World religions. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 63 стр.

PA R T V                                                                                   As Head of the Church of England, the monarch appoints the archbishops,
                                                                                      bishops and deans of the Church, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister,
                             RELIGION IN BRITAIN                                      who might well not be an Anglican. The Prime Minister makes a recommenda-
     Barely 16 per cent of the adult population of Britain belongs to one of the      tion from two nominee candidates, put forward by a special Crown Appoint-
Christian churches, and this proportion continues to decline. Yet the regional        ments Commission (composed of bishops, clergy and lay members of the
variation is revealing. In England only 12 per cent of the adult population are       Church). All Anglican clergy must take an oath of allegiance to the Crown, a dif-
members of a church. The further one travels from London, however, the                ficult proposition for any priest who is a republican at heart. Thus Church and
greater the attendance: in Wales 22 per cent, in Scotland 36 per cent and in          Crown in England are closely entwined, with mutual bonds of responsibility.
Northern Ireland no fewer than 75 per cent.                                                The most senior spiritual leaders of the Church of England are the
     Today there is complete freedom of practice, regardless of religion or sect.     Archbishop of Canterbury, who is “Primate of All England”, and the
However, until the mid-nineteenth century, those who did not belong to the            Archbishop of York, who is “Primate of England”. They are head of the two
Church of England, the official ‘established’ or state church, were barred from       ecclesiastical provinces of England, Canterbury and York. Both provinces are
some public offices. The established church still plays a powerful role in na-        divided into dioceses, each under a bishop. Canterbury is the larger province,
tional life, in spite of the relatively few people who are active members of it.      containing 30 dioceses, while York contains only 14. The choice of Canterbury
                                                                                      and York is historical. Canterbury is the site of where St Augustine reestab-
                              The Church of England                                   lished the Christian church in England at the end of the sixth century. The see
      There are two established or state churches in Britain: the Church of Eng-      of York was founded in the early seventh century by an envoy of St Augustine
land, or Anglican Church as it is also called, and the Church of Scotland, or         to this capital of Northumbria. (The Celtic churches which survived in Ireland
“Kirk”.                                                                               and Scotland were well established two centuries earlier.)
      In 1533 the English king, Henry VIII, broke away from Rome and declared              The senior bishops are those of London, Durham and Winchester, but there
himself head of the Church in England. His reason was political: the Pope’s re-       is no guarantee of promotion according to seniority. George Carey, for exam-
fusal to allow him to divorce his wife, who had failed to produce a son. Apart        ple, the present (103rd) Archbishop, was previously Bishop of Bath and Wells,
from this administrative break, the Church at first remained more Catholic than       no longer considered a senior bishopric. Because of the growth in population,
Protestant. However, during the next two centuries when religion was a vital          some bishops are assisted by deputies assigned to a geographical part of the
political issue in Europe, the Church of England became more Protestant in be-        diocese. These are “suffragan” bishops. Each diocese is composed of parishes,
lief as well as organisation.                                                         the basic unit of the Church’s ministry. Each parish has a vicar, or sometimes a
      Ever since 1534 the monarch has been Supreme Governor of the Church of          team of vicars, if it includes more than one church.
England. No one may take the throne who is not a member of the Church of Eng-              The Archbishop of Canterbury is head of the Anglican “Communion”.
land. For any Protestant this would be unlikely to be a problem, since the Church     This Communion is composed of the various independent churches which have
of England already includes a wide variety of Protestant belief. However, if the      grown out of the Church of England in various parts of the world. In fact Eng-
monarch or the next in line to the throne decided to marry a Roman Catholic or a      land accounts for only two of the 28 provinces of the Anglican Church. In the-
divorcee, this might cause a constitutional crisis. It has always been understood     ory, about 40 per cent of the English might say they were members of the
that if such a marriage went ahead, the monarch or heir would have to give up         Church of England. Far fewer ever actually attend church and only one million
their claim to the throne, and to being Supreme Governor of the Church. In 1936       regularly attend, a drop of over 13 per cent since 1988. It is also a small propor-
Edward VIII, who had only just succeeded to the throne, abdicated in order to         tion of the 70 million active Anglicans worldwide. More Nigerians, for exam-
marry a divorcee. Today it is more likely that the monarch or heir would marry        ple, than English are regular attenders of the Anglican Church. Within the
the person he or she loved, and would renounce the title of Supreme Governor of       worldwide Anglican Communion are some famous people, for example Des-
the Church. It might pose a constitutional crisis, but is less likely to be one for   mond Tutu, head of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and
the Church. The monarch is crowned by the senior Anglican cleric, the                 once Archbishop of Cape Town. It is said that most of the “ruling establish-
Archbishop of Canterbury, but if the monarch renounced Supreme Governorship           ment” of Washington belong to the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of
of the Church, this ceremony might be abandoned or radically changed.                 the United States. The Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales and the

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