Here's a non-insult, in the form of questions and citations.
King Charles. Head of C of E? Or head off all faiths within the Commonwealth nations? Let's read:
"Almost 30 years ago, then-Prince Charles declared that he wanted to be a “defender of faith,” rather than simply “Defender of the Faith,” to reflect Britain's growing religious diversity. It created a bit of a storm in a teacup, as he had clearly not meant that he would be changing the traditional role so much as adding to it. The new King is a particular type of Anglican: one that on the one hand, is incredibly tied to the notion of tradition; but on the other, has shown a great deal of affinity for both Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Islam, two religions clearly outside the Anglican fold that he must now titularly lead." Source: King Charles III’s Unique Relationship with Islam Could Bridge Divides Time, 13 September 2022So one might extract a questionm for you individually as for each of us.
Are you a "defender of faith" of do you see yourself as a "defender of your faith." Personally I would hope for the latter, as the former phrase is a close to meaningless as one can get, given that some have faith in their agnosticism, and others -- one within my extended family -- faith of a sort in his constant professions of his atheism.
One reads further:
"The harsh reality is that the C of E has lost 160,000 attendees across an average week including Sundays since 2019 when 854,000 people attended its churches. Since 2003, the all-age average weekly attendance has declined from 1,126,000.So one may cogently ask: what is the defense and what is being defended? And how is that defense doing, as the Dame Bishop leads less than 1 percent of the UK's population?"With the population of England now around 67 million, 685,000 worshippers in 2023 means barely 1 per cent of the people living in the nation are turning up to C of E churches."
Source: Ignore the cheerful spin - the Church of England is in unrelenting decline Christian Today, 20 May 2024.
