Сборник материалов международной научной конференции студентов, магистрантов, аспирантов

А.В. Петрик

Республика Беларусь, Брест, БрГУ имени А.С. Пушкина

Научный руководитель – Н.Н. Домбровская

RELIGION IN BRITAIN

Britain is traditionally a Christian state and most people living in Britain are Christian. Britain has one of the most religiously diverse populations in the European Union. British people are free to choose and follow their own religious beliefs. The main religion in Britain is Christianity. Most Christians belong to the Church of England or the Church of Scotland. These are Protestant Churches. There are also many Roman Catholics. The Queen is head of the Church of England. Although religious faith in Britain is predominantly Christian, most of the world’s religions are also practiced. There are large Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities, and also smaller communities of Baha’i, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians, as well as followers of new religious movements. The survey by Tearfund (2007) discovered that 53% of the population identified themselves as Christian, compared with almost three-quarters who had in the last census in 2001.

In the XVII century on the basis of different faiths, there were wars between the three kingdoms. The Wars of the Three Kingdoms [1] formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651. The English Civil War has become the best-known of these conflicts and included the execution of the kingdoms’ monarch, Charles I, by the English parliament in 1649. The wars were the outcome of tensions over religious and civil issues. Religious disputes centered on whether religion was to be dictated by the monarch or the choice of the individual, with many people feeling that they ought to have freedom of religion. The related civil questions were to what extent the king’s rule was constrained by parliaments – in particular his right to raise taxes and armed forces without consent.

The personal union of the three kingdoms under one monarch came about as a relatively recent development in contemporary 17^th century terms. Since 1541, monarchs of England had also styled their Irish territory as a Kingdom (ruled with the assistance of a separate Irish Parliament), while Wales became more closely integrated into the Kingdom of England under Henry VIII. Scotland, the third separate kingdom, was governed by the House of Stuart, and the three kingdoms were united under the same monarch when King James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth to the English throne in 1603. Ruling over these three diverse kingdoms proved difficult for James and his successor Charles I of England, particularly when they tried to impose religious uniformity on the three kingdoms.

Different religious conditions pertained in each of these jurisdictions. With the English Reformation, King Henry VIII made himself head of the Protestant Church of England and outlawed Catholicism in England and Wales. In the course of the 16th century Protestantism became intimately associated with national identity in England: English folk in general saw Catholicism as the national enemy, especially as embodied in France and Spain. However, Catholicism remained the religion of most people in Ireland and was for many a symbol of native resistance to the Tudor conquest of Ireland in the 16th century. In the Kingdom of Scotland the Protestant Reformation was a popular movement led by John Knox. The Scottish Parliament legislated for a National Presbyterian church, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland or “Kirk”, and the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate in favor of her son James VI of Scotland. He grew up under regency disputed between Catholic and Protestant factions then took power and aspired to be a “universal King” favoring the English Episcopalian system of bishops appointed by the king.

The largest form practiced in present day Britain is Anglicanism (also known as Episcopalism in Scotland); dating from the 16th century Reformation, the religion regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed. Head of the Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom as the Supreme Governor. It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today. The second largest Christian practice in Britain is the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church which traces its formal, corporate history in Great Britain to the 6th century with Augustine’s mission and was the main religion on the island for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents in Britain today; 4.5 million in England and Wales and 750,000 in Scotland.

The Church of Scotland, a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity is the third most numerous on the island with around 2.1 million members. Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox, it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented prominently by a Lord High Commissioner. Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley. It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, also amongst tin miners in Cornwall. The Presbyterian Church of Wales, which follows Calvinistic Methodism, is the largest denomination in Wales. There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, the United Reformed Church (a union of Congregationalists and English Presbyterians), Unitarians and more. The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban. He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and was sacrificed to the pagan gods. In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of Saint Aidan as another patron saint of Britain. Originally from Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria.

Three constituent countries of the United Kingdom located on the island have patron saints; Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of England and Scotland respectively. These two saintly flags combined form the basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. There are many other British saints, some of the best known include; Cuthbert, Columba, Patrick, Margaret, Edward the Confessor, Thomas More, Bede and Thomas Becket.

Numerous non-Christian religions are practiced in Great Britain. Judaism has a history of a small minority on the island since 1070. The Jews were expelled from England in 1290 until being allowed to return in 1656. Their history in Scotland is quite obscure until later migrations from Lithuania. Especially since the 1950s religions from the former colonies have become more prevalent; Islam is the most common of these with around 1.5 million adherents in Britain. A total of more than 1 million people practice Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism, religions introduced from India and South East Asia.

From this article we can see that there are two established or state churches in Britain: the Church of England, or Anglican Church as it is also called, and the Church of Scotland, or “Kirk”. Besides these “orthodox” churches which accept the doctrine of the Trinity, there are others which have their own specific beliefs, and are consequently viewed as outside orthodoxy.

Apart from Christianity, there are at least five other religions with a substantial number of adherents in Britain. These are usually composed of either immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. Outsiders sometimes see possible tensions between one religion and another. They are less aware of the often greater tensions within each religion or sect between conservatives and liberals. In many religious groups there is a conservative wing which has little time for, or interest in, other religions and which disapproves of its own liberal co- religionists. By contrast, these liberals usually welcome dialogue and warm relations between religions, and enjoy the rich pluralism of a multi-faith society. But regardless of viewpoint, most people in Britain whether religious or not, consider the matter of faith to be a private and personal matter.

1. 
   Cannon, J. A Dictionary of British History / J. Cannon. – UK : Oxford University Press, 2009. – 144 p.
   
2. 
   McDowall, D. Britain in close-up. An in-depth study of contemporary Britain / D. McDowall. – Edinburgh : Longman, 2001. – 208 p.
   

В статье отмечено, что в Британии помимо православных церквей, которые принимают доктрину Троицы, есть и другие, имеющие специфические убеждения и рассматривающиеся вне православия. Помимо христианства, в Великобритании существуют пять других религий. Но вне зависимости от вероисповедания, большинство людей в Британии рассматривают вопрос веры как частное и личное дело.