[ 20 12 Internatio nal relations
any area in the UK,
while
that a
mong
its Protestants is one
of
the
lowest.
Members
of the poli ce force, tlie Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) , are still
almo
st entirely Protestant. Most of all, the basic divi-
sions remain. The Cat
ho
lics id
ent
ify wi th the
sout
h. Most of
them
wo
uld like tlie Irish gov
ernm
ent in Dublin to have at least a share in
tlie gove
rnme
nt of Ulster. In '999 the R
epu
blic r
em
oved the part
of
its constitution
wh
ich included a claim to the six counties. This has
calme d Protestant fears
abo
ut being swallowed
up
. In
return
for its
gest
ure
, tlie R
epub
lic now has a role to play in a
num
ber
of
all-
Ireland bodies which have been set up. Some Protestants still have
mi sgivin gs abo ut this ini tiative.
It
sliould be
noted
liere tliat tlie
names 'loyalist' and 'unionist' are
somew
hat misleading.The Ulster
Protestants are distinct from any other section of British society.
While it is im
portan
t
to
th
em
tha t they belong to the United
Kin
gdom,
it is just as im
porta
nt to t
he
m that they do not bel
on
g to
the Re
publi
c of Irel
and
. From t
heir
po int
of
view, a
nd
also
from
the
point of v
iew
of some Catholics, a place for Ulst
er
in a fede rated
E
ur
ope is a possible solution .
In Ulster there is now a general disgust at the activities
of
extremists, and a str
ong
desire for peace.At the time
of
writing,
nearly all terrorist activities have ceased and a Northern Ireland
governm ent which includes representatives of all poli tical views has
been set up.
Q UES
TI
ONS
J What indications can you find in this chapter
that British
peo
ple like to think of their co
unt
ry
as an important and independent po
we
r in the
wo
rld?
2 Would
you
say that the British
peop
le feel closer
to the USA
or
tlie European U
nion
'
What
evid-
ence do you have for your view ?
3
The
peop
le
of
Scotland have changed f
rom
being
'anti
-Europe'
to being 'pro-E
uro
pe'
in the last
twe
nty
years
of
the twentieth cent
ur
y. Why'
S
UGG
EST
ION
S
4 In 1994, Prime Minister John Majorannounced
that he
woul
d like to hold a referen
dum
in
Ulster on that area'sfuture constitutional posi-
tion. Some p
eopl
e said that the referendum
should
includ
e the w
hole
ofI
reland. W
hich
p
eop
le do you think tliey
we
re? Wliy
did
they
say this'
5 Do you think that the present boundaries of the
UK
sho
uld
rema
in as tliey are or sho
uld
t
hey
c
hange'
Do you think
they
will
stay as they are?
• A
Pass
age
toIn
dio
by EM Forster is set in India at the he
igh
t
of
the British
Empire
and
reflects colonial attit
ud
es. (There is also a film of the
book.) TheRaj Quartet, by Paul Scott
(or
ig
ina
lly
four
novels,
bu
t p
ub
-
lished in a
com
bined version under this title) is s
imi
larly set in India,
but in the last years of British rule in the I 940 s.
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13
Religion
The vast majority of
peop
le in Britain do not regularly attend religi
ou
s
services. Many
do
so
only
a few times in t
heir
lives. Most
people
's
everyday language is
no
longer, as it was in
previous
cen
tur
ies,
enriched by their kn
owledge
of
the Bible and the English Book
of
Co
mm
on
Prayer. It is significant that the
most
fami liar and well-loved
English t
ran
slati
on
of the Bible,
known
as the King James Bible,
wa
s
written in the early sevente enth ce
ntury
and that no later translation
has achieved sim ilar status.
