State Church or Established Church

Abstract

In this chapter, two different models of a church-state or an established church are examined: the Greek policy of financial and symbolic support; and the British model of symbolic support. A critical evaluation of these systems, with particular attention for subsidies for institutionalized religion, for faith-based schools and for religious education, will prove that a state church or established church is in fact not reconcilable with the principles of liberal neutrality and democratic perfectionism. Next to the problem that religions are not treated even-handedly (at a symbolic and/or financial level), the main problem is that close bonds between church and state are fixed a priori (within the constitution), which is not in line with the idea that religion is a perfectionist good and that citizens should, for that reason, democratically vote about the concrete church-state implementation.