Bertvan:
>>Long after ID is the majority assumption in the US, England will be stuck
>in
>>the dark age of "random mutation and natural selection". Why? England
>>doesn't have an ACLU.
We do have an equivalent of the ACLU. It's called Liberty (formerly the
NCCL). (http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/). It isn't very concerned
with religious matters, probably because religion isn't a major
issue here.
Susan Brassfield:
>England has a state church. You, as an agnostic living in England would
>have your taxes go to support a religion in which you did not believe. The
>writers of our constitution thought that was a tad unfair. I agree. So does
>the ACLU and if you were smart, you would agree also.
The Church of England itself is not supported by taxpayers. Its income comes
from donations and investments
(http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/frame_funding.html).
On the other hand, the C of E has more than its fair share of
grant-maintained schools, compared with other religions, and those are
supported by taxes. (http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/educator.html)
But these schools are required to teach the national curriculum, and I'm
sure they don't teach creationism!
The establishment of the Church of England doesn't have much real effect any
more, though it still causes controversy occasionally. For example, Moslems
have complained (particularly at the time of the Salman Rushdie affair)
about the fact that Christianity is legally protected from "blasphemy", but
their religion isn't. The last successful prosecution for blasphemy was in
1977. (http://ihr.sas.ac.uk/ihr/reviews/parsons.html)
Needless to say, I'm in favour of dis-establishing the Church of England
(and so are a majority of people according to a recent poll), but the issue
is mostly symbolic.
By the way, that poll indicated that 62% of people in Britain believe in
some sort of God (but only 32% in a "personal" God, whatever that means).
This figure is down from 76% in 1980, but seems to be stabilizing.
Richard Wein (Tich)
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