Prince William - future Defender of the Faith

I think the church and state should be completely separate, then the Royal Family would have the same rights as everybody else, to accept or reject religion according to their conscience.

So true! Disestablish!!!

Yep. Disestablish. Then who gives a fig whether William goes to church or believes anything religious at all?

Loads of people do bags

Time to disestablish then William's belief or non-belief becomes no-one else's business but his own.

Lots of other reasons to disestablish of course.

Why should they, Petallus? Surely it is nobody's business but his own. He either believes or he doesn't - he can't be forced to believe just because he is in line for the throne. (I have no idea whether he does or not, of course.)
I suppose it would cause a constitutional crisis if he refused to take the oath in the coronation - hmm, interesting times ahead, perhaps!

I thought historically the King or Queen was defender of the faith ?

I believe that Henry VIII was given the title by the pope - how ironic!

Certainly time to disestablish and if the church of e keeps tying themselves in knots about women bishops and gay marriage it could yet happen. If the next PM happened to be an agnostic of Jewish ancestry maybe But not likely under the present queen.
Prince Charles seems to be a closet member of the dippy hippy new-age (not sewage you silly spell checker) brigade. So no knowing what he will do once his mama shuffles off. Replace holy communion with a Hindu aruvedic cleansing and rebirth experience perhaps.
I predict a showdown with Kate though. Bet she is not going to want to use homeopathy instead of conventional medicine for her baby. Bring on those vaccines Kate.
Or go through any yogic detox rituals to prepare for the birth. Or let Camilla to chant in the corner during her labour

I'm just making the observation that many people probably would give a fig Greatnan

Not saying I agree with them.

I think William is one of those people who would feel he has no right to reject religion, given his position in life.

We will never know if he is a believer, agnostic or atheist. He is simply not in a position to make waves. I would bet he never gives it much thought.

I would think the same is true of American politicians - whatever their state of belief or non belief, they'd better pretend to believe - or else!!

Mind you, joan Will does not have to be elected!

William made his marriage vows in church before a god, so presumably he would have no qualms about doing the same about a coronation. His father said he wanted to be 'defender of faith' (not THE faith) which caused some consternation at the time.

It is so difficult to tell really isn't it anno whether people are conforming or sincere. Also, who would think that C and C, aristocratic anglicans to the core, one would have thought, would be so keen on all the alternative hindu hippy stuff?

Some people do seem able to square the circle when it comes to their religious practices. Cherie Blair is a devout Catholic, but she was reported to have taken part in some odd rituals with crystals, etc.
Perhaps William will take the oath with his fingers crossed.

You're so right, Greatnan. Religious leaders often complain that some of their followers 'cherry pick' what to believe or not, but when you think about it, almost all believers do that.

Otherwise we'd still be doing stuff like stoning adulterers to death. Oh and catholic women would be dying in middle age from overworked uteri - or living in celibate misery.

As for Willie - he has no choice but to look like a believer. We can't expect him to actually live it though!

Jess wrote "I predict a showdown with Kate though. Bet she is not going to want to use homeopathy instead of conventional medicine for her baby. Bring on those vaccines Kate.Or go through any yogic detox rituals to prepare for the birth. Or let Camilla to chant in the corner during her labour "

Surely Camilla's more likely to be smoking and swearing in the corner of the delivery suite?

On her recent trip to India she spent time in a posh yogic retreat. Who's a thunk it?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2224558/Yoga-dawn-spiritual-massages-Duchess-India-Secret-trip-ahead-Australian-tour.html

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2224558/Yoga-dawn-spiritual-massages-Duchess-India-Secret-trip-ahead-Australian-tour.html

HM the Q is likely to last for quite a bit longer, given family history and if Phil the Greek hangs on in there. Charles may be in his sixties but he is panting for his turn, so by the time William is looking at a possible coronation – when most if not all of us will probably be long gone – things may be quite lot different. Apart from anything else, look at what the Church of England is doing to destroy itself – so an established church may have been totally obliterated long before then. Let's hope so.

Don't hold your breath absent. It's lasted 2013 years!

Not the established Church of England jings. Henry VIII and all that?

jing although I am C of E I wouldn't count on it lasting. It's shooting itself in the foot at the moment. And so are the RC s.
I don't like the 'happy clappy' group so? Any suggestions?

Humanism?
Quakers?

The best local churches are the ones that buck the system. We had a catholic church in South Brisbane where the priest, Peter Kennedy, just went his own way, welcoming everyone whatever their history, sexual orientation, lifestyle etc. He did loads of social work, helping the homeless, providing food and such like. Here's a precis of the story by wikipedia:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kennedy_(priest)

and a more in depth report here:

stmaryssouthbrisbane.com/2012/08/troublesome-priest/

He got booted out of his parish, but the Labour Party gave him free use of one large meeting room in their party building, and his parish grew from there.
The official St Mary's church plods on with a small traditional congregation.