Abstract
For the past 200 years church-state relations in England and Wales have been characterized by the steady desacralization of the public square. What began as an attempt to accommodate the concerns of Christian minorities during the nineteenth century was succeeded by a growing disinclination to allow religious concerns to shape public policy in the twentieth century. Over the past twenty years, however, both Labour and Conservative governments have increasingly looked to Christian and non-Christian communities to fill the gaps exposed by a retreating welfare state. While a nominal religious establishment still prevails in England (the Church of England in Wales having been disestablished in 1914), the Church of England is today viewed as merely one element of an increasingly diverse religious melting pot. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, moreover, the enduring connection between the monarchy and the established church is likely to undergo a significant transformation, with inevitable consequences for church-state relations.
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Bonner, J. (2023). From National Church to State Anglican Multifaithism: Church and State in England and Wales Since 1829. In: Holzer, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Religion and State Volume II. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35609-4_8
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