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We know that one of the most significant differences between man and other living beings is the moral and the socio-moral aspect of man’s existence. Man is not merely a physical being. On the contrary, man has a strong moral aspect to his existence. This moral and socio-moral aspect of man’s existence is the foundation on which the legal and social structures that we see in all the societies have evolved overtime. It is in fact the acceptance, appreciation and realization of mutual rights and responsibilities, which has resulted in the strong bonds of family, friendship, tribe and society. So it’s religion that supports social norms, provides social integration, social control, legitimating of social values, social solidarity, social conformity, interpretation of important life cycles in society and life events, informs legal systems.
In 1833 the British Government proposed the Irish Church Measure to reduce the 22 archbishops and bishops who oversaw the Anglican minority in Ireland to a total of 12 by amalgamating sees and to use the revenues saved for the use of parishes. This sparked the Anglo-Catholic movement and had wide repercussions in the Anglican Communion.
As the official established church, the Church of Ireland was funded partially by tithes imposed on all Irish citizens, irrespective of the fact that it counted only a minority of the populace among its adherents; these were a source of much resentment which occasionally boiled over, as in the «Tithe War« of 1831-36. Eventually, the tithes were ended, replaced with a lower levy called the tithe rent charge. The Irish Church Disestablishment Act 1869 came into effect in 1871 and ended the role of the Church of Ireland as state church. This terminated both state support and parliamentary authority over its governance, and taking into government ownership much church property. Compensation was provided to clergy, but many parishes faced great difficulty in local financing after the loss of rent-generating lands and buildings. The Church of Ireland made provision in 1870 for its own government, led by the General Synod, and financial management by the Representative Church Body. With disestablishment, the last remnant of tithes was abolished and the church’s representation in the House of Lords also ceased.
Like other Irish churches, the Church of Ireland did not divide when Ireland was partitioned in 1920, and continues to be governed on an all-island basis [6, p. 137-138].
The Church today
The contemporary Church of Ireland, despite having a number of High Church (often described as Anglo-Catholic) parishes, is generally on the Low Church end of the spectrum of world Anglicanism. Historically, it had little of the difference in churchmanship between parishes characteristic of other Anglican Provinces, although a number of markedly liberal, High Church or evangelical parishes have developed in recent decades. It was the second province of the Anglican Communion after the Anglican Church of New Zealand (1857) to adopt, on its 1871 disestablishment, synodical government, and was one of the first provinces to ordain women to the priesthood, in 1991.
The Church of Ireland has two cathedrals in Dublin: within the walls of the old city is Christ Church Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Dublin, and just outside the old walls is St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which the church designated as a National Cathedral for Ireland in 1870. Cathedrals also exist in the other dioceses. The church operates a seminary, the Church of Ireland Theological College, in Rathgar, in the south inner suburbs of Dublin, and the church’s central offices are in Rathmines, adjacent to the Church of Ireland College of Education.
Membership
The Church of Ireland experienced major decline during the 20th century, both in Northern Ireland, where 75percent of its members live, and in the Republic of Ireland. However, the Church of Ireland in the Republic has shown substantial growth in the last two national censuses and its membership is now backing to the levels of sixty years ago. This is perhaps partly explained by the number of Anglican immigrants who have moved to Ireland recently. Some parishes, especially in middle-class areas of the larger cities, report significant numbers of Roman Catholics joining. A number of clergy originally ordained in the Roman Catholic Church have now become Church of Ireland clergy and many former Roman Catholics also put themselves forward for ordination after they have become members of the Church of Ireland.
The 2006 Census in the Republic of Ireland showed that the numbers of people describing themselves as members of the Church of Ireland increased in every county. The highest percentage growth was in the west (Counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon) and the largest numerical growth was in the mid-east region (Wicklow, Kildare and Meath). Co Wicklow is the county with the highest proportion of Church of Ireland members (6.88%) and Greystones Co. Wicklow has the highest proportion of any town (9.77%) [19].
Structure
The polity of the Church of Ireland is Episcopalian church governance, which is the same as other Anglican churches. The church maintains the traditional structure dating to pre-Reformation times, a system of geographical parishes organized into dioceses. There are twelve of these, each headed by a bishop. The leader of the five southern bishops is the Archbishop of Dublin; that of the seven northern ones the Archbishop of Armagh; these are styled Primate of Ireland and Primate of All Ireland respectively, suggesting the ultimate seniority of the latter; although he has relatively little absolute authority, the archbishop of Armagh is respected as the church’s general leader and spokesman, and is elected in a process different from those for all other bishops.