It th
eref
ore seems that most
people
in Britain
canno
t strictly be
described as r
eligiou
s. However, this does not l
ucan
that they have
110 religi
ou
s or spiritual beliefs or inclina
tio
ns. Surveys have sug-
gested that nearly
thr
ee
-quarter
s
of
the
populat
ion
believe in God
and betw
een
a
thir
d
and
a half believe in concepts such as life after
death, heaven
and
hell
(and
tha t half
or
more
of
the
pop
ulat
ion
believe
in astrology,
parap
syc
hology,
g
host
s a
nd
clairvoyance) . In addit
ion
,
a majority
appro
ve
of
the fact that religious ins
tru
ction at state
sc
hoo
ls is com puls
ory
. Furt
hermore,
almost
nobo
dy objects to t
he
fact that the
Qu
een
is q
ueen'
by the grace
of
God'
, or the fact that
she, like all previous British
monarch
s, was
crow
ned
by a religi
ou
s
Religious p
articipation
in
Britain
Here are two graphs
showing
the
extent
of
active p
an
icipation in
organized religion in 1990 and the
chang e in these
numbers
from five
years before.
Of
course,
what
exactly
is meant by 'act ive participation' can
vary. Nevertheless. the figures give a
reasonably accurate picture. The
category
'Indepe
ndent
Christian'
denotes the various charismatic
and Pentecostalist groups
men
-
tioned in the text.
12
1
Numbers,
1990
millions
Percentage
change
,
1985-90
o 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 % - 10
o 10 20 30
Roman Catholic
Anglican
Presbyterian
Muslim
Independent Christian -
Methodist
_
Sikh -
Orthodox
-
Baptist -
Mormon
-
Hindu -
Jehovah'sWitnesses •
Jew -
Source:
UK
Christi
an Handbook, J992- 93
Independent
Christ
ian
Sikh
Jehovah's W itnesses
Orthodox
Muslim
Mormon
_
Hindu _
Jew _
Baptist _
Methodist _
Presbyterian _
Anglican _
Roman
Catho
lic _
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I 22 13 Religion
The
ro
ad
t o
to
le r
anc
e
UIllil 1828
non
conformists
were
not all
ow
ed to hold any kind
of
gov-
ernment post or public officeor even
1O go
to
uni
crsny. Excluded from
public life. many developed interests
in trade and com merce as an
outl
et
for their energies and were the
leading
comme
rcial figures in the
industrial revolution. For example.
all the big British chocolate
manu
-
facturing companies were started by
Quaker families (note also the well-
know
n'
Quaker' brand ofcereals).
Catholics were even worse
off
havin g 1O worship in secret, or, later.
at least
with
discretion. The last
restriction on their freedom was
lifted in 1924. when bells to
announ
ce the celebration
of
Cath-
olic Mass were all
owed
to ring as
long as they liked
(pr
eviousl y. Mass
had to be ann ounced
with
a Single
chime of the bellonly). Catholics
were
given the right to hold public
office in
I
829,
There is still a law
tod ay
which
forbids Catholic priests
to
sit in Parliament
(tho
ugh it is
doubtfu
l that an)' wo uld want 1O!) .
figure (the Archbi
shop
of
Canterbury) in a church (We
stmin
ster
Abbey)
and
that the British national
anthem
(God
Save
Our
Que
en)
invokes God's
help
in protecting her.
The general picture, as
with
so
man
y aspects
of
British life , is
of
a
general tolerance and passive approval
of
the status
quo.
The
major
ity
attit
ude
towards organized religion is rather similar to that
toward
s
the
monarc
hy. Just as there is no serious republican
movement
in the
country, so there is no widespread anti-clericalism. A
nd
just as there
is no royalist movement either, so most
peop
le are
no
t active
par
ti-
cipants in
organ
ized religion, but they seem to be glad it is there!
Religion and politics
Freedom
of
religious
belief
and
wor
ship (and also the freed
om
to be
a n
on-be
liever) is taken f
or
granted
in mod
ern
Britain.
With
the
notab
le exception
of
N
or
thern Ireland (see chapter
4),
a
per
s
on
's
religion has
almo
st
no
political significance. There are no
imp
ortant
'Christian'
or
anti-clerical political parties. Exc
ept
p
erhap
s for
Muslims, there is no recognizable political pressure
group
in the
c
ount
ry
which
is based on a particular religious ideology. To describe
one
selfas 'Catholic'
or
'C
hurch
of
England ,
or
'Metho
dist' or an y
other recognized label is to
ind
icate
one's
per
sonal beliefs but not the
way
one votes.
