Religion in Great Britain

British people are perhaps less religious than most others but religion is now as it has always been an important factor in national life. There is complete religious freedom and anyone may belong to any religious faith that he chooses or to none at all. The Church of England is the established Protestant church in England though perhaps a quarter of the English belong to other religious denominations and many others don’t have any active religious attachment. The Queen is the head of the church of the England she was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey. The Establishment of the Church is part of the law and important changes concerning the church cannot be made without the consent of Parliament.

The Church of England was established by an act of Parliament in 1558 when Elizabeth became queen. Though Protestant it has Catholic elements.

The clergy are not paid by the state but out of the church’s own funds supplemented by money from parishioners.

The Church of England has kept its bishops and its deuces each with a cathedral. England is divided into 42 dioceses. Every diocese has a Cathedral, a dean and 5 or 6 residentiary canons. There is also a choir school whose boys or men of the choir with clerks provide fine music each day.

Bishops are appointed by the Queen who acts on the Prime Ministers advise. The 2 Archbishops of Canterbury and York and 24 senior bishops have seats in the House of Lords but rarely go there. When the Lords debate a moral or social issue at least one bishop normally speaks expressing a Christian rather than a party point of view. Nowadays there are different sects in Britain. The Baptists and the United Reform Church are perhaps the most important though many Presbyterians in England are in fact Scottish people who have taken their own religion southwards across the boader. The Quakers have always been a very small and select group and have their meeting houses for the most part only in large towns.

More important numerically than any of these old sects are the Methodists who follow the movement started by John Wesley in the 18^th century. Methodism now is probably the main religion of the people in many northern mining and industrial areas and also in Wales.

The Jewish community is declining nowadays. Since World War 2 and its aftermath few Jews have come to live in England.

Among the religions that brought to Britain by people who have come from Asia Buddhism has had an attraction for someof the native British. Although there is large number of Hindus their religion seems not to be widespread. Many Sikhs maintain their distinctness more strictly.

There are now nearly a million Muslims in Britain and the number is increasing. The biggest new religious building of the 1970sis the London mosque. Many Muslim leaders are active in maintaining the distinctness of Islam and numerous Muslim schools have been brought into the state educational system.

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