RELIGION AND THE CHURCH

Religious Profile

• Britain is a Christian state and most people living in Britain are Christian.

• One of the most religiously diverse populations in Europe.

• British free to choose their religious beliefs.

• Christianity main religion,

• Large communities of Muslims, Sikhs, Hindusand Jews, and smaller communities of Baha'is, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians.

Recent trends

• Increased diversity

• Less formal practice

• Fewer attend church

• Fewer say they belong to a religion

• More outmarriages (interfaith marriages)

Recent trends (2)

• Immigration and demographic change has led to religious diversity.

• Some religious groups have higher birth rates than others.

• Church going steadily declines

CHURCH OF ENGLAND

• Church and State never dissociated

• The Church of England is the Established (Official) Church

• Variety of Christian Denominations: Methodists, Baptists and the United Reformed Church

•Until 1530’ Britain was

Catholic

•Rallied Protestantism in 16th

Century

•1533 Act of Supremacy:

•Monarch = Head of Church

•Henry declared to be “The

only Supreme Head on earth

of the Church of England.”

•England broke from the

Roman Catholic Church to

form the Anglican Church.

•= ReformationHenry VIII (1491 1547)

HISTORY

Henry VIII

And his wives

Number 1 Catherine of Aragon

•Married for 16 years

•Gave him a daughter:

Mary

•Annulment marriage

without the consent of the

pope

Number 2 Anne Boleyn

• the Pope would neither allow

divorce nor accept the remarriage

•Act of Supremacy :

•Married Anne in 1533

•Gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth (later

Queen for England).

•1536 Accused of adultery then

beheaded.

•11 days later Henry married this

third wife.

Number 3 Jane Seymour

• Jane was from an old and noble family.

• She gave birth to a son in 1537,

Edward, who would become King after

his father.

• 12 days later she died.

• Henry waited two years before

marrying again.

Number 4 Anne of Cleves

• Henry saw a picture of Anne of

Cleves and he agreed to marry!

• She didn't speak any English and

didn't know who he was.

•Divorce six months after marriage.

• 20 days later Henry married again

• He is said to have found her

repulsively ugly, and called her a horse!

Number 5 Katherine Howard

• A cousin of Anne Boleyn

•Was previously, secretly

engaged to probably more

than one man.

•Accused of adultery &

beheaded in 1542.

•The following year Henry

VIII married again

Number 6

Kathryn Parr

•Kathryn had already been married

twice, but both husbands died.

•Kathryn was rather a nurse than a

wife.

•When Henry died in 1547, Kathryn

quickly married Thomas Seymour

(her fourth husband).

Divorced, beheaded, diedDivorced, beheaded, survived.

Back to Reformation

• The church of England Independent from Rome and the Pope

• End of celibacy

• Dissolution of monasteries

• Confiscation of goods

• Prosecution of Catholics

Catholicsm vs ProtestantismCatholics Protestants

Pope Heads the church, Vicar of Christ No human is infallible and Jesus alone heads up the Church

Big FancyCathedrals

“humanity must discover its unity and salvation” within a church.

All Christians can be saved, regardless of church membership.

Saints Pray to saints (holy dead people) in addition to God and Jesus.

acknowledge saints, but don’t pray to them

Celibacy & Nuns Catholics only Priests/Pastors can marry

Scripture Tradition & bible Only the word of god

Interpretation Only the pope can interpret the bible

Individual Interpretation

Confession of sins To God through priests To God through Jesus

Confession of Sins

Protestantism

• All men predestined by God to be doomed or saved after death

• God’s decision not to be altered by human deeds

• God’s grace not to be bought by confession

• Individual alone in the eyes of God

• Catholicism : a series of intermediaries between God and man Vs Individual responsibility

Protestantism vs Catholicism

Contemporary Issues 1

• The Monarch retains the title Defender of the Faith and is still the Supreme Governor of the Church

• The Church of England has a legislative role

– Twenty-six bishops (including the two Archbishops) sit in the House of Lords and are known as the Lords Spiritual.

Contemporary Issues 2

• Conservatism

• Disagreement

– Ordination of women priesthood

– Religious remarriage of divorced couples

– Gay marriages

– Interfaith issues: Euthanasia, Abortion…

Euthanasia

• Most religions disapprove of euthanasia.