The religious con flicts
of
the past and their close relati
ons
hip with
politics (see chapter
2) have left only a few traces in
mo
d
ern
times,
and the
mo
st i
mp
ortant
of
these are institutiona l rather than political:
the fact that the monarch
cannot,
by law , be a Catholic; the fact that
the twen ty-six se
nior
bishops in
one
particular
church
(the Church
of
Engla
nd)
are
members
of
the
House
of
Lords
(where
they are
known
as the 'Lords Spiritual');
the
fact that
the
go
vernment
has the
right
of
veto on the choice
of
these bi
shop
s; the fact that the ultimate
autho
rity for this same
church
is the British Parliament. These facts
point to a c
uriou
s
anomaly
. Despite
the
atm
o
sphere
of
tolerance
and
the separation
of
religion and politics, it is in Britain that we find the
last
two
cases in E
urope
of
,established' churches, that is
churche
s
whic
h are, by law, the official religion
of
a country. These cases are
the Church of Scotland (see
'ot
her Christian
deno
minat
ion
s' below)
and the Churc h of England. The m
onar
ch is the official head of b
oth,
and the religious leader
of
the latter, the Archbishop
of
Canter
bur
y,
is appointed by the government.
However, the privileged
pos
ition
of
the Church of England (also
kno
wn
as the Anglican Church) is not, in
mo
dern times, a political
issue. Nobody feels that t
hey
are discrimi nated against if they
do
not
belon
g to it. In any case, the Anglican
Church,
rather like the BBC
(see
chapter
16), has shown itself to be effectively
independ
ent
of
governmen
t
and
ther
e is general
appro
val
of
this
independence
.
In fact, the re is a
modern
politics-and-religion debate,
but
n
ow
it is
the other way
around
. That is,
while
it is ac
cepted
that politics should
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A
service
ina
Pentecostali
st chu
rc
h
stay out
of
religion, it is a
point
of debate as to w
het
her
relig ion
should stay
out
of
politics.
The Anglican Church used to be half-jokingly described as
'the
Conservative party at prayer'. This re
putatio
n was partly the result
of
history (see chapter 6) and partly the result
of
the fact that
most
of
its clergy and regular followers
were
from the
higher
ranks
of
society.
However,
dur
ing
the
I
980s
a
nd
early
'990S
it was co
mmon
for the
Church to publicly
condemn
the
widen
ing gap between rich
and
poor
in British society. Its leaders, incl
uding
the Archb
ishop
of Ca
nterbury
himself, repeatedly spoke ou t against this trend, implying that the
Conservative gover
nment
was
largely to bl
ame
for it - despite
com
-
ments from
governme
nt
mini
sters that politics s
ho
uld be left to the
politicians. The Archb ishop also angered
some
Conservative Ang-
licans
when
, at the
end
of the Falkla
nds/Malv
inas War in ' 982, he
did not give thanks to God for a British victory. Instead, he prayed for
the victims
of
the
war
on
both
sides.
In
1994
the Cat
ho
lic Church in Britain published a
report
wh
ich
criticized the Conservative gove
rnI11:e
nt. Since the general
out
look of
Britain's
other
conventional Christian denominati
on
s has always been
anti-Conservative, it appears that all the country's major Christian
churches are
now
politically
bro
adly
lef
t
of
centre.
Anglicanism
Althoug h the Anglican C
hurc
h apparently has
much
the largest fol-
lowing in Engl
and
, a
nd
large
min
orities of adherents in the ot
her
nations
of
Britain, appearances can be deceptive. It has been estima ted
that less than 5%
of
t
hose
who,
if asked, might describe themselves as
Anglicans regularly attend services. Many others are christened,
married
and
buried in Anglican cer
emo
nies but otherwise hardly
ever go to church. Regular attendance for
many
Anglic ans is tradit
ion
-
Anglicanism
123
The
Christian church
es
in
Britain
The organization of the Anglican
and Catholic churches is broa dly
similar. At the highest level is an
archbis
hop.
who
presides over a
province.There are only two
of
these in the Church
of
England. Can-
terbury and York. The senior
Catholic archbishopric is Westmtns-
ter and its archbishop is the only
cardinal from Britain. At the next
level is the diocese. presided over by
a bishop. In the Anglican Church
there are
other
high-ranking posi -
tions at the level
of
the diocese,
whose
holders can have the title
dean. canon or archdeacon. Other
Christian churches do not have such
a hierarchical organization,
though
the Methodists have a system
of
circuits.
