate/bb5f4903643b472a9d1575605f37536f/photo?Query=Sen.%20Jon%20Ossoff,%20D-Ga.,%20on%20the%20floor%20of%20the%20Senate%20Wednesday,%20Jan.%206,%202021,%20on%20Capitol%20Hill%20in%20Washington.%20Senate%20Television%20via%20AP&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2&currentItemNo=0">Senate Television via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-ossoff-s-expected-georgia-win-will-make-jewish-history-1.9428335">The first Jewish senator in Georgia history</a>, Jon Ossoff, was sworn in on Jan. 20, on what his office described in a <a href="https://twitter.com/jake_best_/status/1351652208945885185?s=21">tweet</a> as a “Hebrew scripture that belonged to historic Atlanta Rabbi Jacob Rothschild.”</p>
<p>It left many wondering what exactly the Hebrew scripture meant, and what the relevance was of using this particular copy.</p>
<p>The term “Hebrew scripture” usually refers to the 24 books that Christians denominate as the Old Testament. These biblical books, originally written in Hebrew, are ordered differently in Judaism and Christianity.</p>
<p>In Ossoff’s case, the volume selected was a well-thumbed copy of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, which Jews known as the Torah, edited with commentary by the American-educated former <a href="https://www.jewishideas.org/article/bridge-across-tigris-chief-rabbi-joseph-herman-hertz">Chief Rabbi of Britain Joseph H. Hertz</a>. That, for many years, <a href="https://jewishaction.com/jewish-world/history/the-story-of-the-synagogue-chumash/">was the edition</a> of the Torah found in most American synagogues and temples. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/near-eastern-judaic/people/faculty/sarna.html">scholar of American Jewish history</a>, I recognize that in emphasizing the book’s tie to Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild, Ossoff appeared to be making a statement about Black-Jewish relations – <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/01/04/georgia-black-jewish-campaign-is-the-latest-chapter-in-an-old-story-warnock-ossoff/">a central theme in his campaign</a> and a signal of his ties to Congressman John R. Lewis, his mentor, as well as Rev. Raphael Warnock, his fellow incoming Georgia senator. </p>
<h2>A Jewish translation of Scripture</h2>
<p>First, the selection of the Bible upon which Jon Ossoff was sworn deserves attention. This Hebrew-English text employs the <a href="https://biblehub.com/jps/">1917 translation</a> produced by the Jewish Publication Society, then located in Philadelphia. </p>
<p>It is a distinctive Jewish translation of scripture. Though modeled on the majestic language and cadence of the famous <a href="https://time.com/4821911/king-james-bible-history/">King James Bible</a>, authorized by the Church of England and first published in 1611, it nevertheless introduced many new translations from the original Hebrew based on updated scholarship and longstanding Jewish interpretive traditions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The King James Bible" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first King James Bible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1612_First_Quarto_of_King_James_Bible.jpg">Jeremylinvip/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“It was a Bible translation to which American Jews could point with pride as the creation of the Jewish consciousness on a par with similar products of the Catholic and Protestant churches,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/21/archives/dr-abraham-a-neuman-jewish-historian-dies.html">historian Abraham Neuman</a> <a href="http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1940_1941_3_SpecialArticles.pdf">observed</a> in 1940. “To the Jews it presented a Bible which combined the spirit of Jewish tradition with the results of biblical scholarship, ancient, medieval and modern. To the non-Jews it opened the gateway of Jewish tradition in the interpretation of the Word of God,” he noted. </p>
<p>Thanks to the 1917 translation, American Jews <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-bible-with-and-without-jesus-amy-jill-levinemarc-zvi-brettler?variant=32117339717666">no longer had to depend on other</a> translations to understand “their Bible” – they now had a Bible translation of their own.</p>
<p>Ossoff was making a profoundly Jewish statement in selecting the volume on which he was sworn in. Earlier, President Biden made a similar Catholic statement by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/us/politics/bible-inauguration-biden.html">being sworn in on a Celtic Bible</a> featuring the Catholic <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/rhe/">Douay-Rheims</a> translation, published in the 17th century to <a href="http://www.tcseagles.org/faculty/nchilds/editoruploads/files/Timeline_of_Bible_Translation_History.pdf">uphold Catholic tradition</a> in the face of the Protestant Reformation. </p>
<h2>Atlanta’s rabbi</h2>
<p>The book itself belonged to <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0C">Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild</a>, who served from 1946 until his death in 1973 as the rabbi of Atlanta’s oldest and most prominent Reform congregation, Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, known as “<a href="https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/departments/city-planning/office-of-design/urban-design-commission/the-temple-hebrew-benevolent-congregation">The Temple</a>.” </p>
<p>As an outspoken proponent of civil rights, he supported school desegregation; invited Black clergy like <a href="https://www.mmuf.org/about/dr-benjamin-e-mays">Benjamin E. Mays</a>, president of Morehouse College, to speak to his congregants; and <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0">wrote</a> that Jews bore a special responsibility “to erase inequality.” </p>
<p>To punish Rothschild and as a warning to others, white supremacist members of The Confederate Underground, a collective name for various right-wing extremist organizations in the 1950s, on Oct. 12, 1958, bombed The Temple, <a href="http://melissafaygreene.com/book/the-temple-bombing/">in a blast that was reportedly felt for miles around</a>. </p>
<p>Until the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/active-shooter-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html">mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue</a> almost exactly 60 years later, on Oct. 27, 2018, the temple bombing was the most devastating attack in history on an American synagogue. Rothschild refused to be frightened off and remained at The Temple’s helm.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rabbi Jacob Rothschild and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rabbi Jacob Rothschild with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta on Jan. 28, 1965.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MLK/b6c8bdddf486441da3ce8079c7dc7d12/photo?Query=Rabbi%20Jacob%20Rothschild&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1960s, Rabbi Rothschild met Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who had <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/ebenezer-baptist-church-atlanta-georgia">joined his father as co-pastor</a> of Ebenezer Baptist Church. The Rothschilds and the Kings became friends, and, in 1963, Rothschild introduced King when he spoke before a packed audience of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, known today as the <a href="https://urj.org/">Union for Reform Judaism</a>, at its biennial gathering. </p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Later, he played a central role in organizing a large Atlanta dinner honoring King for winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. When King was assassinated in 1968, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0C">Rabbi Rothschild delivered the eulogy</a> at the city-wide service in Atlanta in his memory. </p>
<h2>Rothschild’s message and Ossoff’s</h2>
<p>Citing the same biblical passages heard at President Biden’s inauguration, Rothschild <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0C">called for America to become</a> “a land where a man does not lift up sword against his neighbor, but where each sits under his own vine and under his own fig tree and there is none to make him afraid.”</p>
<p>In deciding to be sworn in on the “Hebrew scripture” that belonged to Rabbi Rothschild, Senator Ossoff gestures back to this relationship that once brought Black and Jewish Americans together in a common quest. </p>
<p>In this gesture, he is delivering the same message as King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, did in 1984, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0C">when she wrote</a> that the story of Rabbi Rothschild serves as “an inspiring story of commitment and brotherhood during an exciting, creative period of American history.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153757/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan D. Sarna knows members of Rabbi Rothschild's family. </span></em></p>In choosing a Hebrew Bible belonging to a civil rights leader, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, Sen. Jon Ossoff appeared to be sending out a message on the strong historic ties between Black people and Jews.Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1493102020-11-13T11:15:38Z2020-11-13T11:15:38ZWhen Christmas was cancelled: a lesson from history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368563/original/file-20201110-19-jghovk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C235%2C1467%2C907&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Christmas in 1646 was cancelled and the usual drunken merriment was banned.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Teniers_(II)_-_Twelfth-night_(The_King_Drinks)_-_WGA22083.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The prospect of a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54713802">Christmas without large-scale celebrations</a> is preying on minds. After the <a href="https://britishtheatre.com/panto-cancellations-and-theatre-redundancies-a-running-tally/">widespread cancellation of pantomimes</a>, festive light “switch-ons” and <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/central/2020-09-29/christmas-events-are-cancelled-across-the-midlands">other community activities</a>, it seems likely that 2020’s festivities will be much more intimate affairs, potentially with <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/analysis/christmas-2020-uk-new-covid-lockdown-restrictions-tiers-735452">households banned from mixing indoors</a>. </p>
<p>But what if families ignore distancing rules, should they remain in place, and celebrate together rather than on Zoom? Politicians seeking to come down hard on rule-breakers might wish to recall a previously restricted yuletide. </p>
<p>Back in 1647, Christmas was banned in the kingdoms of England (which at the time included Wales), Scotland and Ireland and it didn’t work out very well. Following a total ban on everything festive, from decorations to gatherings, rebellions broke out across the country. While some activity took the form of hanging holly in defiance, other action was far more radical and went on to have historical consequences. </p>
<h2>Christmas is cancelled</h2>
<p>In 1647, parliament had won <a href="https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/british-civil-wars">the civil war</a> in England, Scotland and Ireland and King Charles was <a href="https://www.hrp.org.uk/banqueting-house/history-and-stories/the-execution-of-charles-i/#gs.kdw7y5">held in captivity at Hampton Court</a>. The Church of England had been abolished and replaced by a Presbyterian system. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Painting of Oliver Cromwell in armour." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367199/original/file-20201103-15-jfb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367199/original/file-20201103-15-jfb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367199/original/file-20201103-15-jfb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367199/original/file-20201103-15-jfb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367199/original/file-20201103-15-jfb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367199/original/file-20201103-15-jfb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367199/original/file-20201103-15-jfb8ji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1011&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oliver Cromwell, the original Grinch who stole Christmas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks/oliver-cromwell-15991658-48846">Cromwell Museum</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The protestant reformation had restructured churches across the British Isles, and holy days, Christmas included, were abolished. </p>
<p>The usual festivities during the 12 days of Christmas (December 25 to January 5) were deemed unacceptable. Shops had to stay open throughout Christmastide, including Christmas Day. Displays of Christmas decorations – holly, ivy and other evergreens – were banned. Other traditions, such as feasting and the celebratory consumption of alcohol, consumed in large quantities then as now, were likewise restricted.</p>
<p>Christmas Day, however, didn’t pass quietly. People across England, Scotland and Ireland flouted the rules. In Norwich, the mayor had already been presented with a petition calling for a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/albion/article/martyn-bennett-the-civil-wars-in-britain-and-ireland-16381651-cambridge-mass-blackwell-publishers-1997-pp-xx-2695-paper-isbn-0631191550-david-stevenson-king-or-covenant-voices-from-civil-war-east-linton-uk-tuckwell-press-1996-pp-xvi-212-1499-paper-isbn-189841081x/D7AD03E939A2F2424E6E83A3161D8CB2">celebration of a traditional Christmas</a>. He could not allow this publicly, but ignored illegal celebrations across the city. </p>
<p>In Canterbury, the usual Christmas football game was played and festive holly bushes were stood outside house doors. Over the 12 days of Christmas, the partying spread across all of Kent and armed force had to be used to break up the fun. </p>
<p>Christmas Day was celebrated in the very heart of Westminster and the churchwardens of St Margaret’s church (which is part of Westminster Abbey) were arrested for failing to stop the party. The London streets were decked with holly and ivy and the shops were closed. The mayor of London was verbally assaulted as he tried to rip down the Christmas decorations with the help of the city’s own battle-hardened veteran regiments. </p>
<p>Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk also celebrated Christmas rowdily. Young men armed with spiked clubs patrolled the streets persuading the shopkeepers to stay shut. </p>
<p>Taking up arms and breaking the rules weren’t just about experiencing the fun of the season. Fighting against the prohibition of Christmas was a political act. Things had changed and the Christmas rebellion was as much a protest against the “new normal” as it was against the banning of fun. People were fed up with a range of restrictions and financial difficulties that came with the Presbyterian system and the fallout of the civil war. </p>
