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My Son, an erstwhile student teacher, who has theology and history to his credit, asked me the other day what ‘FD' on our coinage stood for. It took a while but then I remembered it is defender of the faith, for some reason or other in Latin it comes in reverse order.
In hesitation I ask whether this is an oversight or is this still relevant. Many, many years ago Jesus instructed his Disciples to talk directly to God via himself. In effect our relationship with our own personal God is exactly that, with absolutely no one between us and what we contemplate our deity to be. Surely the days of a single ownership of our liaison linkage went out with the language of religion being one that none of the congregation understood.
The answer I am afraid, is that it does mean exactly that our Monarch, who (which?) is the official link between ourselves and our God. We should not forget that Henry VIII took on the role of the Pope in order that he could obtain a divorce and secondly take over the Catholic lands and holdings for the state, i.e. for themselves.
The replacing of the Pope by the King as head of the Church did not just affect the Catholic Clergy either. The position of various Christian elders and leaders who questioned ‘Mould Worp's' new position as of head of the Church found themselves divested of their authority, lands, and freedoms. York, as one of the religious centres was visited a number of times in Henry's processions in which his authority as head of state and Church saw many individuals disappear to the Tower.
His daughter, who became famous for many things, did consider the position untenable and changed this position slightly. During her reign she was known as the Governor of the Faith, not a huge step but one which recognised, I think, that she was not herself the Pope by another name.
Our sovereign in waiting caused something of a turmoil years ago when he asked how difficult would it be for him to become defender of the faiths. He believed that to be defender of only one faith was divisive to many of the other faiths, sects, and denominations within his future realm. Am I being overly cynical in asking whether he is not satisfied with one religion and now he wants them all?
Do not forget that on the national census before the last one a large percentage claimed that their religion was ‘Klingon'. In my view this is what I love about my fellow countrymen, when offered an opportunity they take it. All insurance companies offering online insurance quotes annually clear off of their databases Mr Baggins, Bag-End, Under-Hill, Nr Oxford. These people simply want a quote but not the future mailings that leaving your actual address causes. In the same way with the census people were clearly stating, ‘what as it got to do with you?'
Whilst to some people it might seem correct to link Parliament (and all of its Offices), the House of Lords, the Armed Forces, the Courts, the Prisons, the Commonwealth, and to the Crown should we also place them between us and our God, I think not. The Crown after all is fallible and if there is a loss of faith in any one of the ‘Royal' institutions then they will all be tarnished with the same brush. My argument is not, currently, that the monarchy should be replaced, only that when I pray to God my communication is direct and not by some self appointed intermediary.
When you have the time read again our Saviour's introduction on how we should pray to the Father.
Somewhere in Riyadh
Adrian Chase
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