Established facts

On the Moral Maze they were discussing the place of religion in society again. What struck me was that none of the Christian participants was willing to defend the establishment of the Church of England. The Catholic commentator Clifford Longley was for disestablishment, and Rev George Pitcher of the Telegraph supposed that he was too. The Evangelical vicar Steve Chalke didn’t quite face the issue, but kept insisting that the churches must reject any form of privilege in order to serve society.  It was left to Melanie Phillips and Michael Portillo to suggest that the established church might be a good thing.

The establishment of the C of E is still just about defensible in secular conservative terms: it’s a force for stability, a source of national identity, a brake on religious extremism, et cetera. But people who care about the public image of Christianity are warier. They sense that the aura of privilege makes a Christian perspective less credible.