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Adam Russell Taylor On Saturday, hundreds of millions of people are expected to watch a ceremony that hasn’t been seen in 70 years: the coronation of a British monarch. I’ll admit I’m likely to be one of them, thanks in part to my own fascination with the royal family (which grew considerably after watching Netflix’s The Crown) and that of my wife, who grew up in Jamaica and Canada, two British Commonwealth countries. In a ceremony that CNN describes as “a symbolic coming together of the monarchy, church, and state for a religious ritual,” King Charles III will vow to uphold the law and the Church of England. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the global Anglican Communion, will then anoint Charles with oil and place a heavy crown on his head. The crowds surrounding Westminster Abbey will chant, “God save the king.” Of course, not everyone will be celebrating. A recent poll of adults in Britain found that 64 percent of respondents have little or no interest in the coronation. As people across the U.K. struggle to navigate a cost-of-living crisis, a lavish ceremony that’s estimated to cost British taxpayers tens of millions of dollars (and that’s just for security) feels downright unsavory. But what I’ll be thinking about amidst the pomp and circumstance is the global legacy of the British Empire, a legacy that includes centuries of exclusion; racism; and plundering of land, resources, and human beings on nearly every continent — a legacy that is inseparable from both the British monarchy and the church.
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Our Latest Is Blowing Up an Oil Pipeline an Act of Christian Nonviolence? (by Zachary Lee) When you destroy a death-dealer you aren’t enacting violence — you’re bringing about life. No, ‘Being Fruitful and Multiplying’ Won’t Save the Church (by Ryan Duncan) It seems that in a desperate attempt to salvage their waning numbers, many conservative Christians have elevated reproduction to a place it was never meant to occupy. ‘For I Was a Stranger and You Shot Me’ (by Cassidy Klein) Christians must oppose the spirit of fear and paranoia that makes shooting strangers so common in the U.S. The Chicago Evangelist Who Held a Gospel Revival To Stop a Strike (by Matt Bernico) Dwight L. Moody and the 1884 Haymarket Affair offer a look at what happens when Christians side with the wealthy instead of working class. |
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From the Magazine Western Christianity Is Partly a Story of Unconfessed Conquest (by José Humphreys III) It remains vital for clergy and congregants to foster church spaces that practice a form of healing justice. |
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