The UK Is Not A Secular Nation
I get tired of Americans always claiming that we have it “so good” over here because we are such a secular country. In reality however, I think America is more secular. Your constitution restricts the government from making a national religion[1]; in essence calling for a separation of church and state (the definition of secularism). We have no such ruling.
Many would argue that the words “In God We Trust” on money and “One Nation Under God” on the Pledge of Allegiance are not things you would find in a secular nation, and this is true. The difference being that in the USA, you could take your case to the Supreme Court and get these words taken off (in principle, although for other reasons this might not happen). In the United Kingdom, the government could decide to put “God” everywhere and we wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.
So both countries are not truly secular (I doubt there are many countries that are), but to say that the UK is predominantly more secular is false.
National Religion
For one thing, the United Kingdom has a national religion, Christianity. It’s called “The Church of England”[2] (CofE), and is headed by the monarchy, our head of state. The head of state, currently Queen Elizabeth II, has to swear to protect the religion of the UK at their coronation. When asked,
Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel? Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law? Will you maintain and preserve inviolable the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England? And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?[3]
Liz replied,
All this I promise to do. The things which I have here before promised, I will perform, and keep. So help me God.
Who was doing the question asking? Why, only the person prevailing over the coronation: The Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest position to hold in The Church Of England. In a truly secular nation, the Queen would have been crowned by the Prime Minister, and would have vowed to protect the laws of the nation, not the laws of God.
Government
House Of Lords
The church has infiltrated the very heart of government though, and 26 members of the clergy are always elected to the House of Lords to sit as the Lords Spiritual[4]. The House of Lords are overseers of the House of Commons, which holds the government as elected by the people. Whilst their power is restricted by parliamentary acts, they are able to delay certain bills.
Not only are clergy sat in the House of Lords, but a prayer is said before chamber sessions even begin[5]. Both the House of Lords and House of Commons participate in prayer, which although voluntary, is still an anti-secular event.
Additionally, the blasphemy laws that plagued our nation since their 17th century induction into the common law system were only abolished on May 8th, 2008[6]. That’s 6 months ago to-the-day. It’s a step in the right direction, but the long road to secularism is miles long.
Education
I know full well how much religion impacts on education. Over 25% of primary schools (ages 5-11) are CofE Schools, and just under 6% of secondary schools (11-16) share this attribute[7]. These are government funded schools, and these figures are for one church. There are many Roman Catholic schools that receive funding from the government too.
I went to two primary schools, both CofE, and both situated next to churches. We had prayers twice a day, and when we left, we were given a Bible as a present (I threw mine away). My secondary school was founded and named after Bishop John Wordsworth[8] and is situated next to Salisbury Cathedral, following the CofE faith. We also had prayers daily, but luckily when I left I had something useful…namely an education.
Now I’m attending Royal Holloway, a university that is connected to the monarchy in some bizarre way, and therefore still connected to the Church of England.
So please, the next time you consider how much “better” it is over here, why not consider how much worse it is too?
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution ↩
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_england ↩
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_the_British_monarch#Recognition_and_oath ↩
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_Spiritual ↩
- http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/business/prayers.cfm ↩
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law_in_the_United_Kingdom ↩
- http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/education/schools/ ↩
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Wordsworth%27s_School ↩
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I see what you say and I regret it, but at least you have a nice 10 pound note ;).
Yeah, at least some of our money is secular :D
Well, you may have a national religion, but when is it ever enforced? So sure, the government could decide to put “God” on everything and you wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing about it, but seeing as the UK is largely pretty secular, it’s not a very plausible scenario.
We, on the other hand, have groups of people who have significant influence and prominence trying to inject religion even when it’s illegal.
The worst part is that the Supreme Court is uncomfortably crowded with people who do support legislation that is based on Christianity. These are the people who decide if a law follows the Constitution, and if they say it does, it officially does until the decision’s overturned.
Fortunately, we’ve now got a majority in our government now that will stick to church-state separation just as yours surely will. So here’s hoping that it remains an implausible scenario over here as well.
I guess my point is that while the US is secular by law, it isn’t very secular in spirit; and the UK may not be secular by law, but it at least seems to be very secular in spirit.
By all means, correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not familiar with the vocal religious minorities in the UK, so I may be pretty far off, but this is the impression that I get when I look at the UK.
@Ryan
Did you read the article? Head of state as head of the church, defender of “God’s laws”, 25% of schools being CofE, government prayers, clergy in the House of Lords.
Exactly which of those aren’t enforcing national religion?
A secular nation does not have to have a secular spirit. A secular nation is one which separates religion from state. America by law does this somewhat, and I did mention that it isn’t truly secular because of the large amount of religious people that break those laws. However when you compare America’s laws to England’s, how can you even begin to call England a secular nation.
Secularism has nothing to do with what people think. It has do to with how the country is run. Technically speaking, you could have 100% of the people claiming to be secularists, but that doesn’t make the country secular if they have any mention of national religion. If a country had a secular constitution, and yet 100% of the people were devoutly religious, it wouldn’t stop being a secular nation.
I see what you’re saying, and I wasn’t aware of how extensively the CofE is embedded into the UK gov’t. However, I disagree with your last point:
“If a country had a secular constitution, and yet 100% of the people were devoutly religious, it wouldn’t stop being a secular nation.”
Because if that many people were that religious, all it would take is one guy saying, “hey, why don’t we get rid of that whole separation of church and state thing?” and it would be done, legal or not. The thing is that we only need a few kooks in a few key places to become a theocracy.
But thankfully those kooks don’t have a ghost of a chance in a real election, so we’re okay.
I concede the legal point, but I think social attitudes play at least some part in how ’secular’ a country is.
Unbelievers are right in most of their thinking
You might be one of those who are abandoning Christianity; or one for whom religious beliefs are not just irrelevant, but baseless. You might be right, at least to some extent. Some traditional beliefs are not true, and the “God” of main line traditions simply does not exist. Most people don’t dare to confront their religious beliefs, opt for the status quo, or become marginalized.
Bishop John Shelby Spong says that “Christianity Reformed From its Roots – A Life Centered in God” “rightly points out that those who seek to defend Christianity’s past are also killing Christianity’s future.” I accepted the challenge of finding the One who may be recognized even by Gnostics and atheists: the Existence! Eminent philosophers and thinkers might give you an idea if this book be an insightful reading for you (links below). You may look also at excerpts at Amazon.com.
Jairo Mejia, M. Psych., Santa Clara University
http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Grudzen.htm
http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/Churcher.htm