Time to dis-establish the Church of England?

[jake-the-peg]

Church attendance is now 6.5% and whilst 70% of the UK Claim to be Christian 40% of those confess to not actually believing in God at all!

We have an heir to the thone who has said he wants to be known as defender of the faiths (plural) and would have liked a non-denominational corronation - before the Archbishop told him off!

In this context is there any justification to The Church of England continuing to have seats in the house of Lords?

Isn't it time to seperate church and state?

(Go on you know you've always wanted to use the term antidisestablishmentarianism in anger!)

[Theland]

Can we use an abbreviation? Could you suggest one?

[brionon]

Jake,me lad, you can spell that long word but not Separate.

[chakka35]

Or 'coronation'.

[Theland]

how do you pronounce that word after a drink?

[jno]

sounds like you've stirred up the counterantidisestablishmentarianists. Anyway, as long as bishops have a seat in the House of Lords by right, the UK is a theocratic state like Iran.

[jake-the-peg]

I used up all my spelling 'lives' on antidisestablishmentarianism!

Of course when crowned Charles will be head of the CofE and can tell the archbishop to do what he's told - but to do that he has go through the coronation.

Bit of a catch 22

[gizmo1]

A clever person pointed out to me once that a disestablished church becomes more powerful as in the USA. I'm not sure how this works. It also strikes me that Christianity stateside seems a little to the right of Christianity in the UK. American clerics talk a great deal in terms of veangeance and don't seem to bothered about love and forgiveness. George Bush seems simply to have appropriated Christainity as the 'Higher Power' to help him stop drinking. Perhaps another clever person could put their analytical powers use and work out whether these are symptoms indeed of disestablishment or just an extension of the 'confident' US culture