CHURCH AND STATE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 49, Issue 67, 29 December 1928, Page 5

CHURCH AND STATE

DURHAM BISHOP’S VIEWS.

DISESTABLISHMENT ADVOCATED. BEST FOR BOTH PARTIES. • - (United Press Association —Copyright.) (Received This Day, 9.5 a.m.) LONDON, December 27. The Bishop of Durham (the Rt. ltev. Dr. Henson), writing in the “Nineteenth Century,” advocates disestablishment by consent, arguing that rejection of the Prayer Book measures created a situation in which the first duty of the Church is to .vindicate its spiritual independence. His Lordship adds: “Th.e loss of national status would for many Churchmen be a wounding experience, hut establishment has ceased' to be an object _ of regard for tbe majority. Disestablishment does not stand alone, but goes with the sinister, terrifying prospect of disendowment. _ Statesmen, in friendly conference with the leaders of the Church of England and the Free Churches, might frame a, measure of disestablishment and disendowment ending the immemorial relation of Church and State in England, which has now lost its justification and become unwholesome for both. This would secure indispensable freedom to a spiritual society. It would’ not cripple tbe work of the churches by a harsh measure of confiscation. It would not wound devout Anglicans by secular control of sacred buildings that for centuries have enshrined the worship of the Church.” —Australian Press Association, United Service.