<h2>The worst Christmas hangover</h2>
<p>The aftermath of the Norwich Christmas riots was the most dramatic. The mayor was summoned to London in April 1648 to explain his failure to prohibit the Christmas parties, but a crowd closed the city gates to prevent him from being taken away. Armed forces were again deployed, and in the ensuing riots, the city ammunition magazine exploded, killing at least 40 people. </p>
<p>Norwich was not alone. In Kent, the grand jury decided that the Christmas party-going rioters had no choice but to answer to the law and the county went into exuberant rebellion against parliament. Royalists capitalised on the popular discontent and began organising the rioters. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-lockdowns-dont-necessarily-infringe-on-freedom-149205">Why lockdowns don't necessarily infringe on freedom</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Successively in 1647 and 1648, parties led to riots, these riots led to rebellions, which, in turn, caused the Second Civil War that summer. King Charles was put on trial after his defeat in the war and was executed. This resulted in a revolution and Britain and Ireland became a republic – all because of Christmas. </p>
<p>This Christmas, <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/28/family-christmas-gatherings-which-flout-rules-will-be-broken-up-by-police-13492048/">police</a> across the country are ready to enforce COVID regulations and break up gatherings. While the pandemic does make things different, with rule breaking a matter of safety as much as anything else, politicians could learn from the fallout of the last time Christmas was cancelled. </p>
<p>Like in 1647, many people today are fed up with the government’s restrictions. Many have also suffered financial difficulties as a result of the COVID regulations. Some may rail against the idea of ending a miserable year under what they may regard as contradictory restrictions on family fun. </p>
<p>Such a situation will have to be handled gingerly. There has already been civil disorder over <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-54827535">lockdowns</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/pfizer-covid-vaccine-promising-results-heres-what-needs-to-happen-next-149809">Vaccines are apparently coming in the new year</a> but the last thing the country needs is further unrest. Once again, government will need to balance the health risk against other societal challenges this pandemic has presented.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martyn Bennett receives funding in the past from the British Academy and AHRC. </span></em></p>A spirit of rebellion took the people of Cromwell’s England and celebrations went ahead despite strict rules banning festivities.Martyn Bennett, Professor of Early Modern History, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1360632020-04-09T14:46:41Z2020-04-09T14:46:41ZHow to celebrate Easter under lockdown<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326840/original/file-20200409-112635-qar213.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1022%2C530&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Before social distancing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leonardo da Vinci, Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With churches closed and annual pilgrimages cancelled, Christians across the world are wondering how to give thanks to God this Easter. And not just Christians – think also of “<a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/22-december/features/features/happy-christmas-folks">Chreasters”</a>. Do you attend church only at Christmas and Easter? If so, you’re a Chreaster, and you’re not alone – <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/18/when-easter-and-christmas-near-more-americans-search-online-for-church/">research shows</a> that Church of England attendance can increase by <a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/29-november/news/uk/cathedrals-report-rise-in-attendance-during-holy-week-and-easter">50</a> to <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/christmas-attendance-highest-level-more-decade">100 per cent</a> at those times.</p>
<p>Even if we assume that most Chreasters attend church for cultural rather than strictly religious reasons, there will still be something missing for them and regular churchgoers this year. The lost opportunity to gather with one another in a community, to experience thanks and praise – and to do so within buildings often hundreds of years old, with songs and spoken words often thousands of years old. It is a lost opportunity felt most grievously when now is a time of loss – loss of normality, of society and, desperately, of individual life.</p>
<p>Christians – perhaps more than Chreasters – face another dilemma: should they support the decision to close churches or oppose it as others from <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/03/keep-the-churches-open">various</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/coronavirus-churches-florida-social-distancing">denominations</a> <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/22/orthodox-priest-arrested-in-greece-for-holding-mass-during-coronavirus-lockdown">have done</a>. Christians have risked suffering and death to worship before, so why not now, runs the argument.</p>
<p>There is no easy answer to that question. However, one response is to reimagine the notion of pilgrimage. As we follow government advice to “stay at home” it is possible to be stay-at-home pilgrims. Stay-at-home or (to borrow from <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ez7CAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">Max Weber</a>) “everyday pilgrimage” is particularly associated with the Protestant Reformation.</p>
<h2>Martin Luther and faith</h2>
<p>Some of the most dramatic passages in Martin Luther reinterpret the relationship between work and worship. He describes <a href="https://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/Reformations441/LutherMarriage.htm">changing nappies</a>, <a href="https://rockrohr.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Luther-WHETHER-SOLDIERS-TOO-CAN-BE-SAVED.pdf">being a soldier, and even executing criminals</a> as Christian works of love, if they are performed as expressions of faith.</p>
<p>In Luther’s theology, it is impossible for anyone to earn righteousness by works: going on a pilgrimage, becoming a monk, and changing nappies are just as ineffectual when it comes to salvation. Righteousness is <em>sola fide</em>, faith alone: the belief in Christ’s death as an atoning sacrifice for humanity’s sin – the sacrifice that Christians celebrate at Easter. But it is better to change nappies than to be a monk or nun, according to Luther (himself a former monk), who disliked the way they isolated themselves from not just everyday life, but ordinary human biology. </p>
<p>Monks and nuns <a href="https://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/Reformations441/LutherMarriage.htm">exhibit</a> the “sin” of “pride” – they think they can <em>make themselves</em> holy by contradicting a direct edict from God to “<a href="https://biblehub.com/genesis/1-28.htm">Be fruitful and multiply</a>”. Rather than undertake monastic vows, Luther insisted that men and women glorify in family life – specifically recommending that fathers view changing nappies as something that can be done in “<a href="https://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/Reformations441/LutherMarriage.htm">Christian faith</a>”.</p>
<p>Just like monks and nuns, the belief that <a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/luther-nobility.asp">pilgrimage must be a literal journey</a> encourages people to think there are special places and activities that can make them holy – places and activities not muddied by ordinary life. But it is ordinary life that God created and into which he became flesh and blood. And it is ordinary sinners that he saves. For Luther, a Christian who changes nappies to care for family is not trying to <em>earn</em> something, but to <em>be</em> something: a faithful Christian who imitates <a href="https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/luther-freedomchristian.asp">Christ by loving and serving others</a>.</p>
<h2>Plough as pilgrimage</h2>
<p>Although stay-at-home pilgrimage is more obviously Lutheran, it is a theme in works on pilgrimage prior to the Protestant Reformation. William Langland’s 14th-century Piers Plowman criticises those who go on pilgrimage in search of holy shrines but not “truth”. Eventually, some genuine truth-seeking pilgrims appear and travel with Piers – but then they have to stop to help plough his “half-acre” field – it seems that this is the pilgrimage, rather than a distraction from it. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/two-wycliffite-texts-9780197223031?lang=en&cc=in">The Testimony of William Thorpe</a> distinguishes between “true” and “false” pilgrimage. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2281.00151">Thorpe was on trial</a> for being a <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HQPcCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">Lollard</a>, a religious group that started in England in the 14th century. The Lollards anticipated many of the beliefs associated with the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LuAzDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=companion+to+lollardy&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTtZmLrNvoAhXHfMAKHQLJAtIQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=companion%20to%20lollardy&f=false">later Reformation</a>, including the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UGi6WWtzkJYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">first efforts</a> to translate the Bible into English so that ordinary people could read it.</p>
<p>For Thorpe, true pilgrims are “discreet” where as false pilgrims make showy trips to Canterbury – which are just self-indulgent holidays. So indulgent, Thorpe laments, they even include playing bagpipes.</p>
<p>Bagpipes aside, the category of “everyday pilgrimage” is not itself without problems. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ez7CAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=max+weber+spirit+of+capitalism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW0LWShtroAhXQTxUIHQC9CU4Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=max%20weber%20spirit%20of%20capitalism&f=false">Weber</a> associated it with the rise of capitalism – and, by extension, the contemporary philosopher <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OYN88ArbxUAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=charles+taylor+sources+of+self&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZk82mgtroAhWsUBUIHThBAP4Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=charles%20taylor%20sources%20of%20self&f=false">Charles Taylor</a> and Cambridge University theologian <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xGq6BAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=banner+everay+ethics&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjc6ru9gtroAhVASxUIHYyvDZYQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=banner%20everay%20ethics&f=false">Michael Banner</a> have seen it as underpinning the rise of a secular, consumerist society. If true pilgrimage is work and family life, it is not long before making money and having children are our religion.</p>
<p>But this is just to say “everyday pilgrimage”, like actual pilgrimage, is not an answer on its own. It would need, for example, to be part of a wider denominational reimagining of the digital church services that are happening this Easter.</p>
<p>In the present crisis, we can think of “everyday pilgrimage” together with John Bunyan’s more famous The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678). Here, the character “Faithful” (one of the theological virtues: faith) learns from “Christian” (a Christian on his spiritual journey) that “a work of grace” is discoverable by “heart-holiness, family-holiness … conversation-holiness”. This is because, Bunyan writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The soul of religion is the practic[al] part … to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sadly, in the time of coronavirus, it is sometimes by not visiting others that we are loving them. But if our action (or inaction) each day is the best we can do in our current situation – and we are motivated by an “unspotted” or humble affection for the most vulnerable in society (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-new-measures-to-protect-people-at-highest-risk-from-coronavirus">our own</a> “fatherless and widows”) – we can, like Bunyan’s Christian, count ourselves pilgrims, progressing together, faithfully through, and hopefully beyond, this present valley.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136063/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dafydd Mills Daniel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Churches will remain closed over Easter, but theologians have argued over the centuries that faith itself, not ritual, is the heart and soul of Christianity.Dafydd Mills Daniel, McDonald Lecturer in Theology and Ethics, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1101282020-01-28T14:51:06Z2020-01-28T14:51:06ZUsing the Bible against LGBTQ+ people is an abuse of scripture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311828/original/file-20200124-81336-8lvpni.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C0%2C3582%2C2692&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Documents released by Church of England reinforce their teaching that 'homosexuality is incompatible with scripture'.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silver-cross-on-holy-bible-brown-1542097025">kaninw/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Church of England issued <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/Civil%20Partnerships%20-%20Pastoral%20Guidance%202019%20%282%29.pdf">pastoral guidance</a> from the House of Bishops to its clergy on January 23, following the legal introduction of heterosexual civil partnerships in 2019. While the guidance concerns heterosexual civil partners, the document has, controversially, been used by the church to reiterate its position on sexual relationships outside of heterosexual marriage. It states that “sexual relationships outside heterosexual marriage are regarded as falling short of God’s purpose for human beings”. </p>
<p>This is squarely in line with the church’s official position on homosexuality, which is that it is “<a href="https://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/document-library/lambeth-conference/1998/section-i-called-to-full-humanity/section-i10-human-sexuality">incompatible with scripture</a>”. We have seen recent attempts by liberal members to get the church to take a more inclusive approach towards gender and sexuality, but these have been rebuffed by conservatives. In October 2018, four bishops from the diocese of Oxford <a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2018/2-november/news/uk/oxford-bishops-offer-interim-lgbt-guidance-and-support">published guidance</a> designed “to advise local clergy and congregations in order to support LGBTQ+ people and their families, and to learn from the insights of LGTBQ+ people about being church together”. </p>