Atthe locallevel. the terms verger.
warden and sexton are variously
used for lay
members
of
churches
(t.c. not trained clergy)
who
assist
in various ways
dur
ing services or
with the upkeep of the church. Note
also that a priest who caters for the
spiritual needs
of
those in some sort
of
mstituuon
(for example. a univer-
sity or a hospital) is called a
chaplain.
An
Ang
lican
servicein
progre
ss
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I 24 13 Religion
W
om
en prie
st
s
On Wednesday I I Nov ember 1992 ,
at five in the evening, Dr George
Carey, the Archbishop of Camer-
bur)'. rose to announce a
momentous
decision . B)' just rwo
votes more than the required IW O-
thirds majority, the General Synod
of
the Anglican Church (its go v-
erning body) had voted to
all
ow
(he
ordination
of
wo
men priests. The
debate in the
Synod had lasted more
than six hours. and had been going
on for years before that. both
inside
and outside the church, all over the
cou
mrv.
About eighteen
mon
ths after-
wards. the first wom en priests were
ordained. Those wh o supportthis
develo
pme
nt believe that it will help
to give the Church
of England a
greater
releva nce
to
the modern
wo
rld and finally bring it up to date.
(Unlike the Catholic Church. it has
always all
owed
its clergy
to
be
marricd.) Some who were opposed
10 the change have not accepted the
Synod's decision, and there are a
few
local cases
of
attempts to set up a
rebel church. Some members of the
Anglican Church have decided to
'go
over to Rome' - that is, to join the
Catholic Church, which does not
have
wome
n priests.
Women
priests
'
'r
aitingto
be
o
rda
i
ned
ally as much asocial as a religious activity, and predominantly
one
for
the upper and
mid
dle classes.
The doctrine
of
the
Churc
h
of
England
was
set o ut in
the
six
teenth
century,
in a docum
ent
called the
Thirt
y-Nine Articles.
Howe
ver,
the main
mo
tivation for the birth
of
Anglicanism was more patriotic
and political
than
doctrina
l (see
chapter
2). As a result, it has
alwa
ys
been
what
is called a
'broad
church
',
willing
to
accomm
odat
e a
wide
variety
of
beliefs
and
practices.
For
example,
the
nature
of
its reli -
gious
services varies
quite
w
idely
from
church
to
church,
depending
partly
on
the
inclinations
of
the
local priest
and
partly
on
local
tradition.
Three
main
strands
of
belief
can
be identified.
On
e strand is evan-
gelical, or 'low
church
'. This places great
empha
sis on the
cont
ent
s
of
the
Bible
and
is
the
mo
st consciously
oppo
sed to Catholici
sm
. It
therefore
adheres
closely to those
element
s of the
Thirt
y-
Nin
e
Articles that reject Papal
doc
tri
nes
and
is suspici
ou
s of
the
hierarchical
struct
ure
of
the Church. It prefers plain services
with
a
minimum
of
ceremony.
In contrast,
the
beliefs
of
the
'Ang
lo
-Catho
li
c',
or 'high
church'. strand are Virtually identical to those
of
Catholicism - except
that it does no t accept
the
Pope as
the
u
ltima
te
author
ity. High
churc
h
services are more
colo
urful and include organ music and elaborate
priestly clot
hin
g. B
oth
these strands are tradi tional in their
outlook.
But there is also a liberal wing,
wh
ich is willing to question
some
of
the traditional Christian beliefs, is more inclined to
view
the Bible as
mer
ely a historical doc
um
en t, is more tolerant towards ho
mosex
ual-
ity and was the first to support
mov
es to ordain
wome
n priests
(
C>
W
om
enpri
es
ts) .
