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A former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has used an article in the Daily Mail to attack the Coalition Government, and more specifically David Cameron, of pursuing “aggressive secularisation” of the country, and making the declining Christian population feel “part of a persecuted minority”. The former Archbishop cited actions like the legalisation of same-sex marriage and, more specifically, cross-party action “to turn the 700-year-old Parliamentary chapel of St Mary Undercroft into a multi-faith prayer room so that gay couples can get married there.”
George Carey does not speak for the whole Church of England, particularly now that he holds no senior post within that organisation- there are many religious folk who would take issue with Carey’s stand against total equality. But he summarises the vocal protests of a large group of social conservatives against any action which challenges the outdated system by which the Church of England (CofE) enjoys privileged status in the eyes of the state.
At present, the Church’s internal rules enjoy equivalent status to legislation; they can appoint over 20 bishops to the House of Lords, and thus have an undemocratic input into the Parliamentary process; they run a large number of schools (a point I shall develop below); and in a throwback to medieval times, the Church is one of the nation’s largest landlords. In local government, our elected representatives are still subject to stipulations that they must pray at the start of all council meetings.
It isn’t Christians who are the persecuted minority- it’s the rest of us. Religious segregation applies in CofE schools, such that our children’s prospects of gaining admission to such schools are reduced unless their family are, or pretend to be, committed churchgoers. If religious equality was applied, there would be at least 10 atheist Lords and an additional Muslim one to counterbalance the bishops in Parliament. And with trends in religion in the UK being what they are, Christians will be in the minority by 2030, eliminating any credibility in the oft-repeated claim that “Britain is a Christian country”.
George Carey wants us to eliminate religious inequality, and I agree with him. We can start by disestablishing the Church of England, and then eliminating the legal privileges that they enjoy. A disestablished Church would be free to appoint its own bishops, and act without ministerial interference. Also, they would be free to raise any genuine cases of discrimination against Christians that might exist, without any trace of hypocrisy. An example is the recent European Court of Human Rights case where British Airways fired an employee for wearing a small crucifix on her uniform.
Though British courts ruled that, as BA’s uniform policy did ban religious symbols, the sacking was legal, the ECHR awarded the former employee €32,000 in damages. Rightly so: we should respect the right of Christians to wear crosses as we allow other religious groups such as Sikhs and Muslims to wear appropriate items. However, I also agree with the ECHR’s other rulings on the same day that public officials who do not wish to administrate actions such as civil partnerships on religious grounds may be made redundant. If there’s one outcome that should emerge from the debate is that the state, and the actions of its workers, should be faith-neutral.