<p>Several months later, more than a hundred “concerned Anglicans” signed <a href="https://anglican.ink/2019/01/09/letter-from-concerned-anglicans-in-the-oxford-diocese-in-response-to-ad-clerum-of-31st-october-2018/">an open letter criticising the guidance</a>. The letter claimed that the attempt at inclusivity by the Oxford bishops actually served to exclude those who “hold to the traditional reading of scripture”. Their response stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We cannot see how it is right to accept as Christian leaders those who advocate lifestyles that are not consistent with New Testament teaching. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The letter writers may be referring to New Testament teaching from Paul’s letters in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+6%3A9-10&version=NIV">1 Corinthians 6:9—10</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+1%3A26-27&version=NIV">Romans 1:26-27</a> which describe how those who are “sexually immoral” will not enter the kingdom of God.</p>
<p>This example is one of the many cases where conservative Christians deploy biblical verses to bolster arguments against same-sex marriage, transgender identities, adoption and parenting by LGBTQ+ people. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311827/original/file-20200124-81346-1fky91t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C49%2C5461%2C3605&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311827/original/file-20200124-81346-1fky91t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311827/original/file-20200124-81346-1fky91t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311827/original/file-20200124-81346-1fky91t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311827/original/file-20200124-81346-1fky91t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311827/original/file-20200124-81346-1fky91t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311827/original/file-20200124-81346-1fky91t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conservative Christians use texts in the Bible to bolster anti-LGBTQ+ arguments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lgbt-lesbian-couple-moments-happiness-concept-554729929">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Within the Bible, there are a number of texts which have been used as a weapon against LGBTQ+ people, known as “clobber texts” or “texts of terror”. But using biblical verses in this way is actually an abuse of scripture. It must stop, urgently. Many LGBTQ+ Christians struggle to reconcile their faith with their gender or sexual identities, which can lead to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/10/church-rejection-driven-lgbt-people-suicide-paul-bayes-bishop-liverpool-says">self-harm or suicide</a>. </p>
<h2>Not the Word of God</h2>
<p>The Bible is often used as a source of authority, but it is misleading to call it “the word of God”. In fact, Christianity teaches that the word of God is not scripture, it is Jesus Christ. </p>
<p>As such, Jesus said nothing explicit about same-sex relationships or transgender people. In the New Testament, it is Paul who teaches about sexual morality, not Jesus. In <a href="https://www.livingout.org/the-bible-and-ssa">1 Corinthians 6:9 - 10</a>, he said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practise homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While statements like these are cited by conservative Christians to support arguments against the sexual activities and relationships of LGBTQ+ people, it is important to note how Paul himself warns that such use of the Bible is dangerous. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+3%3A6&version=NIV">2 Corinthians 3: 6</a> Paul writes “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life”. </p>
<p>In his provocative book, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_savage_text.html?id=r1IKAQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">The Savage Text: The Use and Abuse of the Bible</a>, theologian Adrian Thatcher cautions that Christians who mobilise the Bible to argue against the inclusion of others actually commit “bibliolatry” – worshipping the Bible instead of God. </p>
<h2>Pick ‘n’ mix Bible?</h2>
<p>Conservative Christians adopt a pick ‘n’ mix approach to scripture, selecting what appeals to suit their prejudices while ignoring other texts. The excerpt from Corinthians, above, lists alongside homosexuals, adulterers, the greedy and drunkards to just name a few. Thankfully, these and other offerings on the biblical buffet, such as <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=NIV&quicksearch=divorce&begin=53&end=53">divorce</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+2%3A18&version=NIV">owning slaves</a>, and the role of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=NIV&quicksearch=women&begin=53&end=53">women in the Church</a> have, to some extent, been sympathetically re-interpreted by the church.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311829/original/file-20200124-81395-1xuvolj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311829/original/file-20200124-81395-1xuvolj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311829/original/file-20200124-81395-1xuvolj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311829/original/file-20200124-81395-1xuvolj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311829/original/file-20200124-81395-1xuvolj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311829/original/file-20200124-81395-1xuvolj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311829/original/file-20200124-81395-1xuvolj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Falling numbers of young Christians points to its incompatibility with socially liberal views.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/people-praying-church-434094589">muratart/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Bible is complicated when it comes to the issue of homosexuality, as it is on many other issues. However, many other activities inconsistent with New Testament teaching don’t share the same airtime in religious discussions. There is no longer much concern, for example, about <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=modest&qs_version=NIV">dressing modestly and inexpensively</a> or <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5%3A18&version=NIV">getting drunk on wine</a>. Besides, there are many inclusive LGBTQ+ readings of the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Queer_Bible_Commentary.html?id=BwugAwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">Bible</a> and interpretations of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Queer_Theologies_The_Basics.html?id=AyGzDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Christianity</a> that raise new questions and have particular relevance for readers interested in LGBTQ+ issues.</p>
<p>One of the yardsticks for measuring how in touch the Church of England is with contemporary life lies in ongoing discussions about the acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the Church. However, the current situation <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10790495/Former-archbishop-of-Canterbury-We-are-a-post-Christian-nation.html">shows the diminishing authority</a> of the Church and the Bible in everyday life in the UK. </p>
<p>The Church of England faces a generational crisis, with only <a href="http://www.natcen.ac.uk/news-media/press-releases/2018/september/church-of-england-numbers-at-record-low/">2% of young people</a> identifying with it in the UK. The decline points to how the Church’s current position is seemingly hostile and incompatible with socially liberal views, particularly those towards LGBTQ+ people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110128/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Greenough does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By practising double standards, Conservative Christians are missing the point of the scriptures.Chris Greenough, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religion, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1203842019-07-16T09:12:39Z2019-07-16T09:12:39ZThe Church of England needs to speak out about Brexit – here’s why<p>Central to the Church of England’s understanding of itself as the established church is its vocation to be a “church of the nation” – a public institution ready to bring a theological voice to the national debates of the day. The trauma of Brexit confronts the four nations of the United Kingdom in different ways but – given the centrality to the debate of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/by-riding-the-tiger-of-populism-the-conservatives-may-have-destroyed-the-uk-61614">resurgent English nationalism</a> – it is most painful for England, which is where the Church of England’s mission is primarily directed.</p>
<p>Since 2016, <a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2018/21-september/news/uk/bishop-of-leeds-we-will-tell-the-truth-about-brexit">several individual bishops</a>, some in their capacity as “<a href="https://churchinparliament.org/2019/01/09/archbishop-of-canterbury-a-no-deal-brexit-would-be-a-moral-failure/">Lords Spiritual</a>” have sought to contribute to this debate, often with balance and insight. Yet – unlike both the (Anglican) <a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2018/25-may/news/uk/scottish-episcopal-church-general-synod-brexit-resolution-second-referendum">Scottish Episcopal Church</a> and the (Presbyterian) <a href="https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/church-of-scotland-s-general-assembly-opposes-brexit-1-4137491">Church of Scotland</a> – the Church of England has so far been unable to bring any authoritative collective voice to the national conversation.</p>
<p>No debate on Brexit has taken place in General Synod (the Church of England’s governing body), either before or since the 2016 referendum. While the House of Bishops was able in 2015 to produce an unusually substantial statement before the general election – <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/whoismyneighbour-pages.pdf">Who is my Neighbour?</a> – it has so far delivered no formal public statement on Brexit at all.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1066020806503862277"}"></div></p>
<p>One obvious explanation for this official silence suggests itself. A <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/09/20/how-anglicans-tipped-the-brexit-vote/">referendum exit poll</a> conducted by Greg Smith and Linda Woodhead revealed that English Anglicans are as divided on Brexit as the general population, with 66% reportedly having voted Leave. Since almost all bishops were Remainers, a collective intervention on Brexit could have proved incendiary.</p>
<p>But this cannot be a sufficient account of the church’s institutional reticence. The Church of England has at times been prepared to risk significant controversy in its public interventions. Acrimonious divisions among Anglicans did not prevent the leadership defending its traditional but highly controversial stance <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ecclesiastical-law-journal/article/church-of-england-and-samesex-marriage-beyond-a-rightsbased-analysis/27E9D1594DB2E05DB2F32078A23D76C9">against same-sex marriage in 2013</a>. </p>
<p>Moreover, bishops do not regard their teaching authority as subject to opinion polls of Anglicans – many of whom identify as such merely as <a href="https://www.economist.com/erasmus/2018/09/28/the-odd-connection-between-brexit-and-lukewarm-religion?fsrc=gp_en?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/theoddconnectionbetweenbrexitandlukewarmreligionanglicanismevangelicalismandbrexit">a cultural marker of Englishness</a> rather than an indicator of strong affiliation with the church.</p>
<p>A more plausible explanation lies in the combination of the daunting complexity of the issue itself and the longstanding deficit of theologically informed reflection on the EU among British theologians and Christian politicians generally. Like so many institutions, the church was caught in the headlights, ill-equipped to respond promptly and intelligently to an issue that thrust itself suddenly upon a woefully unprepared nation.</p>
<p>By contrast, two weeks before the referendum (coincidentally), the Council of European Churches published a substantial <a href="http://www.ceceurope.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/1GB2016_Doc15-Open-letter-Future-of-Europe.pdf">open letter</a> to all European churches on the future of the EU, drawing on years of serious prior reflection on European integration, but the work has not been widely disseminated in the UK.</p>
<h2>Truth before reconciliation</h2>
<p>In recent months, however, some have begun to suggest that, while the church should remain officially neutral on Brexit itself, it might nevertheless <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/churches-and-cathedrals-open-doors-brexit-conversation-and-prayer">engage in a process of “reconciliation”</a>. One can see the initial plausibility of this strategy, given that the church is both widely embedded – and often trusted – in local communities (at parish and diocesan levels) and possessed of a notable constitutional platform from which to address national issues.</p>
<p>A recent example of the former is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jun/03/grenfell-bring-uk-together-bishop-kensington-graham-tomlin">Bishop of Kensington’s role</a> as chair of the Grenfell Tower inquiry. Examples of the latter would include <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/articles/2009/03/06/miners_strike_and_church_feature.shtml">clerical interventions</a> in the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike and the Anglican Church’s presiding over the official Falklands war thanksgiving service in 1982.</p>
<p>Such a proposal, however, runs up against two considerable objections. One is that, while the church’s local efforts at reconciliation have often been welcomed, its national interventions have often proved highly divisive. This was certainly the case with <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0712/071246.html">the Falklands service</a>. The other is that such a plan fails to acknowledge the scale and intensity of the national demons Brexit has unleashed and considerably overestimates the church’s match fitness for such a task.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>I would propose, instead, a more modest, albeit still demanding, two-part strategy.</p>
