UK Girl Guides consult on oath change

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

 

Similar to the SA, but god and the queen are being debated:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20921353

[acco40]

I'm not an anglophile so I don't fully understand the relationship between teh royal family and God.

 

I think the "Sovereign" (Queen right now) has to be a member of the Church of England and as the "defender of the faith" promises to maintain the Church. The Queen appoints the church elders (Archbishops and Bishops). These appointees as well as parish priests take an oath of allegiance to the Queen and may not resign without her blessing.

 

So, at least for the UK, I don't think they can really separate Queen and God - each should either stay or go.

 

I will do my best, to love my God, to serve my Queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the Guide law.

 

We don't have a "Church of the United States of America" and we tend to shy away from oaths to Presidents, Senators or Congressmen. I guess the closest we come is when our armed forces personnel promise to "uphold the constitution."

 

[Cambridgeskip]

A note on the constitutional position of the monarch.

 

The British monarch essentially wears a number of different hats and acts in different capacities while wearing them.

 

The most important of these is head of state. Like in her other role she has no actual powers. Theoretically in the event of a hung parliament (ie no one party has an over all majority, as we have now) she can chose the Prime Minister however she would be obliged to chose the individual most likely to command a majority in the House of Commons. In practice what she would actually do is wait for two parties to form a coalition (as in the current parliament) or, if they failed to do so, act upon the advice of The Privy Council. So in effect she has no power! The idea is that she actually represents the people of the UK and when she asks someone to become Prime Minister and form a government she is doing so on behalf of the people of the UK.

 

Its because of this that while I am a devout republican (in the European sense, republicans are generally pretty liberal) I have no problem with the scout promise because by promising to do my duty to the Queen I am in effect promising to do my duty to the people of the UK.

 

Another hat that she wears is head of the Anglican Church. I have to confess to being less familiar with the governance procedures of the church but I am aware that again she is a figure head and has no actual powers. It is the Synod and the Bishops and Arch Bishops that actually run things and make the decisions.

 

My understanding of the Guides consultation is that rather than having different promises for different beliefs like the Scouts they are looking to create one promise that anyone of any belief can make and be comfortable with. So same out come by a different method.