This article was first published
by The National Catholic Register
Established Religion or Free
For All?
By Dwight Longenecker
Every morning
my four children leave for school in their
smart grey and navy uniforms. They are heading
across the road to our local Catholic elementary
school. Because England does not have separation
of church and state our school is fully funded
and integrated into the state educational
system. At the same time it is fully Catholic.
Every day in every class the school day begins
and ends with prayer. The parish priest opens
and closes every term with a school mass
and says a mass for each class once a year.
Every classroom boasts a crucifix and a ‘quiet
area’ decorated with seasonal religious images.
The first communion programme is run through
the school and a comprehensive programme
of Catholic religious education permeates
every aspect of school life. We advertise
for Catholic teachers and we can admit only
Catholic students if we wish. Catholic images
abound throughout the school. Furthermore,
within our area are two fully Catholic secondary
schools with high standards of behaviour
and academic achievement.
The Anglicans
enjoy the same privileged status. Because
of higher standards and the ability to select
students, church schools regularly attain
the highest results and places in church
schools are coveted by most parents. It doesn’t
stop there. Religious Education is a required
subject in both state and church schools,
and incredibly, an act of ‘predominantly
Christian worship’ is supposed to take place
every day for every pupil in every school
in the land.
Compare
this to the American experience where the state
school system is now essentially a tool to
promote atheistic humanism. Prayer and Bible
reading are forbidden and any hint of religion
is quenched for fear of offending egalitarian
and secularist sensibilities. Hoards of American
parents are opting out of the state system
and into private religious education or home
schooling. With two such radically different
systems you might imagine that England is
the Christian culture while America is secular
and atheistic.
The reverse is
true. Beneath the surface England is far
more secular, cynical and atheistic than
America. In England real religion is almost
dead, and ironically, it is established religion
that has helped to kill it off. Mandatory
religion at school is more likely to inoculate
children against religion than really impart
a living faith. When religion is taught by
unbelievers the result is detrimental because
what was an opportunity to impart faith becomes
an opportunity for the disbelieving teacher
to dismantle the faith. When children see
that the ‘act of worship’ is a just a legal
requirement that is mocked by their teachers
then the state system has destroyed, not
developed real religion.
Established religion
also makes a difference in the media. By
law the broadcasting companies in England
must have a certain amount of religious programming.
However, legislation for religious broadcasting
doesn’t specify what sort of religion should
be broadcast. The laws were set when the
Church of England’s homely brand of practical
Christianity was the norm. It no longer is.
As a result the head of religious programming
may be non-Christian, agnostic or even a
thoroughgoing atheist. A few years ago a
vicious attack on Mother Teresa was broadcast
during a ‘religious slot’ and this Christmas
the BBC produced a programme that said the
Virgin Birth was a fable, the gospels were
a fabrication and that Mary may have been
become pregnant by a Roman soldier.
Because the content
is controlled by the secular media establishment,
what
the public perceive as the Christian faith
is really an attack on the faith. The fact
that it is dressed up as ‘religion’ makes
the propaganda far more subtle and devastating.
Which tactic is more effective—for a religion
to be attacked by communist soldiers or for
urbane men in grey suits to dish out their
version of religion, all the time telling
you that it is the real thing? At the same
time, the same grey men control all other
possible broadcasting through a strict licensing
system. Churches or religious groups are
not allowed to own or operate a national
broadcasting station. Recently a few local
Christian stations have got started, but
their licenses are hedged around with regulations
promoting a policy that tries so hard not
to offend that the result is a passionless
pabulum of pusillanimity.
Because of established religion,
a certain type of bland, institutional Christianity
is taken for granted in England, and like
beige wallpaper, it is never noticed. This
dulls the senses and makes people feel they
are Christian just because they are English.
In contrast, the total
religious freedom in the USA ensures a lively,
marketplace
for religion. The state may not support the
religious schools, but it also means the
state doesn’t interfere. Americans don’t
rely on the state for their religion. Instead,
when it comes to religion, they are properly
suspicious of the state.
In England we have handed
religion over to the state. Consequently,
we have had to accept the state’s version
of religion. The free for all situation in
the United States might seem more chaotic
and risky, but there is a healthy self reliance
about American religion. Americans stand
up for their beliefs in a way that is almost
unheard of in England. When I lecture in
the USA people turn up. They buy books. They
debate religion. They get involved because
they know it is up to them—not the state,
and if they don’t make their religion work
nobody else will.
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