<p>First, as “truth and reconciliation” processes around the world show, the precondition of any meaningful reconciliation is some degree of public reckoning with the reality of what has occurred. Without claiming any privileged access to the “truth about Brexit”, the church might add a distinctive voice to those already arguing that both sides in the referendum campaign projected serious misrepresentations of core questions. </p>
<p>These included the nature, achievements and failings of the EU as well as the costs and benefits of UK membership and the sheer complexity of leaving. The Church of England is also well placed to comment on the causes and impact of background factors such as economic inequality and rising immigration and the nature of – and supposed threats to – British/English identity.</p>
<p>Second, if the church is to go beyond merely echoing existing secular commentaries, it might exploit its considerable traditions of theological reflection on the fundamental questions underlying Brexit. These would include the meaning of sovereignty, the value and limits of national loyalty, the significance of place and tradition, the requirements of representation and the dangers of overweening power. </p>
<p>There could also be a valuable theological perspective to help explain the demands of hospitality to strangers as well as the shape of economic justice and the obligation of international solidarity. These could be effectively marshalled to present a fresh moral and political vision of the fundamental questions underlying Brexit.</p>
<p>Since these questions will disturb the nation for years to come – whether or not the UK actually leaves the EU in 2019 and, if so, on what terms – it is not too late for the Church of England to muster its considerable resources and speak out on the most divisive national issue of our times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120384/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Chaplin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The church is itself divided on Brexit, but that doesn’t mean it can’t provide guidance for a polarised community.Jonathan Chaplin, Member, Divinity Faculty, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1104712019-01-29T14:11:11Z2019-01-29T14:11:11ZBrexit shines light on Church of England rift between leadership and Anglican majority<p>Two recent statements from the leader of the Anglican church, Justin Welby, reflect a growing division in the church between a charismatic-evangelical party and a more mainstream majority. The latter are stronger in numbers but the former are now in power. </p>
<p>Welby’s <a href="https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/news/latest-news/statement-archbishops-canterbury-and-york">first statement</a>, issued jointly with his number two, the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, called for a “fresh and uniting vision for all in our country”. It came amid increasingly heated debate over Brexit and their much more neutral stance contrasts with the fervour with which <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/08/our-commitments-to-our-european-partners-cannot-be-lightly-cast/">both</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f-Y13JdWYQ">archbishops</a> backed Remain at the time of the referendum. </p>
<p>The second statement was more theological. Welby told a Christian radio channel that he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/21/i-pray-in-tongues-every-day-says-archbishop-of-canterbury">prays in tongues every morning</a>. Like a masonic handshake, this identified Welby to his fellow charismatic Christians as one of them. Both archbishops are part of this revivalist form of Christianity, which identifies the gift of tongues (praying in a language they believe is given to them by God) as a sign of possession by the Holy Spirit and of being “born again”. </p>
<p>This conflict in the Anglican Church is closely tied to wider divisions over Brexit that affect the UK as a whole.</p>
<h2>Conflicting beliefs</h2>
<p>The struggle between theological parties for control of the Church of England has been going on for decades. George Carey was the first charismatic-evangelical Archbishop of Canterbury. He was enthroned wearing a mitre emblazoned with tongues of fire – the symbol of the Holy Spirit that fell on the disciples at Pentecost and gave them the gift of “tongues”.</p>
<p>The current archbishops make no bones about the fact that they support the charismatic party in the church, both in England and the wider Anglican communion. Welby comes from the most powerful charismatic church in the Church of England, <a href="https://www.htb.org/network/">Holy Trinity Brompton</a>. And increasingly the House of Bishops, representing top clergy, reflects this preference and power has shifted that way.</p>
<p>Around England, the conflict is seen in the growing number of congregations that have a charismatic vicar appointed to oversee them. The “happy clappy” style of worship that they introduce sits uncomfortably with traditional Anglican bells, choirs and formality. Some Anglicans grin and bear it, others feel alienated.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255822/original/file-20190128-39344-3p80gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Happy clappy’ Christianity is increasingly popular.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blurred-christian-congregation-worshiping-god-big-1151734436?src=Nv7jf_Yg5d3RpfcBddLiAg-2-4">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The struggle has come to a political head over Brexit. Analysis of exit polling by <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/09/20/how-anglicans-tipped-the-brexit-vote/">Linda Woodhead and Greg Smith</a> after the referendum found that two thirds of Anglicans supported leaving the EU, even when other factors like age and geographical location were taken into account. Remainers were in the minority among both regular and less frequent attenders. But, among evangelicals and charismatics, it was Remain that won majority support. </p>
<p>This shows how different English evangelicals are from their brethren who voted for Donald Trump in the last US presidential election. In England, evangelicals were far more likely to support the liberal cosmopolitan Remain position than their more mainline counterparts. In the US it was the other way round, with a striking <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/">81% of evangelicals supporting Trump</a>.</p>
<p>The difference is explained by the much more genteel profile of charismatic-evangelicals in the Church of England. Like their US counterparts they are predominantly white, but they are middle to upper class. A quarter earn more than £50,000 a year. They are concentrated in London and some, like Welby, are part of a metropolitan and global elite. </p>
<p>Given their internationalist mindset, British evangelicals are more open to immigration than their more mainstream Anglican counterparts. Reducing immigration actually makes English evangelicals less likely to support a policy or political issue, <a href="https://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/faith-in-politics.cfm">found a 2015 poll</a>. </p>
<p>Katie Gaddini’s research, interviewing members of Holy Trinity Brompton, confirmed that immigration was a linchpin issue determining their vote for Remain, based on their belief that Christians are meant to welcome outsiders. It ties in with Anglican evangelicals’ sense of being part of a worldwide network of like-minded charismatic Christians, not least within the churches of the Anglican Communion.</p>
<p>In sharp contrast to the evangelicals, other Anglican voters in England cited immigration as a major issue persuading them to vote Leave, as they wanted to preserve England’s <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/That-Was-Church-England-English/dp/147292164X">cultural-ethnic identity</a>. Most important of all, however was their concern about excessive EU interference.</p>
<p>For now, the archbishops and and like-minded bishops are in power at the top of the Church of England, but without the support of most grassroots Anglicans. Their stance on Brexit makes this very plain. Traditionally the Church of England has been <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25889828">“the Tory party at prayer”</a> and, in terms of votes cast, it still is. </p>
<p>But the “old guard” of mainline Anglicans is slowly dying out and the new breed of enthusiastic, charismatic-evangelical clergy are having more success in winning over some young people. Supporters of their approach – like the archbishops – say that speaking in tongues and other charismatic practices are the best way to revive the dying Church of England. Opponents say that they are likely to drive out the last remaining Anglicans and alienate their children. Either way, it will affect the political complexion of England as a whole.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two thirds of Anglicans supported leaving the EU but most evangelicals and charismatics voted Remain.Katie Gaddini, Researcher in Sociology, University of CambridgeLinda Woodhead, Director of Religion and Society, University of Lancaster, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/874642017-11-23T12:44:26Z2017-11-23T12:44:26ZBeware the Nursery Gender Police: why church guidance on homophobic and transphobic bullying falls short<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196126/original/file-20171123-18029-f5icv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children decide who can be a superhero.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kids-superheroes-fun-costumes-play-concept-454769488?src=QRSnyx7OMxOuQ9Rxy-vFyQ-1-1">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre">Church of England says</a> that all children should be able to dress up in tutus or superhero suits without comment or criticism. But what stops boys from putting on heels and tiaras isn’t teacher unease, it’s other children.</p>
<p>Amid some incendiary press coverage, the Church of England has released <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/Valuing%20All%20God%27s%20Children%27s%20Report_0.pdf">Valuing All God’s Children</a>, its updated guidance for schools on challenging homophobic, biphobic and transphobic (HBT) bullying. The church is right to support children exploring different identities. But the guidance ignores evidence that children are the gender police in classrooms. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Being_Boys_Being_Girls.html?id=2yqRKebeCVYC&redir_esc=y">Studies</a> of <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Playing-It-Straight-Uncovering-Gender-Discourse-in-the-Early-Childhood/Blaise/p/book/9780415951135">nurseries and early years classrooms</a> demonstrate that young children work hard to ensure that their peers conform to stereotypical, and binary, gender behaviour. </p>
<p>Supporting children to explore identities “<a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/Valuing%20All%20God%27s%20Children%27s%20Report_0.pdf">sometimes quite literally with the dressing-up box</a>” is a standard aspect of good early years practice. But teachers are up against it when it comes to gender. </p>
<p>Children under six associate “being a boy” or “being a girl” with wearing particular clothes and doing <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9780470147658">specific, different, things</a>. They are also keen to demonstrate, to themselves and everyone around them, that they know what being a girl or boy means and which of these they are. Girls playing superheroes and boys wearing tutus aren’t usually trying out different gender identities. They are showing they are confident that their gender stays the same whatever they do.</p>
<h2>Young children ‘correct’ how others play</h2>
<p>For most four-year-olds, showing that you know you are a girl means things like wearing pink, playing with dolls and dressing up as a princess. Showing you know you are a boy means playing football, building things and being superheroes.</p>
<p>Children get these ideas partly from society around them and partly from each other – and those they get from each other are the most stereotypical. Within a nursery setting, each gender group will work hard to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Playing-It-Straight-Uncovering-Gender-Discourse-in-the-Early-Childhood/Blaise/p/book/9780415951135">protect their “territory”</a> – so, for example, boys keep girls away from the bikes and the Lego, and girls chase boys out the home corner. Reflecting wider society, boys draw particularly strong boundaries around what boys are “allowed” to do, and try to keep girls out of those activities.</p>
<p>Four-year-olds are also keen to fit in with other children of their own age or slightly older. Newcomers to any group are eager to learn what is acceptable for boys and girls in that group – and the older children are happy to teach them. </p>
<p>It’s often made clear to children newly arrived at nursery that some things are only for one gender. Barbara Martin’s book <a href="https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/gender-and-sexuality/children-at-play/">Children at Play</a> contains some striking examples of this, from acceptable bucket and pen colours for boys (not pink) to who can be a superhero or play at skipping. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196128/original/file-20171123-18006-x2b8g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196128/original/file-20171123-18006-x2b8g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196128/original/file-20171123-18006-x2b8g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196128/original/file-20171123-18006-x2b8g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196128/original/file-20171123-18006-x2b8g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196128/original/file-20171123-18006-x2b8g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196128/original/file-20171123-18006-x2b8g4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children make the rules.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brother-sister-lying-on-carpet-arranges-527788840?src=stgsrIphqvZiRR9r1Uiu2Q-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>This isn’t always bullying, but it matters</h2>
<p>This constant “correction” of other children and the insistence that they conform to very stereotypical gender norms isn’t always bullying. The tone used is often one of friendly and supportive advice for someone who hasn’t quite learned the ropes yet. But its constant presence in the nursery, coupled with stronger language – or even aggression used against those who regularly break the “rules” – makes it hard for children to try out even slightly unconventional play. </p>
<p>If conforming to nursery norms goes even as far as the colour of a bucket, is it surprising that boys who play with dolls or put on tiaras only do so when other children aren’t watching, and that most girls never try to play at superheroes? </p>
<p>Children learn through play, and getting involved with different kinds of activities is vital for the breadth of their experience. Being stopped by other children from exploring a full variety of play styles and equipment limits children’s experience and can affect their <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-013-0269-0">learning in the longer term</a>. </p>
