The Green Party has announced plans to separate the Church of England from the state should it win the next General Election.
Under proposals outlined in party policy documents, Zack Polanski’s party would end the Prime Minister’s involvement in appointing the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Church would also become a self-governing institution, while bishops currently sitting in the House of Lords would lose their seats.
Elsewhere, the role of the Church’s representative in the House of Commons, held by Labour MP Marsha de Cordova, would also be scrapped.
“No person shall hold office in the state, or be excluded from any such office, by virtue of their or their spouse’s membership or non-membership of any religion or denomination of religion,” party policy documents say.
Disestablishing the Church would undo nearly five centuries of British history.
Henry VIII created the Church of England as the nation’s official church through the 1534 Act of Supremacy as he broke with Rome.
The King is still the head of the church to this day.
Zack Polanski’s Green Party has announced plans to separate the Church of England from the state
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Church law, as a result, forms part of the law of the land in England and Wales.
Countries including Iceland, Denmark and Malta still retain an established church – though the Church in Wales and the Church of Scotland were both cleaved away from the state in the 1920s.
The former Bishop of London, Lord Chartres, has in the past said the Church of England is “already the most disestablished church in Europe”.
“Although the Church is responsible for 45 per cent of all Grade I listed buildings in England, worshippers largely pay for their upkeep, and the clergy are paid without the substantial public finance available to churches in Germany and France,” he pointed out, writing in the Church Times.
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Lord Chartres, has in the past said the Church of England is ‘already the most disestablished church in Europe’
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PA
And Dr Jonathan Chaplin, a specialist in Christian political theology, has argued that growing secularisation and declining congregations have left the Church of England’s place as the “church of the nation” in peril.
That was echoed by former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who said last night: “You have to be an Islamo-Commie nutjob to conclude Britain’s problem is too much Christianity.”
Polling this week showed that just 39 per cent of Britons thought the UK was Christian.
Half of those surveyed said Britain was no longer Christian – while 13 per cent believe it never was to begin with.
Dr Jonathan Chaplin has warned that the Church of England’s place as the ‘church of the nation’ may be in peril
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PA
But pollsters did find some signs of hope for Britain’s Christian future.
Some 52 per cent of the 2,000 adults surveyed believe that moving away from the country’s Christian roots would be to the detriment of future generations.
A clear majority, 58 per cent, said Christianity still had something positive to offer the way Britain is governed.
While data firm NielsenIQ BookData revealed the numbers of Britons buying Bibles jumped by 19 per cent last year, taking the total to its highest since 1998.