General synod.....

[R1Geezer]

On news 24 this morning I'm sure I heard that the synod is the only place other than parliament where laws are made, this horrified me slightly before I though, well there must be limits or we'd all be going to church on Sundays by law. So exactly what laws can they enact?

[DTCwordfan]

Church law

[DTCwordfan]

I quote:

In the Church of England, the ecclesiastical courts that formerly decided many matters such as disputes relating to marriage, divorce, wills, and defamation, still have jurisdiction of certain church-related matters (e.g., discipline of clergy, alteration of church property, and issues related to churchyards). Their separate status dates back to the 12th century when the Normans split them off from the mixed secular/religious county and local courts used by the Saxons. In contrast to the other courts of England the law used in ecclesiastical matters is at least partially a civil law system, not common law, although heavily governed by parliamentary statutes. Since the Reformation, ecclesiastical courts in England have been royal courts. The teaching of canon law at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge was abrogated by Henry VIII; thereafter practitioners in the ecclesiastical courts were trained in civil law, receiving a Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) degree from Oxford, or an LL.D. from Cambridge. Such lawyers (called "doctors" and "civilians") were centred at "Doctors Commons", a few streets south of St Paul's Cathedral in London, where they monopolized probate, matrimonial, and admiralty cases until their jurisdiction was removed to the common law courts in the mid-19th century. (Admiralty law was also based on civil law instead of common law, thus was handled by the civilians too.) Charles I repealed Canon Law in 1638 after uprisings of Covenanters confronting the Bishops of Aberdeen following the convention at Muchalls Castle and other revolts across Scotland earlier that year.

Other churches in the Anglican Communion around the world (e.g., the Episcopal Church in the United States, and the Anglican Church of Canada) still function under their own private systems of canon law.

[steg]

if the church made all laws, then i bet the country/world would be a much safer and probably better place to live

[R1Geezer]

yeah like the spanish inquisition, perlease!

[steg]

the spanish inquisition was a tribunal established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile,

[Zeuhl]

If the church made all laws:

"The voices in my head told me to do it"

would have to be an acceptable defence in every case
.

[steg]

why would it?

[Zeuhl]

Because some of the many delusional fundamentals of christianity is people hearing voices, imagining they can communicate (prayer) with a deity and having Jesus 'talk to them'

If they replaced Jesus/God with 'Elvis' they'd all be locked up.
.

[steg]

i see your point i think,............. nearly as stupid as believing there is not a god of some sort

[naomi24]

Really? Why is that stupid then?

[steg]

if absolute knowledge was all the grains of sand on earth, human knowledge so far would be lucky if it = one grain of sand, so imo anyway, to say there is not is stupid

[naomi24]

But surely that theory has to work both ways. Given the total absence of evidence for the existence of a God, isn't it even more stupid to believe there is one?

[DTCwordfan]

My God, its a Rene Descartes evening breaking out.....

Does God exist or doesn't he?

Break out the wine..............

[naomi24]

DT, are you complaining again - or do you have something constructive to add to this discussion?

[steg]

total absence of evidence? as far back as human remains can be found, there is evidence of ritual burials etc, every part of the world even the wee pygmies in the rainforests all had sort of religion. just cause god doesn't jump out and say cooy i'm here, dosn't mean there is no evidence

[DTCwordfan]

I have already contributed to this thread by giving a synopsis on canon law - whcih is what the thread is supposed to be about, not some half-assed debate on God's existence. A degree of cynicism is more than necessary.

And your message comes across as impertinent

[steg]

also we are all here, what could be better evidence than that lol

[NazNomad]

Steg, that just shows people have been worshipping somethig for a long time ... it doesn't make any 'God' real just because 'ancient's bled out a virgin/goat/etc for it.

[mike11111]

Is AB short for Answerbank or Atheistbank?

[steg]

it does show though that as long as humans(as wee know them) have been around in all wee corners of the earth they have believed in an after life of sort, long long long before any of the mainstream religions have been about