British Politics and Religion: Introduction to This Special Edition

There is a long-standing adage in Britain which, albeit brief, nonetheless illuminates aspects of the nation's culture. It states that there are two subjects that should not be raised in polite company and are likely to alienate strangers and even estrange friends: the topics of politics and religion. For those unfamiliar with British culture, this may suggest a disinterest in both politics and religion or that the subjects are perceived as divisive. However, the picture is more complex than it appears at first glance and this is evident in a further, equally common maxim which further highlights the British cultural temperament: that politics and religion simply do not mix. In other words, religion should distance itself from the political realm and restrict itself to spiritual and pastoral matters. Conversely, that politics should not meddle in religious affairs largely because religion is deemed a matter of private conscience and conviction. While these two axioms may be said to reflect the British way of thinking about politics and religion, summing up the nation's cultural heritage and political development, in many ways they still ring true, despite the fact that the country has undergone profound transformations in recent years in both political and religious terms. This special edition of the Politics and Religion will partially explore these changes alongside continuities but, even more so, the papers included here will provide commentaries on the contemporary, often strained relationship between politics and religion. True, British people are reluctant to discuss either, and tend to keep the two realms separate in as much as they do express opinions. Yet, the apparently increasing estrangement of the spheres of politics and religion belies the fact that they continue to interact in very significant, if less obvious ways. How has Britain changed? What continuities can be observed? Firstly, despite its rapid loss of empire from the mid-twentieth century – built upon what was perceived by the British as exporting the joint colonial principles of Christianity and 'civilisation' – the nation state is still a leading world power economically, politically and, as involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan suggests, militarily as well. Britain's position as a leading world power may explain why, at least from the outside, the nation's people are frequently viewed as displaying an arrogant disposition or, at the very least, presenting an underlying reserved temperament. It might be argued than arrogance and quietude rests upon a feeling of …