No: The Rt Revd Christopher Herbert The Bishop of St Albans

“First of all, it is misinformation to say that Britain is a secular society. The evidence that we have from the 2001 census is that more than 72 per cent of people under no pressure whatsoever described themselves as Christian and 6 per cent as belonging to another faith. Even roughly one in five worship monthly – a huge number – but the Church of England exists not simply for those who come to church, but for every single person who lives within our parish system.

The vicars of our parishes are there not only to offer worship with their congregations; they exist to offer pastoral care, social care, community care with their churches in every bit of England. That’s a very significant part of social, cultural and community life.

We now live in a multicultural, multi-faith Britain. And that has brought a lot of gain to our society. In a multi-faith society the integrity of each religion needs to be given due respect. It has been our position for a long time that other faiths should be represented in the House of Lords, but then the Government would have to decide how that representation was exercised. One of the unique features of the Church of England is that when I am in the House of Lords, I’m not there to represent only the people who go to church in my diocese; I’m there to be part of the discourse of government and Parliament, about matters that affect the whole of society. I try to represent all points of view which I come across in my life, both Christian and nonChristian. I can therefore take an independent view, of course coming from a Christian angle when necessary – I don’t want to deny my faith.

If the Church was to be disestablished, we would continue to exist, and to serve our communities because the basis of our faith is the Judao-Christian tradition of loving God and loving neighbour. But it would have a deep social consequence. It would affect weddings and funerals, but it’s more than just a practical consideration. When I was a vicar I would take a funeral of somebody who perhaps never came near the church, but who wanted the church to take their funeral and trusted us to do it. It was part of my job to be with the family in their sorrow and in their grief – that’s a fantastic privilege and I wouldn’t want it to be treated lightly. The Church creates webs of relationships across our country, which are very strong and very important for community cohesion (to pick up government language). If the Church was disestablished the loss would be enormous.

Our society and the Church have evolved together. It’s part of the tradition of the country and I’m not sure what’s so bad about tradition in that sense. In the 21st century, it’s not about power – it’s about the desire of the Church to serve every community and where necessary to challenge it, comfort it and say when things have gone wrong. I can’t see what’s wrong with that – and I don’t think that Britain has suffered as a result. In fact the gains have been and are huge, which the prophets of doom cannot see.”

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