• Some of them absolutely forbid it.

• Catholics and Muslims are most active in opposing euthanasia.

• Reasons for opposition:

– God has forbidden it

– Human life is sacred

– Humans shouldn't interfere with God's plans by shortening human live

Coming next…

• Freedom of religion

• Religious diversity

Freedom of Religion• Article 9 Freedom of religion : The right to

freedom of thought, conscience and religion :

• The freedom to change religion or belief, to exercise religion or belief publicly or privately, alone or with others in worship, teaching, practice and observance; and

• the right to have no religion (e.g. to be atheist or agnostic)

• Role of State: encourage tolerance & all observe neutrality.

European Convention on Human Rights

Freedom of religion issues

• Working Fridays

• Working Sundays

• Official uniforms

• Equal treatment of religious signs

Aishah Azmi 2005

• A Muslim teaching assistant suspended for refusing to remove her niqab in class

• Mrs Azmi said she was willing to remove her veil in front of children - but not male colleagues.

• Government : barring men from working with her would amount to "sexual discrimination".

Eweida vs British Airways 2006

British Airways said its uniform

policy was changed in 2007 to

allow Miss Eweida and others

to "wear symbols of faith"

David Cameron :

people "shouldn't suffer

discrimination due to

religious beliefs".

Sikh and Muslim

employees are not

prevented from wearing

religious garments at

work

Religious diversity

Religious diversity

2011 census:

• Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 59.3%,

• Muslim 4.8%,

• Hindu 1.5%,

• Sikh 0.8 %

• Jews 0.5%

• Not stated 7.2%

Hindus• Hinduism is the religion of the majority of

people in India and Nepal.

• It has over 900 million adherents worldwide.

• Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no commonly agreed set of teachings.

• Supreme god represented by multitude of gods

• Believe in reincarnation

Hindus• ‘Britain needs to take inspiration from

Hinduism’ David Cameron, 2015

• Integration of women in public & professional life and education

•Well established in professional fields –law, media, medicine, engineering, accounting and business.•Vote conservative

Sikhism• 20 million Sikhs in the world, in

Punjab province of India.

• It was founded by Guru Nanak

• Sikh principles:

– keep God in heart and mind at all times

– live honestly and work hard

– treat everyone equally

– be generous to the less fortunate

– serve others

David Cameron in a Sikh Temple2013

Sikhs• Said to be “the best example of cultural

integration”

• Strong work ethic = Succesful businesses

– Second only to Jews in finance

• Integration in communities

• Charities

• Educational achievement

• However remain conservative (eg. Opposed to interfaith marriages)

Jews

• Violent persecution in the Middle Ages(York massacre 1190)

• Expelled by Edward I in 1290

• Allowed back in 1657 in exchange for finance

• 60 percent of school-age Jewish children attend Jewish schools

• High educational achievement

Cameron on a visit to a Manchester Mosque, 2013

Muslims

• 1890 first mosque in UK

• Places of worship and welfare

• Muslim schools granted state funding

• 13 Muslim MPs 8 of which are women

• 11 Muslim Peers (House of Lords)

Muslims: 4.8% of the population.

• 42.5% are of Pakistani origin,

• 16.8% Bangladeshis

• 8.5% Indians

• 7.5% other white.

(Turkish; Arab and North-African ethnic originand East European Muslims from Bosnia andKosovo).

Who are British Muslims?

Educational achivement by religion

Faith Schools with public funding

• 47 Jewish schools

• 23 Muslim schools

• 10 Sikh schools

• 4 Hindu schools

• Jewish state schools started in first half of the 20th century.

• first Muslim state school in 1998, the first Sikh school opened in 1999 and the first Hindu school opened in 2008

Terrorist Attacks9/11 and the 2005 London

Bombings• 2005 London bombings: a series of

coordinated bomb blasts that hit London's public transport in rush hour

• 52 people were killed & also the 4 bombers: British Muslims, three of Pakistani and one of Jamaican origin motivated by Britain's involvement in the Iraq War and other conflicts

• British media has been criticised for propagating negative stereotypes of Muslims and fueling islamophobia

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