But to many, perhaps most,
of
its
mem
bers, it is the 'Englishness'
of the Anglican C
hurch
whic
h is just as i
mportant
as its religious
doctrine. This is what gives it meaning and holds its various strands
together.
Wit
hout
it,
ma
ny Anglo-C
atho
lics
would
be Catholic, many
low
churchersand liberals
wou
ld form their
own
sects or join existing
nonconfo
rm
ist
group
s (see
below),
and
a very large
number
wo
uld
Simply cease
to
have
any
t
hing
to
do
w ith
organized
religi
on
at all.
Perhaps this is
why
an
op
inio
n
poll
in
the
t9 80s showed that
mo
st
peop
le, displaying
apparen
tly
unch
aracteristic intol
eranc
e,
approve
of
the
law
t
hat
does
not
permit
a Catholic
monarch
.
At
present,
this na
tiona
l distinctiveness is emphasized by the Ang-
lican
Church'
s
position
as
the
official
religion
. It has
been
argu
ed
that
the
tie
between
Church
and
State
should
be
brok
en;
that is, that
the
Church
shou
ld be disestablished so that, after losing its
extreme
members to other churches, it could spend less time on internal
disagreement and more on the
mo
ral and spiritual guidance
of
its
remaining
mem
bers. Those
who
are against this
mo
ve fear that it
wo
uld cause
the
o
bvious
Englishness
of
the
Chur
ch
to
disappear and
thus
for
the
number
of
its adhe re
nts
to d
ro
p sharply.
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Catholicism
After the establishme nt
of
Protestant
ism
in Britain (see chapter 2) ,
Catholicism was for a tim e an illegal religion
and
then
a barely
tolerated religion.
Not
until 1850 was a British Catholic hie rarchy re-
established. Only in the
twen
tieth
cent
ury
did
it
beco
me
fully
op
en
about its activities.Alt
hough
Catholics can
now
be
foun
d in all
ranks
of
society
and
in all
occupat
ions, the comparatively recent
integ ration of Cath olicism means that
they
are still under-represented
at the top levels. For
examp
le,
althoug
h Catholics
comp
rise
more
than 10% of the population , the y
comprise
only
aroun
d 5%
ofMPs.
Alarge pr
op
orti
on
of
Cat
ho
lics in
mode
rn
Britain are t
hose
who
se
family r
oo
ts are in Italy, Ire
lan
d or elsew
here
in Europe. The Irish
connection is evid
ent
in the large
propo
rtio
n
of
priests in England
who
com
e
from
Ireland
(the
y are someti
mes
said to be Ireland's
biggest e
xpo
rt
')
.
Partly because
of
its
comparat
ively
marg
ina
l status, the Catholic
Church, in the interests
of
self-preservat
ion,
has
maintained
a greater
cohesiveness
and
un
iform
ity t
han
the Anglican
Chu
rch. In
modern
times it is possible to detect
opposing
belief
s wi thin it (there are
conservative a
nd
radlcal/
Tib
eral
wing
s),
but
t
here
is, f
or
exa
mp
le,
more centralized
control
over
practices
of
wors
hip. Not having had
a recognized, official role to play in society, the Catholic Ch
urch
in
Britain takes doc
trin
e an d practice (for
example,
weekly attendance
at mass) a bit
more
seriously than it is taken in
count
ries
wh
ere
Catholicism is the
ma
jority re
ligion
- and a lot
more
seriously than
the Anglican
Church
in general does.
This comparative d
edi
cation can be seen in
two
aspects
of
Catholic
life. First, relig
ious
instruction is taken
more
seriously in Cat
ho
lic
schools
than
it is in Anglican
ones,
a
nd
Catholic sc
hoo
ls in Britain
usually have a
head
who
is eit
her
a
mo
nk, a friar or a
nun
. Second,
there is the matter
of
attendance at ch
urc
h. Many
peop
le w
ho
hardly
ever step inside a
church
still feel entit
led
to des
crib
e th
em
selves as
'Anglican '. In contrast, British people
who
we
re
brought
up as
Catholics but
who
no
lo
nge
r
attend
mass regularly or rece ive the
sacrame nts
do
not
normally describe themselves as 'C
atho
lic'. They
qualify this label w
ith
'brought
up as' or 'lapsed '. Despite
being
very
much a
mino
rity religion in
mos
t places in the c
ou
ntry
, as
many
British Catholics reg ularly go to ch
urc
h as do Anglicans.
