Текст " RELIGIONS IN BRITAIN"

RELIGIONS IN BRITAIN

There are numerous religious groups in Great Britain practicing their faiths in the country today.

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

The Church of England or the Anglican Church is a Protes­tant Church and the official state religion of England (although membership is not, of course, compulsory). The Queen is the Head of the Church of England and she, with the advice of the Prime Minister and others, appoints the senior members of the clergy – the archbishops, bishops and deans.

The Church is divided into two provinces — Canterbury and York — each with its own archbishop and the Archbishop of Can­terbury is the most senior official in the Church of England. The two provinces are divided into a number of dioceses, each with its own bishop; and the dioceses are further split into parishes. There are 13,250 parishes in England alone, and every parish has its own church, all except for the very smallest with its own priest or vicar. The Church of England does not yet allow women to become vicars.

THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND

The Church of Scotland is recognized as the official religion of Scotland. It is a Protestant church and is a Presbyterian or­ganization. This means that there is no hierarchy of archbishops and bishops.

The Church of Scotland is governed by its ministries (parish
priests) and elders (elected representatives), all of whom are
considered to hold equal rank. Women are allowed to become
ministries in this church.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

About 10% of the population of Britain are Roman Catholics including more than one-third of the population of Northern Ire­land. Recent years have seen attempts to create some form of unity between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, but there are many problems, not least of which is that whereas the Church of England appears to be gradually accepting the idea of admitting women to the priesthood, this is totally unacceptable to the Roman Catholic Church.

THE FREE CHURCHES

There are several Protestant churches in Britain which, unlike the churches of England and Scotland, are not officially recognized as state religions. These are called the Free Churches, the most important of which are the Methodists, Baptists, and the United Reform Church. These churches are particularly strong in the old Celtic areas of Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and south-west England. Most of them allow women to become ministries.

As well as these churches there are various other Christian communities such as Orthodox and Armenian Christians, but the picture is further complicated by many eastern religions.

NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS

There are large numbers of Commonwealth citizens in Britain whose ancestors came from such countries as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many live in big cities such as London in the South, Coventry and Birmingham in the Midlands, Leeds and Bradford in the North. Many of these people are Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. There are 100 Muslim mosques and centres, 300 Sikh and Hindus temples and 200 Buddhist groups. There are also about 400,000 Jews living in Britain — one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe.

To sum up the statistics:

17% of the adult population of Britain are practicing members of a Christian church.

13% of the English, who include a wide mixture of all Chris­tian faiths;

23% of the Welsh who are mainly Free Church; 37% of the Scottish, who are mainly Church of Scotland or Free Church;

80% of the Northern Irish, who are mainly Protes­tant and Roman Catholic, actually belong to a church.