the Church of England. Since the breaking away of the English church from Rome under Henry VIII the monarch has been its head and the church has been part of the fabric of the state. Even today the Prime Minister appoints the bishops, a number of whom are in turn entitled to sit in the House of Lords and take part in the law-making process of the state
in England, the Church of England, 'as by law established', the State Church.
the church that is recognized as the official church of a nation
a politico-ecclesiastical structure that receives support from tax monies, advances its program by political means, and penalizes dissent
to give (a church) the status of a national institution
We use this phrase to describe both denominational and non-denominational churches that tend to be more mature. Often these churches have, in different ways, struggled to become acceptable to rational modern culture. For example, many established mainline churches tend to offer very rational intellectual sermons. And many evangelical churches have adopted a very rational propositional faith. Both tend to operate from a more modern corporate, institutional model of how to organize themselves. And the established church seldom seems to question many of the values that accompany modern culture such as individualism, materialism and consumerism.
An established church is one supported in part by public taxes.
An established church is a church offiially sanctioned and supported by the government of a country, e.g. the Lutheran Church in Sweden, the Roman Catholic Church in Argentina and the Philippines, and the Church of England in England.
