Thread by @Humanists_UK

This morning, we were curious as to whether the Prime Minister’s Catholic wedding would theoretically render him unable to continue appointing Church of England bishops under the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 or even risk his job. Read along to follow our journey! ⬇

The RCRA says that a Catholic PM can have no involvement in the appointment of C of E bishops. If they do, and are convicted of that, they commit a

‘high misdemeanor, and [are] disabled for ever from holding any office... under the Crown.’

😲😲

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo4/10/…

So we asked: does the PM, who was baptised Catholic, and has now had a Catholic wedding, count as Catholic under RCRA?

(You may be wondering: why does the PM have anything to do with Church appointments? Sadly, it's because the UK has an established church – this is just one manifestation of it, along with 26 bishops casting votes in Parliament. More on that later.)

humanism.org.uk/campaigns/secu…

In theory, you do not need to be a Catholic to be married in a Catholic wedding – only a Christian.

So if the PM was an Anglican who simply had a Catholic wedding, it would possibly be lawful for him to continue church appointments.

However…

…Boris Johnson was baptised a Catholic and the Catholic Church doesn’t make it easy to officially leave. Indeed, the Archdiocese was quoted yesterday as saying that it believes he is a Catholic under canon law.

irishtimes.com/news/social-af…

(It also contravenes Catholic canon law for a divorcee to be married in a Catholic ceremony, unless the church takes the view that their previous weddings were ‘invalid’ because they weren’t Catholic. This is the Church’s position with regard to the PM.)

So is Johnson now a Catholic in the eyes of the RCRA?

In our view, that is more a question about the PM’s personal beliefs.

Nothing he has said has contradicted his previous stated position of being an Anglican.

However, were the law to view him as a Catholic, then it would obviously discriminate against him on grounds of religion.

Would that be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights? Might such a PM have to challenge the law in Strasbourg to stay in office?

We sympathise if reading about this area of law feels uncomfortably invasive. We really don’t think the law should be taking a view on any politician’s religion or belief. We don’t believe it should impact anyone’s right to hold the job.

It also goes without saying that we also don’t think a Prime Minister should, as a matter of principle, be involved in the internal appointment procedures of any religion. We look forward to the day when a thread like this couldn’t be written!

It shouldn’t matter what the Prime Minister’s religion or belief is. But the UK’s uncodified constitution is full of murky clauses that entangle politics with religion, and sometimes we see ancient rivalries between Anglicans and Catholics enshrined in law like this too.

We’d like to see the UK become a fully secular state, inclusive of everyone. That would mean state and religion were separate. No bishops would vote in the Lords, you couldn’t reserve seats in the Commons by praying early, and the PM wouldn’t be the person appointing bishops.

Did you know that the UK attempted to do away with Downing Street church appointments between 2007 and 2010? Gordon Brown as Prime Minister felt that it was a practice from a bygone era and out of place in a modern UK.

(On a final related note, before the pandemic, we launched a petition to parliamentary officials calling for reform of the archaic process which lets Christian MPs and Lords get preference for seats and speaking opportunities in the UK Parliament....

...We suggested that Parliament adopt the inclusive approach used by the Scottish Parliament instead.

If you agree, you can sign our petition here.)

humanism.org.uk/what-you-can-d…