| Church and State in Britain The Church of privilege |  State Church logo |
One religious denomination in the United Kingdom is formally recognised and given a privileged status by the state. It is the "established" church of the nation. That church is the Church of England or Anglican Church.
Like the so-called royal family and the lords, it is given indefensible privileges.
The Church's privileged status has allowed it to accumulate great wealth. In 2007 its land, property and stock market assets were worth £5.7m. They generated £177.8 of the Church’s income that year.
In contrast the Catholic Church, which has an almost equal number of church attendees (869,221) had revenue of only £297m in 2006, only 25% of the Anglican.
The Church Commissioners: Church & State United Thirty-three Church Commissioners manage the property and stock market assets of the Church of England. Six of these commissioners who have ex officio membership hold state office. They include the prime minister and the sport & culture minister. All the commissioners are accountable to Parliament, to which they make an annual report, as well as to the General Synod of the Church of England.
The Funding of the Faithful
Thirty-two per cent of the money in the fund is invested in property, much more than similar funds. The income pays for some pensions and missionary work, and is also used to support poorer dioceses.
In 2004 the return on the Church’s investments was 13.6 per cent, putting it in the top 3 per cent of similar funds. Over ten years the fund had brought in £35m a year more than would have been the case if it had performed at industry average level.
The investment fund has its origins in money accrued by hereditary head of state Henry VIII, which was given to the Anglicans in 1704 by the then head of state. In 1818 Parliament gave the Church £1m of the people’s money. As a share of gross domestic product that is equivalent to a £4bn today.
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Thirsty work: cooler water truck outside Church House in London |
The year in which the state church benefited so highly from state generosity was the year in which the Representation of the People Act continued the disenfranchisement of women under 30. Six years later another £500,000 was given.
The Church has also benefited from bequests of land and buildings from wealthy benefactors. Today it is given tax breaks on major repairs to its buildings as well as grants from the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England (English Heritage) and the national lottery.
As a result the state church is one of Britain’s biggest landowners, with 112,000 acres. This is mostly farmland but includes the Hyde Park Estate in London where the Royal Lancaster Hotel is one of its properties, as well as property in Kingston upon Thames, Throgmorton Street in the City of London and West Drayton.
Regional Church organisations own more land. The Diocese of Oxford has 6,000 acres in its portfolio. Its investment fund totals £29m.
The Church does not file centralised accounts so we do not know land is owned nation-wide.
However, in 2005 the Church compiled illustrative figures that suggest that its annual revenue the previous year was £1bn. Forty seven per cent was from voluntary giving. The rest was broken down as follows:
- Investments 22%
- Trading and fees14%
- Grants 9%
- Fund-raising 4%
- Land sales 3%
Godly Assets
Although Church officals have strongly criticised short-selling and debt trading it has invested its own funds in ways that facilitate such practices. In 2008 the Financial Times reported that the church had invested £13m in Man Group, the biggest hedge fund manager. The previous year it also sold a £135m mortgage portfolio, despite condemnation by church archbishop Rowan Williams of those who trade debts for profit.
This same year it started lending non-British and American stock through global financial services firm JPMorgan Chase.
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Asset allocation 2007
- Equities 62%
- Alternative securities 1%
- Bonds and cash 5%
- Urban property 16%
- Rural let land 6%
- Strategic land 3%
- Global indirect property holdings 7%
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The church’s pension board has invested in an Auriel Capital hedge fund intended to profit from currency trading, including the short selling of currencies. The Financial Times characterised this as "a practice that could be described as shorting entire countries".
Church Commissioner Andreas Wittam-Smith was reported to have responded to criticism of these practices that the church’s ethical advisory group had approved the lending of stock that could be used for short-selling. Andrew Brown, secretary to the church commissioners said that the church invested in Man Group shares, not its products. He claimed that the church’s stocks had not been used in short-selling against “financially vulnerable institutions in the US and UK”. The church also says that none of the managers it uses sell short. The policy of the church pension board is not to lend out stock.
Archbishop Williams has supported a ban on short-selling. Another archbishop, John Sentamu, described traders who benefit from falling prices as “bank robbers and asset strippers”.
Crimes Against the Church
The privileges given by the state to the Anglicans go beyond the financial.
In July 2008 the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel were abolished. But from 1838 they gave privileged protection to the "tenets and beliefs of the Church of England" only. Even in 2008 the state church was divided on the legislation that ended this privilege. According to the National Secular Society some bishop-legislators said “that the abolition was unnecessary and undesirable and others (said) that it was inevitable and that the Church should therefore concede”.
The Church continues to benefit from the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act of 1860. This makes it an offence in England for a person to be riotous, violent or guilty of indecent behaviour (includes interrupting, shouting and creating a disturbance) in any church, cathedral or chapel of the Church of England.
The head of state is required to be a member of that church and not marry a Catholic. The head of state is indeed the titular head of the Church of England.
She or he has the right, which is exercised through the Prime Minister, to appoint the head of the Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other senior officers of the church. When a new Archbishop is required a Crown Appointments Commission sends two names to the Prime Minister at the end of a secretive process. The Prime Minister then forwards one to the queen for appointment as chief bishop, or refers both back to the Commission. In 2002 a High Court judge was chosen to head the commission in its search for a new archbishop.
The Church Commissioners: Church & State United
Thirty-three Church Commissioners manage the property and stock market assets of the Church of England. Six of these commissioners who have ex officio membership hold state office. They include the prime minister and the sport & culture minister. All the commissioners are accountable to Parliament, to which they make an annual report, as well as to the General Synod of the Church of England.
The 26 most senior bishops of the Church of England have by right a seat and a vote in the national legislature, as 'Lords Spiritual' representing 'the episcopate' in the House of Lords. Until recently, however, Anglican clergy were barred by law from sitting in the democratically elected House of Commons.
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