Canon law and church policy are decided by the church’s General Synod, and changes in policy must be passed by both the House of Bishops and the House of Representatives (Clergy and Laity). Important changes, e.g. the decision to ordain female priests, must be passed by two-thirds majorities. While the House of Representatives always votes publicly, often by orders, the House of Bishops has tended to vote in private, coming to a decision before matters reach the floor of the Synod. This practice has been broken only once, when in 1999 the House of Bishops voted unanimously in public to endorse the efforts of the Archbishop of Armagh, the Diocese of Armagh and the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in their attempts to resolve the crisis at the Church of the Ascension at Drumcree, near Portadown.
Doctrine and practice
The center of the Church of Ireland’s teaching is the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The basic teachings of the church, or catechism, include:
The threefold sources of authority in Anglicanism are scripture, tradition, and reason. These three sources uphold and critique each other in a dynamic way. This balance of scripture, tradition and reason is traced to the work of Richard Hooker, a sixteenth century apologist. In Hooker’s model, scripture is the primary means of arriving at doctrine and things stated plainly in scripture are accepted as true. Issues that are ambiguous are determined by tradition, which is checked by reason [15].
So, the Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion which considers itself to be both Catholic and Reformed. The contemporary Church has a number of High Church or evangelical parishes, its own membership and structure, doctrine and practice. Today the Church of Ireland is, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second largest Church in the island of Ireland.
2.4 The Church in Wales
The Church in Wales (Welsh: Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is a member Church of the Anglican Communion, consisting of six dioceses in Wales. Like all Anglican churches, it recognizes the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who does not however have any formal authority in Wales. The Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the church’s six diocesan bishops; currently, the Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan is both Archbishop of Wales and Bishop of Llandaff. Once the state Church disestablishment was effected in 1920. This means that, unlike England, Wales no longer has a state Church.
The Church in Wales (Welsh: Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) adopted its name rather by accident. The Welsh Church Act 1914 had referred throughout to «the Church in Wales», the phrase being used to indicate the part of the Church of England in Wales. A Convention of the Welsh Church in 1920 considered what name to use, and tended to favour «the Church of Wales», but there were fears that adopting a name different from that given by the Act might cause serious legal problems. Given the situation, it did not seem sensible to invite even more problems at that point, and so «the Church in Wales» was allowed to stand [20].
History
Christianity in Wales can be traced back to the Romano-British period. Wales became a refuge for other Brythons following the pagan Anglo-Saxon invasion of what became England, so much so that the Welsh refused to co-operate with Augustine of Canterbury‘s mission to the Anglo-Saxons. However, a combination of Celtic Christianity‘s reconciliation with Rome and Medieval English conquest of Wales meant that from the Middle Ages until 1920, the Welsh dioceses were part of the Province of Canterbury in communion with the See of Rome until the Reformation, and continuing afterwards as part of the Church of England. From the time of Henry VIII, Wales had been absorbed into England as a legal entity and the Established Church in Wales was the Church of England.
During the 19th century nonconformist churches grew rapidly in Wales, so much so that, eventually, the majority of Welsh Christians were nonconformist, although the Church of England remained the largest single religious denomination.
At the beginning of the 20th century, under the influence of nonconformist politicians such as David Lloyd George, the Welsh Church Act 1914 was passed by the Liberal Government 1905–1915 to separate the Anglican Church in Wales from the Church of England. The bill was fiercely resisted by the Conservatives, and blocked in the House of Lords, eventually being passed by the use of the Parliament Act. Welsh disestablishment was also a way of asserting a national identity.
The Act disestablished the «Church in Wales», the term used to define the part of the Church of England which was to be separated. Disestablishment meant the end of the Church’s special legal status and Welsh bishops were no longer entitled to sit in the House of Lords as “Lords Spiritual”. Establishment had brought limitations as well as advantages. For example, priests of the Church of England were barred from sitting in the House of Commons, but this no longer applied to priests in Wales. The Church in Wales became independent of the state.