Catholicis
m 125
~
Episcopalianism
The Anglican
Church
is the official
state religion in England only. There
are, however, churches in
other
count
ries (such as Scotland. Ireland.
the USA and Australia)
which
have
the same origin and are almost
identical to it in their general beliefs
and practices. Members
of
these
churches sometimes describe
them
-
selves as 'Ang lican'. H
ow
ever, the
term
officially used in Scotland and
the USA is 'Episcopalian' (",vhich
means that they have
bishops).
and
this is the
term
which is
often
used
to
denote
all
of
these churches,
incl
uding
the Church
of
England, as
a
group
.
Every ten years the bishops
of
all
the Episcopalian churches in the
wo
rld gather
together
in London for
the Lambeth Conference,
which
is
chaired by the Archbishop
of
Canter-
bury.
Despite the
name
'Canterbury',
the official residence
of
the head
of
the C
hurch
of
England is Lambeth
Palace in London.
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126 13Relig io n
Ke
ep
ing t he s
abbat
h
In the last
two
centur ies. the influ-
ence
of
the Calvinist tradition has
been fell in laws relating
to
Sundays.
These laws have recentI}' been
relaxed, but
shop
ope
ning
hours,
gambling and professional sport on
Sundays arc
still all restricted in small
wars.
In
some
places in rural Wales.
where
nonconformism is tradition -
ally strong, Sundays arc still
'dry';
that is, the
pub
s stay closed,
Other conventional Christian churches
In many wa ys, Anglicanism represents a compromise between
Protestantism and Catholicism. Its stated doctrine, v
.hich rejects the
authority
of
the Pope
and
other
imp
ortant aspects ofCat
ho
lic doctrine ,
is Protestant . But its style, as shown
by its hierarchical stru
ctur
e and
its f
orm
s of
wor
ship
, is rather Catholic.
Wh
en Protestanti sm first t
oo
k
root
in Britain. there were
man
y
p
eop
le who rejected not only Catholic doct
rin
e but also 'Romish '
style. These people did not join the newly-established Anglican
Chu rch. They regarded both the authority given to its clergy and its
continuation of
orth
odo
x ritual as obstacles
to
true worship. Instead,
the y placed great im
po
rtance on finding the truth for onesel
fi
n the
word
s
of
the Bible and on living an austere life of hard
work
and self-
sacrifice . They disapproved of the
pur
suit of pleasure
and
therefore
fr
own
ed on public entertain
ment
s such as the theatre, on drinkin g.
on
gamb
ling and on any celebration
of
the sexual aspect of life.
This is the origin
of
the Puritan/ Calvinist tradition in Britain (see
chapter
2). The first church within this tradi tion was the Presbyterian
Church. In Scotland , this f
orm
of Protestantism was so strong that it
became the nati
on'
s established
chur
ch. The Church
of
Scotland has a
separate organization fr
om
the Anglican
Chur
ch. It has no bish
op
s.
Its head, or 'Moderat
or
', is elected by its general as
semb
ly. It is the
biggest religi
on
in Scotland,
whe
re it is often k
now
n simply as 'the
kirk' (the Scots word for 'churc
h').
T
her
e are also many Presbyterians
in England and a large
numb
er in Northern Ireland.
In England. those Protestan ts w
ho
did
not accept the authority of
the Anglican Church
wer
e first k
nown
as 'diss
ente
rs'
and
later, as
What
is
it
call
ed?
Anglican
Cat
holic Presbyterian
and o
ther
nonconformist
Local unit
Place of
worsh
ip
Clergy
parish parish
church church
vicar/recto r/parson ] priest
prie sts
curate"
congregation
chapel
kirk
!
meet
ing house!
ministe r
pastor
New
member
of clergy deaco n
Residence of clergy vicarage
rec
tory
novice
manse!