<p>Boys already come to nursery with <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9780470147658">fewer emotion words than girls</a> – and not being able to explore caring roles through doll play is only going to make that gap wider. Girls who don’t experience playing with construction toys are likely to do less well in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-013-0269-0">spatial tasks later</a>, which may be one reason why so few end up as engineers. </p>
<p>We need our children to be enabled to grow into flexible, rounded adults who can be both adventurous and caring, physically active and empathetic, scientists and artists. Children’s freedom to explore experiences and identities across arbitrary and stereotypical gender divides is vital for society as well as for them as individuals.</p>
<p>Valuing All God’s Children is a good start. But if children are to be able to move beyond gender binaries, we need to go further than just focusing on bullying. We have to broaden the minds of the nursery gender police – and all involved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carrie Paechter has previously received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council </span></em></p>Children are often the ones who decide what’s ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.Carrie Paechter, Professor of Education and Director of the Nottingham Centre for Children, Young People and Families, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/868842017-11-06T15:39:57Z2017-11-06T15:39:57ZAs #MeToo harassment claims hit the Church of England, it’s an institution still steeped in sexism<p>The Church of England is the latest institution to be swept up in the #MeToo wave of disclosures about sexual abuse and harassment. As Rachel Trewick, the bishop of Gloucester told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/01/church-of-england-urged-to-tackle-sexual-abuse-within-its-ranks">the Guardian</a>, it’s dangerous to imagine that the “church is somehow an elite group of people” immune from the issue of harassment. In an interview with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10155378395551939/">Channel 4 News</a>, Jayne Ozanne, a senior lay member of the church, said she thought sexual harassment and abuse was widespread within the church. </p>
<p>My ongoing research into how women clergy negotiate their belonging in the Church of England suggests that the institution has a uniquely problematic relationship with sex and gender. The stories I’m hearing from women priests about everyday unhealthy and humiliating practices based on perceptions of gender are in many ways no different to the stories lots of other women might tell. </p>
<p>Yet, women clergy must also negotiate a system whose symbolism is dominated by men in their bid to belong within the institution – and access power. Life has not been easy for women in the church: a male saviour, sent by God with masculine names, a traditionally male priesthood, a male-oriented history, a creation myth that casts the woman as temptress, and the battles required to read Biblical text in a non-sexist way. The legacy of Christian culture is that men and women are constructed as different, in ways that hand power to men. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tV7jroSHnfk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Women clergy are awake to the ways in which this plays out. As priests, they must slay the demons attached to the myth of being different-but-equal. Roles and attitudes expected of women that are hidden in “feminine” traits undermine their leadership and authority in subtle ways. For example, the way they look is constantly judged and evaluated. One woman recounted that she was told the feminine timbre of her voice made her inaudible. </p>
<h2>Sanctioned sexism</h2>
<p>More significantly for these women, their priesthood remains contested by some in the church. This is a stumbling block with which the Church of England must deal before women are seen as spiritually, symbolically and humanly equal to men.</p>
<p>After 1994, when women were first ordained, a structure was set up to accommodate those who believe the priesthood is exclusively male. Known as the “two integrities” it is designed to allow <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/2011184/gs%20misc%201076%20-%20women%20in%20the%20episcopate%20house%20of%20bishops%20declaration.pdf">“mutual flourishing</a>” of those who accept women can be priests and those who do not, validating both positions. The church has thrown a protective boundary around those who believe that God strictly differentiates between male and female, particularly in rituals, in leadership and in representation of the divine. Women clergy are left to find ways of negotiating this boundary, rather than resisting it.</p>
<p>The two integrities arrangement prevents ordained women from applying for certain parish priest positions or performing rituals for certain groups, such as Holy Communion. They must work alongside, and often minister to people who do not recognise their status as priests because they are women. In any other institution in the UK, this would be illegal. This situation is deeply damaging to women’s status in the church. It officially sanctions those who see women as alien to the priesthood – and this has an impact on the way some men in the institution view and interact with women.</p>
<h2>Little space to protest</h2>
<p>The ability for women to protest and resist sexism in the Church of England remains limited. Women clergy often feel they can exercise the power of protest only in ways that go unnoticed. According to my conversations with women priests, changing sexist language in hymns when no one can hear, for instance, is a way of resisting without attracting rebuke from congregations and church hierarchy. </p>
<p>When women in the church protest more overtly, the backlash is significant. The nomination of Philip North as bishop of Sheffield, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39227033">drew protests from women clergy</a> and their allies because of his well-known stance against women’s ordination. They resisted working with a man in authority who did not openly acknowledge female priesthood. North withdrew his nomination in March 2017 after the public protest, but the ensuing <a href="https://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/articles/mourning-our-infidelity/">discussion</a> cast him as vulnerable and wounded and the female protesters as bullies. Church leaders <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39227033">reacted</a> with a call to “disagree Christianly”, but in my view this effectively silences those in the church who see injustice against women continuing around them. </p>
<p>The Church of England should now look to improve its systems for reporting and dealing with sexually abusive behaviour. But if women clergy are stymied in their ability to protest loudly and at will about what they perceive as sexist structures and theologies, a systemic change in the way women are treated in the Church of England is unlikely to happen. Given that women clergy are seen as different to male clergy by some in the church, this will only ever deal with the symptoms of sexism, not its root causes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86884/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon Jagger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Women clergy are still fighting a battle for acceptance in the church.Sharon Jagger, PhD researcher in Women's Studies, specific areas of study female clergy and gender and performance, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/725392017-02-13T12:46:35Z2017-02-13T12:46:35ZBishops’ fumble with same-sex marriage means the Church of England is about to lose a generation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156355/original/image-20170210-23350-yvsxvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After months of discussing the Church of England’s position on same-sex marriage, its bishops will deliver their summary to the <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/general-synod.aspx">General Synod</a> in London on February 15. As events take place around the country celebrating <a href="http://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/">LGBT History Month</a>, this could have been a good opportunity to explore a rich and positive dialogue around faith and sexuality. But the bishops have blown it. In a <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/3863472/gs-2055-marriage-and-same-sex-relationships-after-the-shared-conversations-report-from-the-house-of-bishops.pdf">document</a> published before the meeting, they reaffirmed the traditional belief that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman, for life, for the procreation of children. </p>
<p>The so-called <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/3863472/gs-2055-marriage-and-same-sex-relationships-after-the-shared-conversations-report-from-the-house-of-bishops.pdf">“Shared Conversations”</a>, the name of the discussion process, offered a chance for the church to jive with a sexuality-savvy generation. The bishops could have made a step further towards institutional equality and shown that they mean it when they say we are all “wonderfully made”. </p>
<p>But they could not be more culturally tone deaf. What should have been a moment to bridge generations is shaping up to be a lesson in alienation <em>par excellence</em>. When it comes to sexuality, the bishops’ discussion document is not just a beat behind the cultural zeitgeist, it is an entire hymn sheet behind. </p>
<p>What will appear on the synod <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/general-synod/agendas-and-papers/february-2017-group-of-sessions.aspx">agenda</a> on February 15 is a fumbling discussion on sexuality that never achieves eye-contact. Synod is being asked to have a “take note” debate – which means no vote will actually take place for or against the document about same-sex marriage – though no doubt campaigners on either side will seek to get their point across. A group of 14 retired bishops published <a href="https://retiredbishopsletter.com/letter/">an open letter</a> ahead of the meeting, concerned that the church was not listening to gay Christians. </p>
<h2>Out of step</h2>
<p>Today’s gender and sexual parlance is conspicuously missing from these debates. The millennial and post-millennial generations are embracing a whole new, non-binary, sexual vocabulary and they are free to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/23/gender-fluid-generation-young-people-male-female-trans">genderfluid</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/25/polyamory-more-than-one-lover-emer-otoole">polyamorous</a> and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/im-pansexual-here-are-the-five-biggest-misconceptions-about-my-sexuality-10480878.html">pansexual</a>. </p>
<p>There is more silence than discussion in the bishop’s document and I suspect the heavy-handed editing was required to present a reassuring unity, something which the bishops are keen not to disrupt under any circumstances. There is little sense in the report of just what was actually discussed among the bishops. They attempt to generate a sense of moving forward in thinking about diverse sexualities, but it is overstated. In fact, you could stub your toe on the inertia – the church has moved not an inch. </p>
<p>The synod will be presented with a heavy dose of church law, mainly to restate the traditional belief that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman, for life, for the procreation of children. The nuclear family is spiritually and morally privileged. This may generate the rolling of eyes from much of the public, since the <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/3863472/gs-2055-marriage-and-same-sex-relationships-after-the-shared-conversations-report-from-the-house-of-bishops.pdf">“spiritual home for all the people of England”</a> is megaphoning its belief that swathes of the population are slip-sliding along a continuum of deviancy and sin, having sex outside the sanctity of lifelong heterosexual marriage. </p>
<p>But at the same time, a rather oxymoronic suggestion in the report argues that the church should really work on its welcome to lesbian, gay and bisexual people, while re-affirming its moral stance against same-sex marriage at the same time. </p>
<h2>Lessons from debates over women bishops</h2>
<p>The bishops base their deliberations on the rickety and equivocal three-legged stool of tradition, reason and scripture. My ongoing research with women clergy, however, suggests there is elasticity in belief within the church. Aware of their own journey from the margins, many of these women want the church to be far more open to diverse sexualities. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.lgcm.org.uk/news/ol-hob/">The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement</a> and <a href="http://mirandathrelfallholmes.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/sex-and-bishops.html">clergy blogs</a> are expressing disappointment in the bishops’ homage to heteronormativity. These weather vanes may indicate a shift in direction within the church and a growing resistance to its narrow doctrine. </p>
<p>To me, the act of relying on tradition to legitimise outmoded thinking is myopic. Lesbian, gay and bisexual clergy and lay people (trans people are invisible in the bishops’ discussion) are being cast as others in their own church. </p>
<p>What especially vexes the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and their allies is the reinforcement of the expectation that gay and lesbian clergy should remain celibate, since they have an “exemplary” position, binding by church law, and are held to a higher standard of sexual conduct than churchgoers. In the movement’s <a href="http://www.lgcm.org.uk/news/ol-hob/">letter</a> to the bishops, they wrote: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is now clear that the process has almost entirely failed to hear the cries of faithful LGBTI+ people. You are proposing to formalise ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ among clergy in same-sex relationships …far from equalising the situation between straight and gay clergy it pushes LGBTI+ clergy back into the closet. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This letter clearly borrows from the language used during the struggle for women’s ordination. The church hierarchy has resistance and protest on its hands once again.</p>
