Here's Some Unexpected Informacion

[LuisDantas]

I like the semi-separation of church and state we have in e the US. We can get rid of them if they get out of hand.

Get rid of who?

 

[Tumah]

Get rid of who?

The state obviously...

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Oh, I thought the Church of England was more similar to Catholicism and distinct from Protestantism.

Protestantism covers a wide range of non Roman Catholic churches.
Catholic means Universal. And as such many protestant churches including the Church of England are catholic.
Till recently it was a requirement for those in line to the throne to marry protestants, or lose that status. They must also ask the Queens permission to marry, so there was no sidestepping the issue.
The marriage requirement has been repealed.

The Anglo Catholic wing of the church of England is almost identical to Roman Catholicism, but does not have allegiance to the pope.

 

[Tumah]

Protestantism covers a wide range of non Roman Catholic churches.
Catholic means Universal. And as such many protestant churches including the Church of England are catholic.
Till recently it was a requirement for those in line to the throne to marry protestants, or lose that status. They must also ask the Queens permission to marry, so there was no sidestepping the issue.
The marriage requirement has been repealed.

The Anglo Catholic wing of the church of England is almost identical to Roman Catholicism, but does not have allegiance to the pope.

I don't understand why your post that clearly has so much information in it, made me more and more confused with every line I read!

 

[Flankerl]

Andorra?

Andorra is a principality between France and Spain. It's know for ski resorts, it's tax heaven status, and carefree shopping. As per Google

Please don't tell me you didn't know about Andorra.

It is much more similar than other protestants and some foreign Catholics have often confused a High Anglican Service with a Catholic one. The clergy wear vestments and some churches are or can be highly decorated. Some practice the Midnight Mass. It is a complex issue.

About as complex as it gets when your entire religion is based upon the idea that your King should boink as many women as he wants.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I don't understand why your post that clearly has so much information in it, made me more and more confused with every line I read!

There is no one line answer, so you will remain confused

There are also independent Roman Catholic Churches that do not answer to the pope.

The Anglican Church has a vast network of churches around the world including the Episcopalians in the USA. these are all linked under the umbrella of the Anglican Communion. These churches themselves range from near puritanical to the Anglo Catholics, which are near identical to Roman Catholics, but have no allegiance to the Pope.

Secondly. There is a near equal number of Anglican and episcopalian churches, that have no links to the Anglican Communion. That have been formed independently or have at some time broken away from the Canterbury Communion.
They still however use the same book of common prayer and the King James Bible and mostly hold to the Original Westminster confession.

Just as the Queen is head of state of some of the old commonwealth countries so she plays a similar role in some of the Anglican Churches ( but nothing like all, or that many)

 

[LuisDantas]

About as complex as it gets when your entire religion is based upon the idea that your King should boink as many women as he wants.

Yeah, I was wondering when people would mention King Henry VIII.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Get rid of who?

We can elect someone more neutral on the next election.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

About as complex as it gets when your entire religion is based upon the idea that your King should boink as many women as he wants.

So You subscribe the Idiots Guide to English History and the Anglican Church.?

The Anglican Church is very closely linked to the Lutheran Churches of many countries. To the extent that their priests are licensed to officiate in each others churches. In Europe this includes most Germanic countries, Francs and most of Scandinavia.

 

[Rival]

King Henry VIII was a Catholic, always. The Reformation didn't happen until Queen Elizabeth I took the throne, and that was after Mary I (who succeeded Henry's short-lived son Edward), who was a staunch Roman Catholic who burned all the Protestants. Theologically, Henry was a Roman Catholic and nothing else. He wasn't seeking a full-blown split and Reformation, not even close.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

We can elect someone more neutral on the next election.

Churches by their nature and calling, Just like politics, have a very strong interest in social and ethical issues.
They will never be separated in any meaningful way, as they are linked by the real needs of People.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Priests, pastors and preachers are prohibited from promoting one candidate over another from the pulpit. They can lose their tax free status otherwise.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

King Henry VIII was a Catholic, always. The Reformation didn't happen until Queen Elizabeth I took the throne, and that was after Mary I (who succeeded Henry's short-lived son Edward), who was a staunch Roman Catholic who burned all the Protestants. Theologically, Henry was a Roman Catholic and nothing else. He wasn't seeking a full-blown split and Reformation, not even close.

For once I have to agree with you.
Though he was responsible for the Dissolution of the monasteries.
Which helped pay for our defences, and started the build up of the navy, that later defeated the Armada under Elizabeth.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Priests, pastors and preachers are prohibited from promoting one candidate over another from the pulpit. They can lose their tax free status otherwise.

Indeed. However they are not banned from promoting and supporting issues..

In the UK they generally do not promote individual candidates, though they could. But they nevertheless make their position abundantly clear.
The law on charities is entirely separated. from issues between politics and religion. Priests can and do stand for parliament and some Bishops sit in the Lords. The status of a charity is based on its non commercial and charitable function.
Some churches do not qualify as charities.

