III. The Non-Christian religions of the UK
I. The History of the Church in Britain:
A. The arrival of Christianity
Officially Christianity came to the territory of the UK somewhere in the 6th c. AD. But the scientists presume that it had arrived in the first or second century (probably via the tin trade route through Ireland) and existed independently of the Church of Rome.
The Celts are thought to become Christians well before the early 4th c. AD. The first missioners adapted Christian teachings for common people of Ireland, Wales and Scotland by explaining them though some pagan beliefs, traditions and customs. Thus, St. Patrick spread Christianity in Ireland and St. Columba did the same in Scotland approximately 30 years before it came to England.
During the Anglo-Saxon period it was the Celtic Church which brought Christianity to the ordinary people of Britain. The Celtic bishops went out from their monasteries of Wales, Ireland and Scotland, walking from village to village teaching Christianity. In spite of the differences between Anglo-Saxons and Celts, these bishops seem to have been readily accepted in Anglo-Saxon areas.
To England the new religion came only in the late 6th century. In 597 the Pope of Rome sent a monk, St. Augustine, to convert Britain into Christianity. He landed in Kent and started his mission there converting the local nobles into Christians. Several years later he became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. But he and his monks weren’t as successful with the common people as they were with the nobles. This was partly because Augustine was interested in establishing Christian authority, and that meant bringing rulers to the new faith.
Thus, by the late 6th c. on the territory of the British Isles there existed two types of the Christian Churches: the Celtic and the Roman. These two Christian Churches were competing against one another until 664 when at Synod (church meeting) of Whitby the Roman type of Christianity was established. The church of Canterbury became the leading one and the centre of mass pilgrimage (паломничество).
B. The rise of the Anglican Church
The Roman Catholic Church had remained the leading Church of England up until the 16th c. In 1534 the English king, Henry VIII broke up with the Catholicism. He quarreled with the Pope of Rome as he [Henry] wanted to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragorn. She, in her turn, was a Spanish Princess and her family was very influential. So when Henry asked the Pope to grant him a divorce, the latter refused him. The king needed the divorce for several reasons:
a) to marry his mistress, Anne Boleyn, who would give him an heir;
b) to have all the power in his hands, as Church has become very significant by this time
Almost immediately after the split up with the Roman Catholic Church, Henry VIII founded his own Church, where he would become the leader. Though some changes in the structure of the Church had been made, it was still Catholic in its essence (i.e. rituals, practices, prayers, etc.). The major change was connected with the leader for the Church. In the new one, the leader was the reigning monarch. Since the 16th c. all English monarchs have the title “the Head of the Anglican Church”.
After the death of Henry VIII the Anglican Church had seen the periods of ups and downs. During the reign of his son Edward VI it became more radical in its practices. Then when Mary I, the first daughter of Henry VIII, was at power the country turned to Catholicism again. Queen Mary I became known as “Bloody Mary” for her violence and bloody methods of “baptizing back into Catholic Faith”. Since the reign of Elizabeth I the Anglicanism had settled down as the main religious denomination in Britain.
C. The rise of the Presbyterian Church
Scotland has its own Church which appeared almost at the same time as that of England, but under some different circumstances. In the 16th c. Scotland was strongly influenced by the ideas of the European Reformation, mainly by the teachings of the French Reformer, John Calvin. The ideas of Calvinism were one of the main principles of the Scottish Reformation led by John Knox. In 1560 the Scottish Parliament seceded from Rome (официально выйти из состава римско-католической церкви) and adopted some concepts from the Presbyterianism. Though adopted by the Parliament the new religion was not ratified by the monarch for quite a time, as Mary I of Scots was a Catholic. Besides this there had been a question of church government, which remained unsolved until the 18th c. The final recognition of the full independence of the reformed Presbyterian Church by the British Parliament happened in 1921.
D. The rise of the Puritan movement
Till the early 16th the rule of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe had been unquestionable, but the situation changed when there appeared the people who got fed up with the luxury of the Church itself and its ceremonies. The first ones to break up with the Church were Martin Luther and John Calvin. Their ideas and principles were based on the direct responsibility to God and questioned the role of the Church. Very soon these ideas got lots of supporters and spread throughout the northern Europe. The movement became known as Protestantism. Protestant churches and communities appeared in a number of European cities. But the Reformation period was not at all that easy, as there were numerous clashes and fights between Catholics and Protestants.
The ideas of the European Protestants penetrated into (проникать) the British society of the 16th c. Though the new official Church had been established in England, it didn’t differ much from that of Roman Catholic. The common people didn’t see and feel much difference, and under the influence of the ideas of Calvin (that of a “pure” and simple church) started to leave the Anglican Church. These people are commonly known as the Puritans.
During the reign of king James I (the 17th c.) the Puritan were severely persecuted for their beliefs. Some of them had to even flee from Britain to Europe and even to the New World. In 1620 a group of Puritans, known as “the Pilgrim Fathers” sailed to the New World and founded there the first colony.