<p>The bishops might be able to publicly maintain collegiate unity, but it risks built-in obsolescence for the church. I would like to think that there are bishops who would distance themselves from this report if they could. Against the fast-paced change in social attitudes to sexuality, particularly among the young, the bishops’ “Shared Conversation” is just cultural white noise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon Jagger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The bishops could not be more culturally tone deaf.Sharon Jagger, PhD researcher in Women's Studies, specific areas of study female clergy and gender and performance, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/672072016-10-24T09:48:28Z2016-10-24T09:48:28ZIs God really dead? How Britain lost faith in the church<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142029/original/image-20161017-12443-t2wjja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hard times.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://theconversation.com/your-light-bulbs-could-be-playing-havoc-with-your-health-heres-why-66999">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Is God dead? Fifty years ago, on April 8, 1966, a Time magazine cover asked just <a href="http://time.com/isgoddead/">that question</a>. The same could be asked in Britain today. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/17/church-of-england-could-drop-legal-requirement-weekly-sunday-services">The Church of England</a> recently announced it was considering dropping the requirement for weekly church services in parish churches in the wake of dwindling attendance that show <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/17/church-of-england-attendance-decline-30-years-general-assembly">no sign of bouncing back</a> for at least a generation. Low church attendance is frequently in the news, but looking deeper into the phenomenon reveals what the underlying issues really are.</p>
<p>The Church of England has been suffering from a conflict of values with its members, <a href="http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/research_findings/featured_findings/it_isn_t_cool_to_be_christian">especially the under 25s</a>. Recent debates around same-sex marriage, abortion and female bishops, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/08/church-of-england-fears-talks-on-gay-rights-could-end-global-anglican-communion">threatened to split the church</a> and <a href="http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/thereligiousandandabortion/">alienate a significant proportion of its congregation</a>. Throughout ongoing controversies, <a href="http://www.religionandsociety.org.uk/events/programme_events/show/press_release_westminster_faith_debate_3_gender_and_religion">including</a> the lack of support for policies on <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/religion/women-bishops/50196/church-england-commits-suicide-over-women-bishops">women</a>, the Church of England <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11731361/Bryony-Gordon-Sunday-opening-wont-destroy-the-Church...-But-the-Church-might-destroy-itself.html">has come across as outdated</a>. </p>
<p>The situation has been exacerbated by the comments of senior church figures such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/12/church-of-england-attendance-falls-below-million-first-time">lamented earlier this year that</a> “the culture [is] becoming anti-Christian, whether it is on matters of sexual morality, or the care for people at the beginning or end of life. It is easy to paint a very gloomy picture”.</p>
<p>At the same time, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/22/former-archbishop-of-canterbury-admits-he-deserves-criticism-ove/">the Church of England</a> – <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/is-the-rise-of-nones-actually-the-decline-of-catholics/">as well as the Catholic Church</a> – is still reeling from <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cc5f7ccc-9706-11e6-a80e-bcd69f323a8b">allegations and legal settlements</a> related to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/10/pope-francis-us-visit-catholic-sex-abuse">accusations of sexual abuse</a>. Indeed, many have abandoned Catholicism as a result of what many perceive to be the church’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-37486488">inadequate</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/catholic-bishops-not-obliged-report-clerical-child-abuse-vatican-says">response</a> to that <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-pope-benedict-knew-about-abuse-in-the-catholic-church">systemic</a> problem. </p>
<h2>God is no longer ‘in our image’</h2>
<p>As Church of England congregations age and <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/06/24/british-youth-reject-religion/">young people reject organised religion</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/13/church-of-england-evangelical-drive">atrophy of traditional parish churches</a> seems to be unremitting.</p>
<p>In contrast, <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21685473-parts-established-church-are-learning-their-immigrant-brethren-resurrection">attendance at Evangelical and Pentecostal churches has increased</a> over the last several decades. Between 2015 and 2013, attendance in London Pentecostal churches <a href="http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2013/07/pentecostal-churches-thriving-in-london-as-traditional-denominations-decline">increased by 50%</a>. This is at odds with Church of England attendance, which has gone down by 9% over the same period. While <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11948641/Church-of-England-to-hand-mansion-over-to-refugees.html">many Anglican churches</a> have made an effort to welcome new immigrants and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/01/church-attacks-david-cameron-language-asylum-crisis">support</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-32477795">refugees</a>, the message has <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-church-idUKKCN0WD0SC">not been unequivocally supportive</a>; <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/03/church-attendance-propped-immigrants-study">evangelical churches are more highly regarded</a> by Christians who have recently arrived in the UK.</p>
<p>Prominent Conservative Party leaders, including <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3694295/Theresa-takes-break-whirlwind-start-PM-attend-Sunday-church-husband-Philip-side.html">Theresa May</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/19/david-cameron-rebukes-church-of-england-bishops-over-refugee-letter">David Cameron</a>, and most recently, the aptly-named Tory councillor <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/722216/Brexit-treason-petition-Tory-councillor-Christian-Holliday-suspended">Christian Holliday</a>, whose policies have been criticised as not welcoming of new arrivals to the UK, are perhaps some of the more visible representatives of traditional churchgoers. In contrast, the rise of charismatic church attendance by recent arrivals to the UK illustrates that these communities offer something the Church of England does not.</p>
<p>While the demographics of church attendance have shifted over the past few decades, as indeed they have since Christianity first emerged as a religion in its own right, interest in religion itself has increased sharply. For instance, <a href="http://www.retoday.org.uk/news/a-level-results-press-release">religion is the fastest-growing A-level subject</a> in all of the humanities, social sciences, and arts, increasing a whopping 110% since 2003. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142870/original/image-20161024-28376-19ckm1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142870/original/image-20161024-28376-19ckm1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142870/original/image-20161024-28376-19ckm1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142870/original/image-20161024-28376-19ckm1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142870/original/image-20161024-28376-19ckm1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142870/original/image-20161024-28376-19ckm1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142870/original/image-20161024-28376-19ckm1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The church: losing focus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/dl2_lim.mhtml?src=7_mAakvOoXsG4B01UI3X9A-1-21&id=283465301&size=medium_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is despite <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12070607/Schools-must-teach-children-that-Britain-is-a-Christian-country.html">growing anxiety about how to teach religion</a> in schools, some of which has resulted in backwards curriculum redesign or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2014/jan/15/dont-dismiss-religious-education-school">ineffective teaching</a> that <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11381019/Nicky-Morgans-Trojan-Horse-curriculum-could-lead-to-collapse-of-Religious-studies.html">may be discouraging students</a> from learning more about the subject.</p>
<h2>‘Believing without belonging’</h2>
<p>It’s not quite true to say, then, that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rui-dai/why-young-people-are-beco_b_1594786.html">young people are becoming more secular</a> – interest in faith, belief and spirituality seems to be on the increase. Grace Davie’s concept of “<a href="http://scp.sagepub.com/content/37/4/455.extract">believing without belonging</a>” might be a more useful way to <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-pope-succession-dolan-idUKBRE9200I620130301">understand young people’s apparent rejection of the church</a>. </p>
<p>In the nineties, Davie, a sociologist of religion, coined the phrase to describe the shifting nature of religiosity from communal and active to individual and inactive. She argued that religious believing in the UK has become detached from religious belonging, which reflects a wider social shift to individualism. Young people’s “rejection” of the church, then, could be both a political response to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11883273/Bigoted-misogynistic-and-controlling-scathing-critique-of-Catholic-Church-by-its-own-members.html">the misogyny</a> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12153784/I-was-driven-out-of-my-beloved-church-by-homophobia.html">homophobia</a> displayed during church debates over the last few years, and <a href="http://scp.sagepub.com/content/37/4/455.extract">a reflection of</a> the “implicit religion of the British people” by which belief in a Christian God doesn’t equate to church attendance. </p>
<p>The idea of the <a href="https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/scotland/291811/christianity-should-be-taught-as-history-claims-st-andrews-academic/">UK as a Christian nation</a> has been <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/12036287/Britain-is-no-longer-a-Christian-country-and-should-stop-acting-as-if-it-is-says-judge.html">challenged</a> in <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/05/britain-really-is-ceasing-to-be-a-christian-country/">recent years</a>. What is clear, however, is that religion is even more a factor in public life and personal interest than it ever has been. </p>
<p>More people than ever are choosing to learn about religion and what it means for a world that <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160422-atheism-agnostic-secular-nones-rising-religion/">increasingly believes itself to be secular</a>. This challenges society to reflect on how it defines religious literacy – and that is a good thing. God, then, isn’t dead. People are just looking for him in a different way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meredith J C Warren is Programme Director of the Leadership, Religion, and Society MA at the University of Sheffield. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Edwards does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>50 years after Time magazine’s famous ‘Is God Dead?’ cover, Church attendance numbers are tumbling. But that doesn’t mean Christianity is on the way out.Katie Edwards, Director SIIBS, University of SheffieldM J C Warren, Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/665192016-10-10T16:41:24Z2016-10-10T16:41:24ZTheresa May’s plans to relax faith school admissions will do nothing for social justice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140888/original/image-20161007-21447-1kanoz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mixed response to May's faith school plan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With competition for school places set to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-pupil-projections-trends-in-pupil-numbers-july-2015">intensify over the next decade</a>, the government’s recent <a href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone/supporting_documents/SCHOOLS%20THAT%20WORK%20FOR%20EVERYONE%20FINAL.pdf">proposal</a> to relax admissions rules for new faith schools has been met with mixed responses. While the move to allow new faith schools to select all of their pupils by religion has been <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/faith-schools-welcome-100-faith-based-admissions/">welcomed by many religious schools</a>, others have expressed fears that allowing schools to select their entire intake by faith will lead to <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/removing-faith-selection-cap-will-increase-segregation-say-humanists/">increased segregation</a>.</p>
<p>The 50% cap on religious admissions was introduced in 2010, and has led to a situation where new faith schools (post 2010) can only select half of their pupils based on religion, whereas established faith schools (pre 2010) have continued to be able to religiously select up to 100% of their intake. Although not all of the schools that are still able to religiously choose all of their pupils actually do so. </p>
<p>In her “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/britain-the-great-meritocracy-prime-ministers-speech">great meritocracy</a>” speech, Theresa May argued that the current 50% cap on these new faith schools “is failing in its objective to promote integration” because minority faith schools do not attract pupils of other or no faith.</p>
<p>And in one sense, this is correct. Data from the <a href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone/supporting_documents/SCHOOLS%20THAT%20WORK%20FOR%20EVERYONE%20FINAL.pdf">School Census</a> shows there is little ethnic mixing in minority religious free schools. These are schools for groups that tend to experience high levels of societal discrimination – such as Muslim or Jewish schools. The communities these schools serve are often stigmatised by society – so it is foolish to think that a cap alone could solve problems faced by these groups.</p>
<p>This said, <a href="https://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016-09-15-FINAL-Ethnic-diversity-in-religious-Free-Schools.pdf">data</a> from religiously selective secondary schools shows that Christian free schools which have the 50% cap in place actually have greater levels of ethnic diversity than fully selective Christian schools.</p>
<h2>Religious selection</h2>