I Church of Scotland only
2 Mainly Quaker
s One
of
these is used when referring to an individual;
'p
riests' is used collectively.
-l A junior me
mber
of
(he clergy
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tolerance grew, as
'no
nc
onfo
rmists'. These days, when refusal to
conform to the established church is irrelevant, they are simp ly called
'members
of
the free churches'. A great many different free-ch
urch
groups have
come
into being over the centuries. In the details
of
their organization, styles
of
wo
rship and doctrinal e
mp
hasis, the
various nonc
onformi
st groups differ considerably. However, they
all share, in varying degrees, certain characteristics: they regard sim-
plicity and individual prayer as more im
portant
than elaborate ritual
and public ceremony ; there is
comp
aratively little difference between
their clergy
(if
they have any at all) and their lay members; they praise
self-denial, although to a lesser extent than the ori gin al Puritans . For
example, many are teetotal (their
mem
bers do no t drink alcohol).
AfterPresbyterians, the largest traditional
no
nco
nfor
mist group in
Britain is the Met
hodi
st Society. Methodists follow the teachings of
John Wesley, an eightee
nth
century preacher who started his career
asan Anglican clergyman. He had little doctrinal disagreement
wit
h
the established
chur
ch. However, he and his followers considered
that it did
not
care
enough
about the needs
of
ordinary people and
thatits hierarchy was not serious en
oug
h about the Christian message.
The Salvation Army (see chapter I 8)
grew
out
of
the Wesleyan
movement.
Two other
nonco
nformist groups with a long history are the
Baptists and the
Qua
kers. The former are comparatively strict
bot
h in
their interpretation
of
the Bible and in t
heir
dislike
of
worldly pleas-
ures. The latter, also k
now
n as the Society
of
Friends, are a very small
group whose notable characteristics are their complete lack of clergy
and their pacifism. They refuse to fight in any war, though they will
do ambu lance and hospital work.
Other religi
on
s, ch
ur
ches
and
religi
ou
s
mo
v
em
ent
s
Sinceit is a multicultural
cou
ntry where the pressure to conform is
comp
ara
tively weak, Britain is home to followers of almost every
religion and sect imaginable. Some of these are offshoots, or local
combinations,
of
those already m
ention
ed. For exa
mp
le, the only
Church of distinctly Welsh origin calls itself both 'Calvinistic
Methodist' and 'Presbyterian Church ofWales'.
The numbers of followers of all the traditional Christian c
hurc
hes
have been slowly but steadily declining in the second
half
of the
twentieth century. Other Christian sects and churches have been
growing. Because
of
their energetic enthusiasm and their desire to
attrac
t
new
fo
llowe
rs, they are sometimes characterized by the term
'evangelical'. Most
of
them are similar to traditional nonconformist
groups in that they avoid rigid ritual and place great emphasis
on
sc
ripture.
In the case of
some
gr
oup
s, their interpretations
of
the
Bi
bleare often literal:the
Mor
mons,
J
eho
vah's Witnesses and Seventh
DayAdventists (all of which originated in the USA) are examples.
These groups, and others, also provide a strict code
of
beh
aviour for
their followers.
Other religions 127
Ecumenicalism
This term is used
to
describe the
trend in the last half
of
the t
wenuerh
century towards greater co-opera-
tion, and even unity, among the
various Christian churches in
Britain. Cynics say that this spirit is
the result
of
the fact that active parti-
cipation in any form o f Christianity
has become the activity
of
a rather
small minority. HO\
ever, the
churches themselves arc quite
sincere about it. With political and
social divisions far enough behind
them , they find thatthey do indeed
have a lot in com
mon.
The only actual union that
ecumenicalism has yet produced is
the unification
of
Presbyterians and
Congregationalists,
"\
,v
ho,
in 1972,
became the United Reformed
Church. Anglicans and Methodists
came very close (but not quite close
enou gh)
to
a union in t
968
.
The
possibility
of
the Anglican
Church rejoining world Catholicism
seems
to
have receded since the
introduction
of
wome
n priests.
Church
of
Wales?
There is no Welsh equivalent
of
the
Church of England or the Church
of
Scotland. That is to say. Wales has no
officially established Church. The
Anglican Church
was disestablished
in Wales, where it has always had
only a tiny
following. in 1914.
