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It seems to me that in post-Christian Britain the writing is on the wall for these laws. It will be interesting to watch the reaction of the various "loyal" orders if this ever comes to pass. Will a professedly Protestant organisation encourage its members to pledge allegiance to an RC monarch?
I suspect they will fudge the issue.

www.theevangelists.blogspot.com

RevIan Hall


And how does this involve Australia?

Oh, and I'd like to accuse you of idolatry. Will you respond on this site, or will you retreat to your own benign dictatorship?

Grham Veale

Graham you may not have noticed but Elizabeth Windsor is Australia's head of state.
I think that answers your second question as well.
By the way Graham no-one likes a smart alec.

My wife doesn't mind me.

No-one likes bigots either. Just saying.

So the future of Christianity in Britain depends on rejecting this legislation, does it? Or it'sa sign of secularisation? The Australian's are in an uproar as the lodges may swear loyalty to a Catholic monarch?

If I have misread your concerns, and you welcome the move to tolerance (nearly half a millenium too late, mind) please correct me.

Otherwise, perhaps you'll clarify your despair. Perhaps you'll also finally tell me if I'm a liberal. Perhaps you'll also apologise for that awful article about the banana.

I'll be back Monday, either with an apology for the accusation or with more questions about the crown and the cross. Because I would be sick to the pit of my stomach if anyone claiming to follow Christ felt that the latter needed the former.

Graham Veale

The key to this is a 4h term for Gordon Brown. Which I very much doubt will happen.

Australia has the world's biggest rock. Ayres Rock looks like a mountain but geologists assure us it is only a rock. That's what I'd want on my money if I were Australian. Might make a good symbol of the state, better than Gibraltar. Certainly better than some King or Queen. Will last a lot longer too, probably a few billion years.

Reverend, I'm curious about something. How do you think kangaroos, wombats, and koalas got from Noah's where it landed on Mount Ararat in Turkey to Austrialia, do you think they swam for it? And what about those Tasmanian devils? Maybe they all floated there on flotsam and jetsam.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Graham - you're being a bit stupid over this. Straight into the attack with Rev Ian - bit too personal and not related to anything the guy said in his post. And it is an interesting and important question. It would represent the end of a specifically protestant monarchy (even if the monarch were still a protestant in pratice). But I doubt it will happen - even if Brown get's back. He'll find a way to leave it alone. I suspect it's just being floated to try and capture a few Catholic voters in Scotland before the next bi-election.

And Marcus - biggest rock is Mt Augustus. It is two and a half times the size of Uluru/Ayers Rock.

Regarding the disestablishment of the Church of England - about time too! In a truly secular state religions should be treated like any other large businesses or corporations. They have their property, their full-time staff, their income flow and their expenditure. Cynics would say that they produce very little, but on the basis that they provide comforting rituals, short-lived euphorias and community sing-songs, they should be surely be grouped with the drinks trade. Granting Distillers a special role in the functioning of Parliament would be contrary to anti-monopolies legislation, so the same should apply to the CoE.

Of course, whether the Catholic empire will reciprocate by allowing a Humanist to become its monarch is a separate issue altogether. Humanists are advised to defer getting their gold lamee dresses dry-cleaned for the time being.