What is England like now?

Answer 1

Roman Catholic Answer

The Church of England is the only Protestant denomination that was not founded by one individual, such as Luther, Calvin, etc. but by order of the government. Further, to a certain extent they tried to keep more of the "Catholic" elements of the Church (or what is seen as "Catholic" by Protestants). Nevertheless, they are suffering the fate of all the other Protestant denominations, as they depart further and further from the Church they are splintering into, literally thousands of different factions.

from A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

Anglicanism

i. The body of Protestant episcopal churches deriving from and in communion with the Church of England, including the churches of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the United States, South Africa, etc. with their missions and dependencies.

ii. The system of faith and morals professed by these bodies. These it is impossible to summarize owing to the diversity of belief and (to a lesser degree) of conduct taught, permitted, and tolerated in Anglicanism. From the definite "romanizing" of a section of the high-church party to the extreme liberalism of certain dignitaries and professors, many varieties of Christian thought can be found. They are usually very roughly classified as high-church, broad-church, and low-church; but, as Father Humphry Johnson has justly observed, there exists within the Church of England "a larger and more important party than any of these, though a less articulate one. This party serves as a cement between the others." According to the official Book of Common Prayer the articles of the three creeds are to be believed; The Bible contains all things necessary to salvation; Purgatory, indulgences, veneration of images and relics, and the invocation of saints are "vainly invented" and "repugnant to the word of God"; two sacraments necessary for salvation were ordained by Christ, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord; transubstantiation "is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture"; the "sacrifices of Masses . . . were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits"; "the Bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this realm of England," etc. These still represent the belief of many Anglicans.

Anglcan answerContrary to the RC answer above, Anglicans (and in that term we include the Church of England) believe, with quite a degree of evidence backing this up, that their doctrine is more akin to the early Church than that of Catholicism. They see the added doctrines of the RC church (Purgatory, indulgences, veneration of images and relics, and the invocation of saints, the over adulation of Mary, campaigns to make Mary co-redemptrix, many other doctrines surrounding Mary like her assumption and immaculate conception, papal infallibility and many other doctrines) as invented doctrines rather than God-revealed doctrines. Evidence for this includes the fact that indulgences were the cause of the split in the Church at the Reformation because they caused corruption in the Church, and therefore could not have been a doctrine revealed from God.

Despite differences across the spectrum of 'churchmanship' (ie styles of worship) the core belief of the Church of England is consistent across the Church. The Church accepts the Creeds including the Nicene Creed, and that Creed, along with the 39 Artices of religion, represent the basics of faith. Differences only occur in belief in peripheral belief such as the acceptance of more of the Cathoolic doctrine in the 'High Church' Anglican, despite some RCs trying to persuade others that somehow in the Anglican Church belief is somehow a 'free-for-all'.

In the Church of England today the great strengths are first its diversity - in that there is always a style of worship (from charismatic to highly liturgical) nearby, so there is always a style for every kind or person. Secondly, the parochial system and the 'cure of souls' responsibility of each vicar means that he or she has pastoral responsibility for all in his or her patch whether C of E, Catholic or atheist. This means that everone in England has the right of access to a priest whether they go to church or not. A third strength is again in its diversity in that all manner of worship styles are in unity and in communion together in a united church. Finally, unlike the RC Church, the Anglicn Church is forward-thinking in many areas. For example, the Church has always allowed married clergy and latterly recognised the ordination of women and the great contribution the can make to the priesthood - again looking at the early Church and its women church leaders for inspiration rather than looking inwards and claiming 'tradition' as an excuse for not moving forward.

Challenges in the church recently are mainly to do with maintaining unity in the face of serious issues like the position of homosexuals in the Church, and the recent acceptance of women bishops. But this can also be a strength - as the issues are debated in the open and surrounded by prayer, rather than dictats made from a central source like the Vatican.

Answer 2

Its a place that's got a lot of history, and has been civalised for a long period of time. It is also a very powerful 1st world country.

Answer 3

England is one of the first world country today. It is very advanced in all aspects be it economically or politically. It has one of the most developed infrastructure and sound policies.

Answer 4

England is beautiful and very warming