Wales is predominantly non -
conformist.
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128
13Religion
As quiet as a church
mo
use
Conventional church services in
Britain are typically very quie t,
except
when
hymns are being sung.
British people attending church
services abroad have
of
ten been
amazed , even shocked, by the
noisiness and liveliness
of
the con-
gregation . They chatter among
themselves, they walk in and out .
In Britain, respect and reverence
have traditionally been expressed by
silence and stillness. Many
peop
le,
howe
ver, find the atmosphere at tra-
ditional services ratherrepressive
and
unwclconung
. This coul d help
to explain the trend towards evan-
gelical and charismatic Christian
churches.
The fastest-growing type
of
evang elical Christianit y, however,
places less
emp
hasis
on
dogma,
sin, or givin g people a code
of
behaviour. Instead, the emphasis is on the spiritual and miraculous;
on revelation. Gatherings often involve joyful singing. There is a
belief in s
pir
itual
hea
ling
of
the sick . The
old
est existing ch
ur
ch of
this type in Britain is called Pentecostal, and this
term
is sometimes
used to denote all such groups . Pentecostalism has had a small
working-class follow ing for many years. Its recent gr
ow
th is among
the middle class. Many
gro
ups began wi th
meet
ing s in
people'
s living
rooms, where formality is at a
minim
um . Another term sometimes
used
of
these groups is 'charismatic', reflecting both their enthusiasm
and their emphasis on the
mira
culous, The g
row
th of these groups
mig
ht indicate that
man
y British
peop
le feel a gap in their lives
whi
ch
neither the material benefits
of
modern life nor the conventional
ch
urche
s can fill.
Some pe
op
le are tu
rn
ing even further afield, bey
ond
the
bound
s
of
the Christian tradition. The term '
New
Age' is used to cover a very
wide range
of
beliefs
which
can involve elements
of
Christianity,
eastern religions and ancientpagan beli
ef
s all mixed in together.Inter-
ests and beliefs of this kind are not new in Britain. Theosophy,
Druidism, Buddhism , Christian Scientism (which believes in the
cont
ro
l
of
the
bod
y t
hro
ugh
the m
ind)
and many ot
he
r beliefs have
all had their followers in this country for a hundred years or more.
Until the 1960s such
peop
le came exclusively
from
a sm all set of the
upper middle class. Since then, however,
New
Age beliefs have fil-
tered downwards to other sections of the social scale. Despite their
great variety and lack of exclusiveness, two features seem to be
common to all New Age beliefs: first, an emphasis on personal devel-
o
pment
(often seen as spiritual devel
op
m
ent);
second, respect for the
natural environment.
The rem
aining
religi
ou
s
group
s with significant
numb
ers
of
fol-
lowers in Britain are all associated with racial minorities. The
mo
st
we
ll-established ofthese are the Jews. Anti-Semitism exists in Britain,
but for a long time it has been weaker than it is in most other parts
of Europe. The
secur
ity
and
confiden
ce of Iudaism in Britain can be
seen
bot
h in the healthy
proport
ion
of
lews in Parliament
and
in the
fact that within it there is, quite openly, the same struggle between
orthodox/conservative and liberal
/ra
dical viewpoints as there is in
the Anglican and Catholic
chur
ches.
The
num
bers of followers
of
the Christian
Ortho
dox, Sikh, Hindu
and
Mus
lim
religions are all
growing,
main
ly because of
high
birth
rates
amo
ng families b
elo
ng ing to
them
. The last
of
these is by far the
largest. Its continued growth is also for another reason . Relative
poverty, racial discrimination and occasional conflicts wi th the
aut
hor
ities have caused
people
b
rough
t
up
as Muslims to be politi-
cized - more so than any other religious group in the country. As a
result, young Muslims are less likely to drift awa y from their relig
ion
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. 940 s.
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13
Religion
The vast majority of
peop
le in Britain do not regularly. described as
'the
Conservative party at prayer'. This re
putatio
n was partly the result
of
history (see chapter 6) and partly the result
of
the fact