Carey Defends Church of England

Carey Defends Church of England

LONDON — Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has issued a strong defense of the Church of England’s status as the established church of the realm despite growing criticism of the arrangement.

“From the perspective of the Church of England, establishment helps to underwrite the commitment of a national church to serve the entire community and to give form and substance to some of its deepest collective needs and aspirations,” Carey said in an April 23 lecture at Lambeth Palace, his London residence.

Carey said establishment has evolved in the past and would continue evolving in the future. He said no steps should be taken that would weaken the links between church and state without close examination of both their historic significance and their impact on the community.

Carey said removing the spiritual underpinning of the state represented by establishment would inevitably tend to cast religion as a purely private matter — “one of a range of lifestyle options, like buying organic food or living in the country, of no greater public or communal import perhaps than, say, stamp collecting or bird-watching.”