2 ms·

> you have to believe this and that and also hand over some cash and vote for such and such. My feeling is this is an Americanism. Here in the UK I've been to

> you have to believe this and that and also hand over some cash and vote for such and such. My feeling is this is an Americanism. Here in the UK I've been to church events in the past - usually stuff linked to school events (harvest, nativity etc), or weddings/funerals, and been in a few old cathedrals which have a donation box, but the stuff I see on US TV shows like the Simpsons -- collection plate passing, advertising, televangelism, etc all seems very different and far more obviously "con artistry" There is some cult that does some low-key advertising in the UK (occasional posters on bus stops in London) over the last decade or so, the alpha church or something, which is mildly concerning, but the general course of religion, from what I can tell it's just a place some people go and have a chat and a sing-song, no different to the pub really.

anon9001 5y ago
The way this was explained to me is that you have the Church of England, which is technically an established church run by the state. The government<->church connection makes it easier to be distrustful of the church when you're distrustful of the government, which detracts from the divine nature of faith and creates a more secular nation. Compare that to the US (The Simpsons depiction is largely accurate), where the US Government and the church are completely separate. That means your church can be right and your government can be wrong, which creates all sorts of problematic dynamics in the states. Currently, the "my church is right, government is wrong" crowd has essentially adopted the Trump family as their new church. I don't think you guys could have that happen across the pond. That's why we're about to do a fascism.