Would you opt out of your 'religion' if you had to pay extra 2.5% tax

Some Churches in the town I used to live in the UK have also become flats, Indian restaurants, warehouses and a ballet school.

I thought she made an oblique reference. However, that wasn't really the point. Do you know if any other countries that have Anglican communities and/or CofE communities if the latter are possible overseas also have bishops or other clerics in their houses of parliament equivalents by right rather than democratically elected?

Does anyone else know the answer to this question?

.thatbags, the Church of England is in England , even Wales was disestablished years ago.

To be accurate, that should say "with changes in wealth production patterns and in demography" not "with wealth production and demographic changes"

As it stands it reads as though wealth production was something new, that had never happened before, whereas there had always been wealth but it was mainly held as land and the income from it.

My post of 10:49:57, that is. Several posts up now.

So what feetle said is correct, I surmise: that only the British parliament and the Iranian government have religious clerics in them by legal right.

Wales is still part of Britain.

Interesting, elegran.

Apologies if I have used the terms Anglican and CofE incorrectly. I am not very conversant with the intricacies of their nomenclature, differences (if any) of doctrine, etc. But I was talking about government practices rather than church denominations.

thatbags, I know Wales is part of the UK, the Anglican Church in Wales is not the Anglican Church of England, we have our own Arch Bish, our own synod , the queen is top dog in England and Scotland, all other Anglican churches world wide are disestablished , bishops in Wales , Scotland and N Ireland do not sit in the lords, only bishops from Church of England , it follows no bishop in other countries are involved in government because they are disestablished churches

When wealth was land and land produced crops, giving a tenth of your crop to the church funded a lot of the stuff that nowadays is done by the benefits system and the social work department. anyone falling on hard times and needing support received it from their parish, who were reponsible for everyone born withing the boundaries. This is one reason why parish boundaries were important and everyone knew where their parish began and ended.

If you were living and working somewhere else, and hadn't got a resettlement agreement there, the most that would be done for you would be to send you back home with a letter to your own parish. One of my own ancestors was sent home pregnant and unsupported, to an inquisition to name the father, so that the parish could extract from him the money they gave her (some hope - he was a soldier)

Come the industrial revolution, people were moving to big towns to work, and money was in manufacturing, not in farming, so tithing and parish support wasn't keeping up with needs. The system changed to one of taxation and in time most of the support of the needy became government responsibility.

The British parliament only have English bishops in the lords , the Welsh bishops are not involved with the Welsh Assembly

Would the tax be each person in the family or as a whole?

Correction, anniebach, the queen is not head of the Church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland is a non-conformist, presbyterian organisation.
www.churchofscotland.org.uk/about_us/general_assembly

"Meetings of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland are chaired by the Moderator of the General Assembly. He or she leads daily worship, keeps order, rules on points of order, and signs documents on behalf of the Assembly. The role is an honorary one, held for 12 months.

The correct title is Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, or Moderator of the General Assembly, and not 'Moderator of the Church of Scotland'.

The Moderator is not the head of the Church: the Church of Scotland holds that Jesus Christ is 'the King and Head of the Church', nor is the Moderator the leader of the Church of Scotland, or its spokesperson. When asked for an opinion on important issues, the Moderator is expected to have in mind the views of the General Assembly or the relevant Church council or committee."

The Episcopalian Church in Scotland is part of the Anglican Community, but not of the Church of England.

Derek, here couples are taxed as one income- so it is per couple or per household income as a small % (here where I live 2.3%- other places are a bit lower or a bit higher- anything between 2-3%). Tythe used to be 10%- Muslims have to pay Zakat of 10% for the poor at the end of Ramadan too.

Thank you for your correction Elegran, I was sure I read she was in England and Scotland

The Episcopal church in Scotland is a minority denomination.

Thanks, anniebach. Brain has now registered 'disestablished' as the pertinent word for my understanding and [that universal aah! or uuh! noise people say when something clicks at last]

Many Christians in England pay a tithe to their church of 10% of their gross income before any deductions for tax. They believe that all money is God given and so are returning a percentage to Him

Interesting perspective in John Romer's book Testament (Ireneus/Politics + Religion) also Spirals in Time? a recent study of Anthropology.

I do not think I would give any church money, they are all a damn sight better off than most of us.

However, I do appreciate the kind and helpful comments from other posters about joining another church. You are all very kind here in this forum. To be honest I am not sure about doing this. Though I have often thought about trying the Baptist church.

I am glad that people on here do appreciate that the Parish priest, minister, vicar whoever is the leader of your local church has an important part to play in the life of the Parish. It also means that this person has immense power and if this person is particularly malevolent and has their own agenda, it can cause great darkness and sadness. The experience myself, husband and other parishioners had in the past with a person very like what I have described was hellish. I would not wish it on anyone and sadly, the scars run deep, which if I am honest is possibly the reason I have never been back to any church.

People in Iceland are apparently joing an ancient religion called Zuism to avoid paying religious tax and to try to make their government change the law to be secular (i.e. the same for everyone, religious or non-religious).

Guardian report here.

Telegrapg here.

Go, Icelanders!

oldperson- could you (or anyone here btw) hazard a guess as to the % of Christians who pay a tithe of 10% to their Church- truly and honestly, nowasdays.