Lent Group – Present & future: Religion, Church and State in the 21st Century

At the beginning of the 21st century in most of the Western world the context for the Church is a secular society and a secular state. However, at the same time religion is reasserting itself as a social force, whether Christian or non-Christian.

This creates problems for the state, but also for the Church: what was once a two-sided relationship is now more complicated. The state now has a range of religious traditions with which to deal, and the Church can no longer claim sole representation of the spiritual life of the nation. Church and faith, though never the same, are now visibly not identifiable. And in England a new situation arises when mosque attendance on Fridays exceeds Sunday attendance at the established Church.

It is against this background that the public questions about Church and state now have to be addressed. Should the establishment of the Church of England continue? Should the Church be involved in state ceremony? Should there be ‘Lords Spiritual’ in a reformed House of Lords? Would our monarch still be a monarch without Christian, sacramental, anointing? Should the state give formal acknowledgment to religions other than Christianity? If so, how? And can the future King Charles make good his desire to be ‘defender of faith’?