<p>To allow new schools to religiously select 100% of their pupils is not only problematic in terms of social integration, it is also unfair. Particularly given that faith schools claim to offer <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/leaguetables/12043152/Primary-School-league-tables-Faith-schools-have-tight-grip-on-rankings.html">better quality education</a> and <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ioep/clre/2005/00000003/00000001/art00005?crawler=true">higher attainment levels</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, the way in which faith schools deliver the religious aspect of the curriculum has started to change. Although faith schools aim to provide a good general education and introduce children to the beliefs and practices of a particular faith, many opponents claim that the second aim is “<a href="http://tre.sagepub.com/content/1/1/89">indoctrinatory</a>”. To try and address this, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13617672.2016.1141532?journalCode=cjbv20">faith educators</a> have increasingly turned away from traditional “confessional” <a href="http://ice.sagepub.com/content/17/2/285.abstract">religious instruction</a> and have instead moved towards an education that considers religion from a more open perspective – allowing children to make up their own minds. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140894/original/image-20161007-21423-jxmzjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The government’s decision to lift the 50% cap on faith-based admissions to new free schools prompted differing reactions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This means the education that many faith schools now offer is more accessible to pupils with other religions, or to those with no faith. And <a href="http://faithdebates.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/WFD-Faith-Schools-Press-Release.pdf">recent research</a> shows that the “faith aspect” of faith schooling matters far less to those contemplating school choice than academic standards, location or discipline.</p>
<h2>Priority pupils</h2>
<p>The prime minister has failed to notice this change in attitudes towards faith education and has even cited the Catholic Church’s view on the cap as another reason to abandon it. The church argues that not prioritising children from Catholic backgrounds contravenes the rules of the church – known as “<a href="http://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/news/ces-news/item/1003609-catholic-church-welcomes-prime-minister-s-removal-of-the-cap-on-faith-admissions">Canon law</a>”. </p>
<p>The church’s position eventually led to <a href="http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/st-marys-college-crosby-abandons-7116064">the abandonment of a free school application</a> from a fee paying school – St Mary’s College in Crosby. In this case, the Archdiocese of Liverpool refused to support a bid because of the cap.</p>
<p>But the <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionpublicsphere/2016/09/the-governments-changes-to-faith-schools-sides-with-hardline-religion/">claim about Canon law is disputed</a> – with critics noting there are many <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/5k9fq23507vc.pdf?expires=1475767680&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=05CD7293462499EE1976CDFB3C74EE50">non-selective Catholic schools elsewhere</a> in the world. <a href="https://humanism.org.uk/2016/09/09/exposed-catholic-hypocrisy-in-calls-for-end-to-restrictions-on-religious-selection-in-schools/">Private Catholic schools</a> are also far less likely to select on religious grounds than those in the state sector.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140895/original/image-20161007-21458-1yr68i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">May made the announcement as part of a major overhaul of secondary education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The abandonment of the cap is based on a concern to meet a need for additional school places, but the logic is flawed. This is because the school places the policy will provide will only be available to a small subset of pupils – and the families who need the places most will probably not benefit from these new schools at all. </p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03054980903072611">Evidence</a> suggests that – despite the Catholic Church’s claim its schools are more <a href="http://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/news/ces-news/item/1002818-new-research-shows-catholic-schools-are-more-ethnically-diverse-and-higher-performing-than-national-averages">socially and ethnically diverse</a> than the national average – faith schools are more likely to admit pupils from <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxyd.bham.ac.uk/doi/10.1080/01411926.2010.489145/epdf">affluent families</a> or with <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxyd.bham.ac.uk/doi/10.1080/01411926.2010.489145/epdf">higher levels of prior attainment</a> than <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Caught-Out_Research-brief_April-16.pdf">nondenominational schools</a>. </p>
<h2>Exclusive education</h2>
<p>It is clear that advocates of faith based education now face a dilemma. Either they maintain that faith schools can provide “non-indoctrinatory” education – which is accessible, attractive and valuable to families of all denominations. Or they argue for a distinctive form of religious instruction – which would only be suitable for children of faith. Only schools of the second sort can adequately justify religiously selective admissions. But given that public attitudes to the funding of separate schools <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/14/taxpayers-should-not-fund-faith-schools">have hardened in recent years</a>– and the extent to which indoctrination is considered “morally unacceptable” – such schools would be unlikely to win public support.</p>
<p>Admissions policies fundamentally determine who becomes part of a school’s student body. So the role that higher levels of religious selection could play in worsening social injustice – by “creaming off” the best, most motivated or wealthiest pupils – should not be underestimated.</p>
<p>If the positive outcomes associated with faith schools could be directly linked to the religiosity of pupils, it might be possible to defend the policy to admit higher proportions of children from faith backgrounds. </p>
<p>But, in the absence of compelling evidence to support this, the only other way to justify religious selection is to show there is something distinctive about faith education – something which makes it exclusively of worth to pupils from religious families. Unfortunately for supporters of fully religiously selective schools, it’s difficult to show this is the case.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Wareham is a Researcher at the University of Warwick where her current academic post is funded by the Spencer Foundation. She is a member of the Labour Party.</span></em></p>Allowing new faith schools to religiously select 100% of their pupils is not only problematic in terms of social integration, it is simply unfair.Ruth Wareham, Research Assistant, Faith Schooling: Principles & Policies, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/600262016-05-26T12:08:23Z2016-05-26T12:08:23ZWhat place is there for religion in modern life?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124126/original/image-20160526-22043-h5aqne.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/no-religion-outnumber-christians-england-wales-study">has been reported</a> that nearly half the population of England and Wales now considers itself to have “no religion”. This sudden rise – from 25% to 48.5% over just three years from 2011 to 2014 – seems a bit too steep to be totally credible. But then, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-35953639">last survey in Scotland</a> put the proportion of “nons” at just over half (52%). Even if we approach these figures with some scepticism, it is still sobering news for churches and other religious communities. So what explains it, and what does it mean for the future of religion in the UK?</p>
<p>You could account for some of this on the basis that people these days are not “joiners”: they don’t practise things in public, especially when these things take up precious time. Golf club membership is <a href="http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/news/a8414/the-decline-of-golf/">likewise in decline</a>. Or, it could be that people are making things clearer about where they stand: they’ve found something else – whatever that might be – and religion no longer occupies that space. </p>
<p>Religion, it seems, comes from the Latin “re-ligere”, which has to do with “tying” and “binding”. And people don’t like to be bound: they feel they have enough ties – such as family commitments, working, paying taxes and giving to charity – without adding another one by taking up religion.</p>
<p>Moreover, to take the Christian Church more specifically, religious institutions have an image problem: rarely at the cutting edge of fashion, usually two paces behind. It has also had its fair share of scandals, from the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32909444">clerical abuse of minors</a>, to its <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10600411/Church-of-England-bishops-we-agree-on-one-thing-that-we-cant-agree-on-homosexuality.html">long-running divisions</a> over human sexuality. </p>
<h2>Doing good</h2>
<p>Yet most people would acknowledge that the church does a lot of good: the care homes it runs, the charitable work it quietly does, the donations and care packages it sends to many far-off places, and its leaders, who often sound the voice of peace and moderation at times of public and international crisis. The prayers and the piety of that religious woman next door is normally welcomed, rather than despised. </p>
<p>It’s just that religion doesn’t seem very useful, very aspirational, very necessary for getting on, in life, in work, in love. If anything, it complicates things. And yet, the Christian gospel (if I can reach for an example in the area I know best) combines the virtues of a reflective life with a life of actions done with other people, modelling charity amid disagreement. Faith can integrate a life, on the basis that one is known and loved by the One who gave one life and gives life to all things, who always comes amid suffering and human wickedness to call us back to himself. </p>
<p>I wonder how much this “religion for life” – as something which binds wounds and ties the fragmented and diverse bits of our lives together, giving them focus and enduring direction – is something that people are aware of, when they think of religion (assuming that they ever do).</p>
<h2>No small end in sight</h2>
<p>All this does not mean that religion needs to end small, even if it is likely that, as numbers decline, the church will increasingly be rooted in smaller communities and smaller buildings, helping to accentuate the personal aspect of church, while being a place for sacred worship and still space. </p>
<p>When it talks, it will still speak with a voice neither shrill nor faltering; it will seek to weigh traditional values and structures together with new insights and modern demands. For instance, the Church of Scotland ordained its first woman minister <a href="http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about_us/how_we_are_organised/history">in the 1960s</a>, just as women were first becoming business chiefs and political leaders. </p>
<p>It will seek to spot what in any given social trend is to be affirmed, and what is to be denied. It will ask questions, represent other viewpoints, try to be a cradle of wisdom and cool heads with warm hearts, with the confidence that comes from knowing that my career, my health, my family are not everything, even while they are valuable gifts. It won’t pontificate, but will witness clearly to the truth as it has been revealed to it, not by claiming to own it, but pointing away from itself towards it. It won’t always be hard and it won’t always be soft.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Elliott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of people who identify with a religion is declining, but that doesn’t mean it’s on its way out.Mark Elliott, Professor of Divinity, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/598612016-05-24T12:52:44Z2016-05-24T12:52:44ZWhy St Thomas Becket’s elbow still matters in the 21st century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123787/original/image-20160524-25209-1jeihud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">St Thomas Becket looks down from Canterbury cathedral's window.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/renaud-camus/7162846433">renaud-camus</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A small piece of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36356997">bone thought to belong to St Thomas Becket</a> is, after centuries of exile in Hungary, returning to Canterbury Cathedral where the archbishop was murdered in 1170. Encased in a dazzling modern reliquary, the bone will be <a href="http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/becket-relic-dating-back-eight-96276/">displayed in several Catholic and Protestant churches</a> on its way to Canterbury. Venerating medieval saintly relics such as this may seem quite unusual in these days of the modern Anglican Church, and one might wonder why anyone today should care about an 850-year-old bone.</p>
<p>Almost from the day he was cut down in the cathedral by four knights acting on behalf of Henry II, the martyred Becket was the most famous saint in England. Canterbury became the most popular site of pilgrimage in the land, with untold numbers of pilgrims travelling to pray before the shrine of what Chaucer later called this “<a href="http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/newchaucer/intro/opening1.htm">holy blissful martyr</a>”. What might have been a source of national humiliation – the murder of a leading clergyman at the apparent behest of the monarch – became instead a source of national pride. </p>
<h2>Saints then</h2>
<p>Though the medieval English Church was then part of Catholic Christendom, there was always a special pride (and profit) in homegrown saints. Among the most venerated were <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/read_this/2003/07/spiritual_places_shrine.shtml">St Alban</a>, the first saint martyred on British soil, by the Romans in the 2nd or 3rd century AD; <a href="https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/architecture/cathedral/intro/cuthbert-shrine">St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne</a>, buried in Durham Abbey; <a href="http://www.westminster-abbey.org/archive/visit-us/highlights/edward-the-confessor">St Edward the Confessor</a>, the Anglo-Saxon king whose shrine still dominates Westminster Abbey, and <a href="http://worcestercathedral.co.uk/Wulfstan.php">St Wulfstan</a>, the last Anglo-Saxon bishop of Worcester before the Norman invasion. But in his standing as a saint and focus of pilgrimage, Becket was greater than any of these.</p>
