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Disestablishmentarianism is a movement to end the Church of England's status as an official church of the United Kingdom.


Anglican disestablishment


Irish church

The campaign to disestablish the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
Church of Ireland began in the 18th century. A rich church, with 22 bishops drawing £150,000 a year, and a further £600,000 going annually to the rest of the clergy,G. M. Trevelyan, ''British History in the 19th Century'' (London 1922) p. 288 it was wholly disproportionate to the needs of its worshippers, and consisted largely of absentee sinecurists. Given that in Ireland not even nominal adherence by the predominantly Roman Catholic majority population could be expected for the (Protestant) established Church,S. H. Steinberg, ed., ''A New Dictionary of British History'' (London 1963) defence of the latter became increasingly difficult, especially after
Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
. In 1833 a Church Reform Act was passed, reducing the number of sees from 22 to 12,E. Halévy, ''The Triumph of Reform'' (London 1963) but attempts to redistribute the church's wealth failed amidst political controversy. Eventually, as G. M. Trevelyan put it, "the disestablishment and partial disendowment of the Irish Protestant Church was carried out in a masterly and sympathetic manner by
William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
, whose known position as an enthusiastic Churchman stood him in good stead during the negotiations"; and in 1869 an Act of the British Parliament enabling the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland was passed, coming into effect on 1 January 1871.


English developments

The early 19th century saw
Radicals Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...
like
Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
formulating schemes for the disestablishment of the church, which received new impetus after the success of Catholic emancipation. Following the Great Reform Act, they were increasingly joined by dissenters and nonconformists in a
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and ...
campaign to disestablish the Church of England – dissenting ministers like T. Binney proclaiming that "the Established Church is a great national evil". The campaigners were called "Liberationists" (the "
Liberation Society The Liberation Society was an organisation in Victorian England that campaigned for disestablishment of the Church of England. It was founded in 1844 by Edward Miall as the British Anti-State Church Association and was renamed in 1853 as the Soc ...
" was founded by
Edward Miall Edward Miall (8 May 1809 – 30 April 1881) was an English journalist, apostle of disestablishment, founder of the Liberation Society, and Liberal Party politician. Life Miall was born at Portsmouth. He was Congregational minister at Ware, Her ...
in 1844); and gathered strength to the point where, mid-century, Anglicans and Dissenters alike would have been astonished to learn that the church would remain established over a century later. There were, however, several reasons this campaign failed: parliamentary reform of the church to make it more efficient; Whig acquiescence in a system whereby they could appoint latitudinarian bishops with liberal views; and a dissenter focus instead on a process by which nearly all of the legal disabilities of nonconformists were gradually dismantled. The campaign for disestablishment was revived in the 20th century from ''inside'' the church, when Parliament rejected the 1929 revision of the ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
'', leading to calls for separation of church and state to prevent political interference in matters of worship. In the late 20th century, reform of the House of Lords also brought into question the position of the Lords Spiritual. Nick Clegg, the former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and
Leader of the Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the head and highest-ranking member of the party. Liberal Democrat members of Parliament also elect a deputy leader of ...
, said in April 2014 that he thought the Church of England and the British state should be separated "in the long run". Prime Minister David Cameron, responding to Clegg's comments, said that disestablishmentarianism is "a long-term Liberal idea, but it is not a
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
one" and that he believed having an established church works well.


Welsh conflicts

The triumph of Methodism in Wales led by the 19th century to a situation where the vast majority of Protestants were ''not'' members of the Church of England, which in turn fuelled a long and bitter struggle for disestablishment, only resolved in the wake of the Welsh Church Act 1914 when in 1920 the Church of England was disestablished in Wales, becoming the
Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The posi ...
.


Presbyterian disestablishment

Pressure to disestablish the Presbyterian Church of Scotland began in 1832, with dissidents like
Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest ni ...
arguing that a state church tended "to secularize religion, promote hypocrisy, perpetuate error, produce infidelity, nddestroy the unity and purity of the Church". However, focus swiftly shifted to the question of lay patronage ''within'' the church, not its separation from the state; and it was only well after the dissident split that created the Free Church of Scotland, on the grounds that "they quitted a vitiated Establishment", that the Free Church joined
William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
in calling for the disestablishment of the Church of Scotland itself. The twentieth century saw Presbyterian differences gradually diminished, and in 1929 the Free Church joined the Church of Scotland, to form the largest church in Scotland, in what can be considered a form of disestablishment.


Literary echoes

In
Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the ''Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves arou ...
's 1858 novel ''
Doctor Thorne ''Doctor Thorne'' by Anthony Trollope (Chapman and Hall, London, 1858) is the third novel in the ''Chronicles of Barsetshire'' series, between '' Barchester Towers'' and '' Framley Parsonage''. The idea of the plot was suggested to Trollope b ...
'', the local parson is laughingly described as well-to-do: "He's got what will buy him bread and cheese when the Rads shut up the Church – unless, indeed, they shut up the Funds too". Disestablishment also features in Trollope's 1873 novel, ''
Phineas Redux ''Phineas Redux'' is a novel by Anthony Trollope, first published in 1873 as a serial in ''The Graphic''. It is the fourth of the " Palliser" series of novels and the sequel to the second book of the series, ''Phineas Finn''. Synopsis His belo ...
'', in which a conservative leader adopts the policy, shocking his party, to outmaneuver the Liberals. Trollope undoubtedly had in mind (see chapter viii of ''Phineas Redux'') Disraeli's maneuver of adopting male household suffrage as Conservative party policy, leading to the
Second Reform Act The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 (known as the Reform Act 1867 or the Second Reform Act) was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the first ...
of 1867.


See also


References

{{Reflist Anglicanism Church of England disestablishment Reform in the United Kingdom Religion and politics Secularism in the United Kingdom