[lbo-talk] Religion (God pissed in my Cheerios, in a very real sense)

[Carl Remick]

>From: Daniel Davies <d_squared_2002 at yahoo.co.uk>
>
>... the main effect of state-sponsored religion has
>been to saddle the Church of England with a crippling financial burden of
>having to maintain national coverage of churches and vicars and weaken it
>forever.  Also, I maintain my view that having compulsory RE in schools is
>entirely beneficial, since it exposes the bright and questioning kids early 
>on
>to the fact that there are some adults out there who talk the most 
>astonishing
>rubbish, and the other sort are lost anyway so who cares.

In the last couple of hundred years, at least, there's also been sort of a 
tongue-in-cheek quality about official respect bestowed on the C of E.  In 
the early 19th century, I seem to recall, some non-believing UK prime 
minister joked that he was "a flying buttress of the established church.  I 
support it from the outside."  I believe this line was later appropriated by 
Churchill, which in itself is remarkable.  You don't find denizens of 
America's domestic Hall of Heroes creating or stealing jokes about how 
irreverent they are.

Carl