BRITISH
THINK TANK SAYS IT’S TIME TO RETHINK CHURCH-STATE RELATIONS
By Jeremy Reynalds
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service
LONDON (ANS) -- Following
the marriage announcement of Britain’s Prince Charles and Camilla
Parker-Bowles, the director of a British think tank is saying it’s time
to rethink the while issue of church-state relations.
 Prince Charles (56) and Camilla
Parker-Bowles (57) announced Thursday they will get married April 8 in
a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle, to be followed by a blessing and
prayer ceremony led by the head of the Church of England, Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams. (Pictured:
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles).
However, Ekklesia stated in a news release, that decision places the
Church of England – as the state church – in a very difficult position.
It has “as its future Governor and Defender of the Faith a man who even
the Archbishop of Canterbury cannot permit to re-marry in his own
Church using the official liturgy he is meant to uphold.”
Ekklesia's director Jonathan Bartley said in the news release, “As a
state church it has no say over its Supreme Governor and its interests
remain subject to those of the Crown. In decision-making about the
Royal wedding the Church of England has been shown to be little more
than a (minor league player) in constitutional affairs. It is time to
end this humiliation and set the Church free ... It is an embarrassment
that the Church can be franchised in this way.”
An expert on the monarchy told England’s Birmingham Post (http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=15178368&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=charles--will-face-church-controversy--over-camilla-name_page.html)
that Prince Charles is pursuing a “high-risk strategy” and that his
role as head of the Church of England will be questioned when and if he
becomes king.
Dr. Sarah Richardson, from Warwick University's Department of History,
told the Post, “The announcement raises a lot of questions for the
Church of England. It is obvious that the marriage is not being fully
recognized by the fact that it is going to be a civil ceremony. It's
not clear how someone can have a role as the head of the Church of
England and then not confer to the rules and regulations of the Church.
The last person to do something similar was Edward VIII and he had to
abdicate.”
However, according to the Episcopal News Service (www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_58330_ENG_HTM.htm)
Prince Charles’ marriage plans have won “qualified support” from the
one million member Evangelical Alliance.
That group, the news service stated, says it promotes Biblical truth in
contemporary society and described the planned marriage as a “serious
move to put their relationship on a more moral footing.”
But the Alliance still commented, “The couple's previous divorces,
their documented adultery and the nature of their extra-marital
relationship up to this point, do present difficulties for many of our
Anglican members and others with respect to Charles' suitability to
govern the Church of England.”
While the statement from Ekklesia said that the group believes the case
for disassociation between the Church and the state will be
strengthened by the Church’s “current plight,” is also made clear that
in the group’s opinion it is the theological issue that is the most
important.
“The Church of England is the only state church in the worldwide
Anglican Communion,” Bartley said in the news release. “That the Church
should be subject to the Crown compromises its ability to proclaim and
live the Gospel free of state interests. It inhibits equal relations
with other Christian churches. And it is also inappropriate in a plural
[istic] society. Faith cannot be imposed. It must remain a free choice.”
According to Ekklesia, Christ's message of equality, justice and
special concern for the poor stands in contradiction to the principle
of the monarchy, “which is based on privilege for the few through
heredity.”
If Parker-Bowles was “a Catholic, the Prince of Wales and his heirs
would automatically lose his right to accede to the throne,” the news
release from the think tank stated.
Ekklesia would like the Church of England to issue a formal invitation
to “a fair, equal and theologically-grounded conversation about
church-state relations and about ways of moving beyond Establishment,”
Bartley said in the news release.
The issue of disassociating the Church of England and the state has
come up on a number of occasions recently, according to Ekklesia.
“The current Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, was known to
be uneasy about it when he took up his post,” the news release read,
“and was formerly head of the Church in Wales, which was
(disassociated) many years ago.
The former Bishops of Birmingham and Woolwich are other supporters of
disassociation.
Ekklesia (www.ekklesia.co.uk )
is a group that “promotes radical theological ideas in public life.”
----------------
Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the
founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency
homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org
or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction.
He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New
Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at
Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and
lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy
Reynalds at jgreynalds@aol.com.
Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A black and white JPEG
picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.
ASSIST News Service (ANS) - www.assistnews.net
-- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com
|