Disendowment, which was even more controversial, meant that the endowments of the Church in Wales were partially confiscated and redistributed to the University of Wales and local authorities. Endowments before 1662 were to be confiscated; those of later date were to be left. This was justified on the theory that the pre-1662 endowments were to a true National Church of the whole population, and hence belonged to the people as a whole rather than to the Church in Wales. This reasoning was hotly contested. The date 1662 was that of the Act of Uniformity following the Restoration; a case could be made that this was the point at which the Church of England ceased, or began to cease, to be a truly comprehensive national church and nonconformity began to develop.
The coming into effect of the Welsh Church Act 1914 was delayed by the outbreak of the First World War. The Church was split from the Church of England in 1920.
Parishes overlapping the border were allocated either to the Church in Wales or to the Church of England, with the result that the line of disestablishment is not exactly the same as the England—Wales border. A few districts in Monmouthshire and Radnorshire remain attached to parishes in the diocese of Hereford and consequently established. The Oswestry deanery was detached from the St. Asaph diocese. Today, the Church in Wales is fully independent of both the state and the Church of England, and is an independent member of the Anglican Communion like the Church of Ireland or the Scottish Episcopal Church.
The Church in Wales is currently undergoing numerous changes and debates, particularly in relation to the appointment of women to the episcopate, and the recognition by the province as a whole of the equality between Welsh and English in all parts of Church life [10, p.127 – 129].
Structure
The polity of the Church in Wales is Episcopalian church governance, which is the same as other Anglican churches.
There are four Anglican dioceses in Wales which were part of the Province of Canterbury, prior to the creation of the Church in Wales, and each led by its own bishop:
Two further dioceses have been created since the creation of the Church in Wales:
Diocesan bishops
Unlike bishops in the Church of England, each bishop of the Church in Wales is elected by an ‘Electoral College’ which consists of representatives of the diocese seeking a new bishop, representatives of the other five dioceses in Wales and all the other Bishops of the Church in Wales. Currently the Church in Wales does not consecrate women as bishops; however this will be most likely put to a vote of the Governing Body in 2008. The Archbishop of Wales, the head of the Church in Wales, is elected by and from the six diocesan bishops and continues as a diocesan bishop after his election:
The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams is the first Welsh-born Archbishop of Canterbury. He was consecrated and enthroned as Bishop of Monmouth in 1992, and Archbishop of Wales in 1999. He was appointed by the Queen (having been proposed by the Crown Appointments Commission) to be Archbishop of Canterbury in July 2002. He was succeeded as Bishop of Monmouth by the former Bishop of Reading, the Right Revd Dr Dominic Walker, and was succeeded as Archbishop of Wales by the Bishop of Llandaff, the Right Revd Dr Barry Morgan.
Assistant bishops
In addition to the six Diocesan Bishops, there are currently two Assistant Bishops within the Church. In 1996, the Church in Wales approved the ordination of women, and the Provincial Assistant Bishop was appointed to provide pastoral care for those who could not in good conscience accept the ordination of women. As in the Church of England, there are now many female priests and deacons in active ministry in the Church.
It is usual for the Archbishop to appoint an Assistant Bishop to help within the Archbishop’s diocese. On becoming Archbishop, Dr. Barry Morgan appointed The Venerable David Yeoman as his Assistant Bishop.
Doctrine and practice
The center of teachings of the Church in Wales is the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The basic teachings of the church, or catechism, include:
The threefold sources of authority in Anglicanism are scripture, tradition, and reason. These three sources uphold and critique each other in a dynamic way. This balance of scripture, tradition and reason is traced to the work of Richard Hooker, a sixteenth century apologist. In Hooker’s model, scripture is the primary means of arriving at doctrine and things stated plainly in scripture are accepted as true. Issues that are ambiguous are determined by tradition, which is checked by reason [15].
So, the Church in Wales is a member Church of the Anglican Communion, consisting of six dioceses in Wales, fully independent of both the state and the Church of England with its own structure, doctrine and practice.
3 Non-Christian Religions in Great Britain
3.1 Islam in the United Kingdom
Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom with a total of 1,591,000, (or 2.8percent of the total population) Muslims. Most Muslims in Britain are immigrants from South Asia, in particular India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, or are descendants of immigrants from that area [16].
History
Although Islam is generally thought of as being a recent arrival in the United Kingdom, there has been contact between Britons and Muslims for many centuries. An early example would be the decision of Offa, the eighth-century King of Mercia (one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms existing at that time), to have coins minted with an Islamic inscription on them - copies of coins issued by the near-contemporary Muslim ruler Al-Mansur. It is thought that they were minted to facilitate trade with the expanding Islamic empire in Spain.