<p>But this status provided no protection for his remains during the Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries, during which monasteries, abbeys, saintly shrines and holy relics were abolished, torn down or destroyed. The only survivors were the shrines of Edward the Confessor and the obscure <a href="http://www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/whitchurchcanonicorum.htm">St Wita in Whitchurch Canonicorum</a>, Dorset. While some saints’ bodies were removed from their shrines and given anonymous burials within the church, as Thomas had rebelled against his king he was the target of particular wrath by Henry VIII’s commissioners. The fate of his bones and relics remains mysterious, although contemporary reports claimed they were burned and scattered to the winds.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123789/original/image-20160524-25202-1lp5hkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123789/original/image-20160524-25202-1lp5hkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123789/original/image-20160524-25202-1lp5hkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123789/original/image-20160524-25202-1lp5hkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123789/original/image-20160524-25202-1lp5hkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123789/original/image-20160524-25202-1lp5hkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123789/original/image-20160524-25202-1lp5hkx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The martyrdom of St Thomas Becket turned him into a cause célèbre, much to the annoyance of the king.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_martyrdom_of_St_Thomas_Becket..jpg">Book of Hours/British Library</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Saints today</h2>
<p>Since the Reformation, the Anglican Church has maintained an ambiguous, ambivalent attitude toward traditional saints – celebrating their feast days, but declining to pray to them or grant them any special status. No saints have been added to the calendar. The veneration of saints’ relics has always been viewed with considerable suspicion as something medieval, distinctly Catholic, superstitious, and not least, in poor taste. </p>
<p>Yet it seems the Church of England today is willing to accommodate saintly relics and the range of beliefs about them from Christians of various denominations. In 2002, a shoulder-blade purported to be St Alban’s was returned to the saint’s home cathedral having been housed for centuries in a German monastery. Durham Cathedral has invested millions in a new exhibition centre in which to display the relics of St Cuthbert, opening in July. In Wales, the shrine of St David was restored and rededicated in 2012. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123790/original/image-20160524-25231-wfakau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123790/original/image-20160524-25231-wfakau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123790/original/image-20160524-25231-wfakau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123790/original/image-20160524-25231-wfakau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123790/original/image-20160524-25231-wfakau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123790/original/image-20160524-25231-wfakau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123790/original/image-20160524-25231-wfakau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123790/original/image-20160524-25231-wfakau.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The modern reliquary containing St Thomas Becket’s bone fragment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Archdiocese of Budapest-Esztergom</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some, respectful re-interment of British bodies – especially saintly ones – goes hand-in-hand with burying the hatchet with what went on during the Reformation. And it is perhaps this more secular age that has made this more possible than ever.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/images/stories/downloads/alban2010-therelic.pdf">sermon delivered in 2010</a>, the Dean of St Albans gave eloquent expression to the Church’s evolving attitude toward relics: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Well, ultimately of course it doesn’t matter; but I am still very glad and grateful [Alban’s relic] is there. For Christians and for human beings in general bodies matter, and location matters. In the Incarnation God became flesh and blood to save us at a particular time and at a particular place… [M]ost of us will still cling on to some material link with the person that’s gone – a photograph, a ring, a lock of hair, a memento that may be meaningless to someone who doesn’t know, but which may open floodgates of loving memory to the person left behind.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are no doubt some who fear that the return of Becket’s bone to Canterbury will open the floodgates of medieval superstition. But the real significance of this event is not bound up with the theological niceties of relic-worship, or even with Thomas Becket. The re-homing of relics (the technical term is “translation”) is a way of making peace with the past, reintegrating estranged parts of our own history. </p>
<p>It also serves an important diplomatic function, just as it did in the Middle Ages. For the <a href="http://www.constantinian.org.uk/banquet-in-honour-of-he-the-president-of-hungary-24-may-2016">president of Hungary</a>, whose government is often accused of looking east rather than west, the return of Becket’s bone provides a means of affirming the value of European links. For the British establishment, on the verge of the EU referendum, this demonstration of European harmony and cooperation is equally significant.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59861/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Howell receives funding from The Leverhulme Trust and the European Research Council. </span></em></p>Henry II wouldn’t be amused – but rehoming relics is a way of making peace with the past.Naomi Howell, Associate Research Fellow in Medieval Studies, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/540962016-03-23T14:02:46Z2016-03-23T14:02:46ZFix the date of Easter? The Venerable Bede would be spinning in his grave<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110495/original/image-20160205-18284-q3jd2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Venerable Bede. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede#/media/File:The_Venerable_Bede_translates_John_1902.jpg">The Venerable Bede translates John 1902; James Doyle Penrose (1862-1932); Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Church of England has attracted controversy over its evolving policies on issues such as homosexuality and the ordination of women. By comparison, the recent <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35326237">announcement</a> that the Anglican Communion intends to fix an annual date for Easter – in cooperation with the Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic Churches – has met with little comment. </p>
<p>Among Anglo-Saxonists, however, the typical reaction went: “Well, Bede will be spinning in his grave.”</p>
<p>The Venerable Bede (c.673-735 AD) lived at Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. His tomb now stands in Durham Cathedral. He is one of the most influential figures in English Christianity: the fact that I’m writing this in 2016, not “the 65th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth and the third year of the pontificate of Pope Francis” is largely thanks to Bede’s popularisation of the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KaOcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA87&dq=bede+anno+domini&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=bede%20anno%20domini&f=false">anno domini</a> method of dating.</p>
<p>Bede, was a devoted student of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0umDqPOf2L8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=computus&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Computus</a> – the calculation of the date of Easter – which brought together his interests in history, theology and astronomy. The system required a thorough understanding of the movements of the cosmos, an appreciation of religious symbolism (including the relationship between Easter and the Jewish Passover) and a detailed knowledge of the history of Christianity. Given his investment in Computus, it is likely that Bede would have been appalled by the idea of fixing an annual date for Easter. </p>
<p>Bede’s writings also played a part in the formation of the English nation. When the Anglo-Saxons arrived in Britain, they established multiple kingdoms and sub-kingdoms within the regions that we now call England. Irish missionaries came across via Iona and began to convert the north of England to Christianity. Roman missionaries came up to Kent and began to convert the English there. </p>
<p>Eventually, as Bede tells us in his <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Ecclesiastical_History_of_the_Englis.html?id=IUyS_pgwFoIC">Ecclesiastical History of the English People</a>, all the English kingdoms were brought together into one unified church. In subsequent centuries, the unity of that church and the popularity of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History both played a part in facilitating the political union of the different regions into a single English kingdom.</p>
<h2>Fixing on a date</h2>
<p>One of the key episodes in Bede’s narrative was the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FO_uGAAACAAJ&dq=the+synod+of+whitby&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-h_id0-HKAhXDSBQKHVypAAUQ6AEIKzAD">Synod of Whitby</a> in 664AD. </p>
<p>The Irish and Roman missionaries had brought two different methods of calculating the date of Easter to England: sometimes a Northumbrian king would be celebrating Easter while his Kentish queen was still fasting for Lent. Church and political leaders met in Whitby, at the abbey founded and presided over by the great abbess Hild (<a href="http://www.ohpwhitby.org.uk/site/the+priory/st.+hilda+of+whitby">St Hilda</a>), to determine which system the kingdom of <a href="http://www.britannica.com/place/Northumbria">Northumbria</a> would follow. Bede was as invested in the science of astronomical timekeeping as he was in writing history, so he relates the arguments made at the Synod in great detail. </p>
<p>The difference came about because of the complexity of the calculation. The Crucifixion took place at Passover, so early Christians determined the date of Easter by referring to the Jewish calendar, in which months are based on the cycles of the moon and move about relative to the solar year. </p>
<p>The rules for the calculation gradually became more elaborate in response to cultural shifts in the Mediterranean world and beyond. It was decided that Easter had to fall on a Sunday. Then it was decided that it had to fall on a Sunday that was after Passover, not on Passover itself. Also, it could not fall before the equinox.</p>
<p>The fact that astronomically, a solar cycle isn’t actually a perfect 365 days and a lunar cycle isn’t actually a perfect 28 days complicated matters further. Finding the date of Easter took some serious literacy in maths and astronomy. </p>
<p>Given the evolution of the rules over time, it’s hardly surprising that communities who valued their <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-remote-irish-monastery-where-medieval-christianity-meets-fictional-jedi-spiritualism-53242">contemplative isolation</a> on the far fringes of Christendom could end up following slightly different sets of instructions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110497/original/image-20160205-18259-1azv8jj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110497/original/image-20160205-18259-1azv8jj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110497/original/image-20160205-18259-1azv8jj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110497/original/image-20160205-18259-1azv8jj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110497/original/image-20160205-18259-1azv8jj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110497/original/image-20160205-18259-1azv8jj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110497/original/image-20160205-18259-1azv8jj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trying to unite a disparate church.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arthimedes/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What this meant for the English church</h2>
<p>The Synod of Whitby also mattered so much to Bede because the unity of Christians mattered. The overarching narrative of the Ecclesiastical History is about the coming together of a united English church. Although Bede had deep respect for Irish scholarship, he was certain that the Synod came to the right decision in adopting the Roman method and so orienting Northumbria (and eventually, England) towards continental Europe and a unified Christendom.</p>
<p>The present discussion about whether to fix the date of Easter has far-reaching implications for the relationships between the Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and Coptic Churches. To a medievalist taking the long view of the relationship between the English Church and the English nation, it is fascinating that this new announcement about the dating of Easter has come from Canterbury in the very year that Britain looks set to hold a referendum on its role in Europe. </p>
<p>The level of cooperation necessary to make this change to the calendar means that we could again see the Church of England orienting itself towards Europe and strengthening its ties with Rome – even as members of the government in England attempt to turn away from Europe and loosen ties with Brussels.</p>
<p>There are different views on the date of Easter within the church now, as there were in Bede’s time. One of the strongest cases for keeping the date of Easter moveable has been made on the blog “<a href="http://northernwoolgatherer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/should-we-fix-date-of-easter.html">Woolgathering in North East England</a>”, written by the Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, former dean of Durham Cathedral. He argues that the moveable date of Easter maintains the intimate connection between Christianity and Judaism and acknowledges the physical and mathematical reality of the movement of celestial bodies.</p>
<p>These priorities and the blog’s associations with north-east England bring us back full circle to the landscape where Bede made his observations and calculations of the movements of the tides and the stars.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah McKendrick Bailey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The medieval English scholar was a devoted student of Computus – the calculation of the date of Easter.Hannah McKendrick Bailey, Lecturer in Medieval Literature, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.