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

The Queen of England is also an authority figure for the Church of Scotland, although I am not sure on how exactly.

Actually she is not because the Church of Scotland is the national (but, crucially, not the state) church. Literally the only power the British monarch has is to appoint a Lord High Commissioner to the Kirk's (slang for the Church of Scotland) General Assembly. That's it. The Queen does not sit on the General Assembly. The only other role the Monarch takes in relation to the Kirk is an oath to preserve it.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Indeed. However they are not banned from promoting and supporting issues...

In the UK they generally do not promote individual candidates, though they could. But they nevertheless make their position abundantly clear.
The law on charities is entirely separated. from issues between politics and religion. Priests can and do stand for parliament and some Bishops sit in the Lords. The status of a charity is based on its non commercial and charitable function.
Some churches do not fully qualify as charities.

For instance The Mormon Church which largely has charitable status does not get property tax exemption on its temples.as they are not open to the public

.
The House of Lords ruled that the Preston temple was not qualified as a "place of public religious worship" since access was restricted to this select group.

All the church's places of worship that are open to the public, such as chapels, have the benefit of the full exemption from rates.

The temple, which is not open to the public, does not attract the full exemption, but does benefit from an 80 per cent reduction in rates in view of its use for charitable purposes..

 

[Kirran]

I don't understand why your post that clearly has so much information in it, made me more and more confused with every line I read!

I'll try and translate it -

The term Protestantism refers to a wide range of churches, with highly diverging practice and doctrine, which descend from the split from the Roman Catholic Church. Not all non-Catholic Western Christian denominations are Protestant, however, although it is in the majority.

What the term catholic (small c) actually means is universal. As the RCC claims to be the universal church, it calls itself that. But many other denominations would call themselves catholic, while not Catholic! So Catholic (big C) tends to mean the RCC and other little split off churches which still call themselves Catholic.

For a long time, it was illegal for a member of the British royal family, as heads of the Church of England, to marry a Catholic. That has recently been sorted out, to some degree at least.

In terms of practice, there are some congregations in the C of E which do their liturgy etc like the Catholics, and some that do it differently.

 

[PeteC-UK]

Hi Folks...

Trust me on the UK thing - religion AND monarchy - are really - little more than a joke here - we pay them lip service at best but neither have any real clout or authority here now....Its all for show with the monarchy - like they are "mascots" and little more in truth to the vast majority of Brits - and religion - well - the British public just are NOT religious at all - we DONT go to church usually at all - and we dont take rules or guidance from any religious authority, usually - both issues are irrelevant to the modern UK for most of the time hardly influence any societal thinking at all - and even those Brits who SAY they are christian in ALL its forms are really just clinging to a label that they were given as a child and that they adopted as "truth" but dont understand or follow at all...


I mean - the average Saturday football match gets far far FAR more attention than ANY Sunday church service ANYWHERE in the country...Even none league football here drwas bigger crwods than any church service usually..lol.. I see my local church - gets maybe just twenty people attending a Sunday sermon - in a town of around 12000 - and if I ever mention a bible quote to practicaly anyone they would not have a clue what it meant at all.. Especially the younger generation - thirty or so having their own kids now - NO religious interest whatsoever - not THAT religion anyway - the imported religions are a different story of course - but English nationals do NOT follow the bible OR our monarchy - both are just - fixtures and fittings - to make it seem like the "good old days" I guess... We do seem to love the royals - but as I say - its like we would love our pets - our mascots - we show them off to you all when occassion demands - and when it doesnt we simply ignore them as if they were not even there...Neither the royals nor the clergy have any real authority over the common man here - they ar e irrelevant to British society by and large.......

 

[Tumah]

I'll try and translate it -

The term Protestantism refers to a wide range of churches, with highly diverging practice and doctrine, which descend from the split from the Roman Catholic Church. Not all non-Catholic Western Christian denominations are Protestant, however, although it is in the majority.

What the term catholic (small c) actually means is universal. As the RCC claims to be the universal church, it calls itself that. But many other denominations would call themselves catholic, while not Catholic! So Catholic (big C) tends to mean the RCC and other little split off churches which still call themselves Catholic.

For a long time, it was illegal for a member of the British royal family, as heads of the Church of England, to marry a Catholic. That has recently been sorted out, to some degree at least.

In terms of practice, there are some congregations in the C of E which do their liturgy etc like the Catholics, and some that do it differently.

Ahhh, some of those things are important bytes of information to clarifying what he said. The whole catholic/universal thing through me into a mess.

 

[Kirran]

When I was younger, I thought Christianity was a spent force here in the UK. Over the last few years I've realised it's actually much stronger than I'd realised - there are a lot of really quite genuine Christians, many with a pretty positive Christianity.