LONDON (AP) —At a time when religion is fueling tensions around the world — from Hindu nationalists in India to Jewish settlers in the West Bank and fundamentalist Christians in the United States — Charles is trying to bridge the differences between the faith groups that make up Britain’s increasingly diverse society. Achieving this goal is important to the new King’s efforts to demonstrate that the monarchy, a 1,000-year-old institution with Christian roots, can still represent the multicultural British population today.
But Charles, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, faces a very different country than the one that reverently celebrated his mother’s coronation in 1953.
Seventy years ago, more than 80% of the British population were Christian, and a large-scale immigration was just beginning that would change the face of the country. That number is now less than half, with 37% saying they have no religion, 6.5% Muslims and 1.7% Hindus, according to the latest census figures. This change is even more pronounced in London, where more than a quarter of her population has a non-Christian faith. Prince Charles was aware of this change long before he became king last September.
As early as the 1990s, Charles proposed becoming known as the “Defender of the Faith.” This is a small but highly symbolic change to the monarch’s traditional title of “Defender of the Faith”, which means Christianity. For a man who believes in the healing power of yoga and once called Islam “one of the greatest treasures of accumulated wisdom and spiritual knowledge available to mankind,” this is an important award.
The King’s commitment to diversity will be evident at his coronation, where religious leaders representing Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh traditions will play active roles in the ceremony for the first time.
“I have always viewed England as a ‘community of communities,'” Charles told religious leaders in September.
“This made me understand that sovereigns have additional obligations. Officially exonerated, but equally scrupulously exonerated. Through the religions, cultures, traditions and beliefs that our hearts and minds guide us as individuals, we have a duty to protect the diversity of our nation, including to protect the spaces of faith itself and its practice. ”
Not an easy task in a country where religious and cultural differences sometimes boil over.
Farhan Nizami, director of the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, said such tensions made it a critical need for Britain to have a head of state personally committed to promoting inclusiveness.
Charles, a patron of the Center for his 30 years, applauded Nizami’s efforts to build his Academic Center for the study of all aspects of the Islamic world, including history, science, literature, and religion. During these years the center grew from a featureless wooden structure into a complex with its own library, conference facilities and a domed mosque with a minaret.
These actions can be small. But they have the support of people like Balwinder Shukla. Balwinder Shukla saw the King formally inaugurate Guru Nanak, his gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship a few months ago in Luton, an ethnically diverse city of some 300,000 people north of London. The 65-year-old Shukla pauses as he pats on flatbread known as chapatti for the communal meal the gurdwara serves to all arrivals, coordinates a floral shawl, and joins other members of the community. expressed admiration for Charles’ decision to floor.
Referring to the Sikh scripture Guru He Grant Her Sahib, Shukla stated that “all humans are equal”. “It doesn’t matter if you are king or not,” she added.
Several British newspapers have suggested that Charles’ desire to include other religions in his coronation met with opposition from the Church of England, and conservative religious commentators have recently suggested that the multi-religious ceremony could weaken the monarchy’s “royal roots”.
However, George Gross, who studies the relationship between religion and monarchy, dismissed these concerns.
According to Gross, a visiting fellow at King’s College London, the coronation of monarchs is a tradition dating back to ancient Egypt and Rome and has nothing to do with Christianity. In addition, all core religious elements of the service are conducted by Anglican clergy.
Representatives of other religions attend other major public events in the UK, such as Remembrance Day services.
“These things are not uncommon in more modern settings,” he said.
It would seem very strange if there were no other representatives. “
Charles’ commitment to a multi-religious society also symbolizes progress towards bridging the rupture in the Christian tradition that began when Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church in 1534 and proclaimed himself head of the Church of England.