Muslim scholarship, especially early Islamic philosophy and Islamic science, was well-known among the learned in England by 1386, when Chaucer was writing. In the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, there is among the pilgrims wending their way to Canterbury, a ‘Doctour of Phisyk’ whose learning included Rhazes (al-Razi), Avicenna and Averroes. Ibn Sina’s The Canon of Medicine was a standard text for medical students well into the 17th century.
The first English convert to Islam mentioned by name is John Nelson, a 16th century sailor. 16th century writer Richard Hakluyt claimed he was forced to convert, though he mentions in the same story other Englishmen who had converted willingly.
This king had a son which was a ruler in an island called Gerbi, whereunto arrived an English ship called the Green Dragon, of the which was master one M. Blonket, who, having a very unhappy boy on that ship, and understanding that whosoever would turn Turk should be well entertained of the king’s son, this boy did run ashore and voluntarily turned Turk. The king had there before in his house a son of a yeoman of our Queen’s guard, whom the king’s son had enforced to turn Turk; his name was John Nelson.
Captain John Ward of Kent was one of a number of British sailors who became pirates based in the Maghreb who also converted to Islam (see also Barbary pirates. Later, some Unitarians became interested in the faith, and Henry Stubbes wrote so favourably about Islam that it is thought he too had converted to the faith.
In 1625 it was reported that Lundy, an island in the Bristol Channel which had been a pirate lair for much of the previous half century, had been occupied by three Turkish pirates who were threatening to burn Ilfracombe; Algerine rovers were using the island as a base in 1635, although the island had itself been attacked and plundered by a Spanish raid in 1633.
The Muslim Moors had a noticeable influence on the works of George Peele and William Shakespeare. Some of their works featured Moorish characters, such as Peele’s The Battle of Alcazar and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello, which featured a Moorish Othello as its title character. These works are said to have been inspired by several Moorish delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England at the beginning of the 17th century.
Besides scientific and philosophical works, a number of Arabic fictional works were also translated into Latin and English during the 17th and 18th centuries. The most famous one was the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights). The practice of Islam in Britain was legalized by the Trinitarian Act 1812 [13, p.67-69].
Immigration
The first large group of Muslims in Britain arrived about 300 years ago. They were sailors recruited in India to work for the East India Company, and so it’s not surprising that the first Muslim communities were found in port towns. Ships’ cooks came too, many of them from Sylhet in what is now Bangladesh. There are records of Sylhetis working in London restaurants as early as 1873.
The first Muslim community which permanently settled in the United Kingdom consisted of Yemeni sailors who arrived in ports such as Swansea, Liverpool and South Shields shortly after 1900. Later some of them migrated to inland cities like Birmingham and Sheffield where there are 23,819 Muslims.
Mosques also appeared in British seaports at this time; the first mosque in Britain is recorded as having been at 2 Glyn Rhondda Street, Cardiff, in 1860. From the 1950s, with large immigration to Britain from the former colonies of Britain, especially the Indian subcontinent and East Africa, large Muslim populations developed in many British towns and cities.
According to the 2001 census 1,536,015 Muslims are living in England and Wales, where they form 3% of the population, in Scotland they represent 0.84% of the population (42,557). The Northern Ireland census indicated 1,943 Muslims.
Migration after World War II
The mass migration to Britain of Pakistanis (including Bangladeshis) had its origin in colonialism. For example, many soldiers who joined the British army in the war were posted to the British Isles, and some of them began to settle there. Initially, however, their number was very small, until after the partition of India. Partition caused the displacement of large populations, especially in the Punjab and Mirpur (a significant sector of the populations who joined the British army), who then began to look to their future in Britain over a longer term. The second important factor which contributed to migration was the construction of the Mangla Dam in Pakistan. This, in effect, displaced 100,000 people, especially the Mirpuris. With their compensation money, some settled in other parts of Pakistan; others, however, looked for the sponsorship of their relatives in Britain and subsequently settled there in large numbers. Their initial intent was to earn enough money to buy a plot of land and build houses for their families and settle in Pakistan. The rapid increase in demand for unskilled labour in British industries also occasioned large scale migration, the pattern being the same as for the Punjabis or Mirpuris, namely, sponsorship and initial help have tended towards single males, who share houses and work long hours, and then visit families and friends at home for a long break, usually every year or two.
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