I think one of us loyal Brits probably ought to object to the Church of England being compared to Shari'a. Before the C of E we were governed in religious matters by the Church of Rome, and when king and pope disagreed we were subject to foreign interference in the governing of our country. When various successive monarchs attempted to bring back that particular religion and the foreign influence that came with it the results were disastrous. At the same time there were more extreme reactions against catholicism, mostly up in Scotland. The Church of England was very much the middle way. Nobody here is forced to be C of E, and nobody is condemned for being something else, unless by a bigoted moron or where other issues have come into play. The only restriction really is that nobody in the line of succession is allowed to marry a catholic because history warns us that in England, Britain, that often leads to a mess. That law is probably fairly outdated now, but taken in the context of religious chaos where people felt forced to flee the country for... oh yes, America, the creation and supremacy in England of the English church was probably one of the safest middle roads our lot ever came up with.

Your constitution doesn't specify a religion, but the presumption on the part of the founding fathers was always that it would be christianity of one form or another, and probably no more catholic than we are.

Kerri.