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Category - disestablishment of the church of england

  • 27 Nov 2012
    Disestablishment debate back in the spotlight

    Setting the Church of England free would be in its own interests, says Simon Barrow, as the disestablishment debate rears its head again following the General Synod debacle over women bishops. The Christian religion’s claim to truth and authority resides neither in state nor market, but in systems of belief and community which it should be capable of developing through bodies that are part of civic society.

  • 23 Nov 2012
    Time to set church and state free

    Judging from the volumes of media coverage and online comment the goings on at this week's General Synod have generated, popular nerves have definitely been touched. But of what kind and to what effect? Simon Barrow explores the case for establishing the independence of church and state, in this article looking at the issue primarily in terms of societal pluralism, but noting the theological concerns which are actually central to the case Ekklesia wishes to make for disestablishment.

  • 29 Apr 2011
    Wedded to a right royal theological confusion

    Reading the church media over the past week, and probably for the succeeding one, would leave many people with the impression that the boundary between church and monarchy is virtually indecipherable. I find this elision of faith in God with a longing for worldly pomp and circumstance deeply disturbing.

  • 29 Apr 2011
    The mytho-poetics of royalty

    Monarchy as an institution rooted in inherited wealth and pure eugenic privilege stands in contrast with, and contradiction to, the levelling Gospel of Jesus Christ, argues Simon Barrow. But a kind of mythology and ritualising in the popular imagination prevents both Christians and others from seeing what is really going on, and what is wrong with it.

  • 29 Apr 2011
    Beyond 29 April: Equity after monarchy

    In a culture seemingly dominated by royalist propaganda, particularly around the wedding of William and Kate, here are plenty of reasons to be republican, says Phil Wood; not all of them honourable. Some may be in danger of reinforcing what they oppose. But for Christians, the case for disestablishing the kingdom and the church derives from a higher level of subversion, and a vision of equity before monarchy which people from many backgrounds are seeking.

  • 27 Mar 2009
    Succession debate points to disestablishment
  • 20 Nov 2008
    A kingdom, but not as we know it

    How strange that the Church of England tries to justify Establishment on biblical grounds, says leading biblical scholar Chris Rowland, when the prophetic tradition and Jesus point in such a different direction.