A state religion is the endorsement or enforcement of a particular religion by a state.
This can be thought of as two positions; endorsement and enforcement. The former, endorsement, is benign for the most part. England, for example, has Christianity (specifically the Church of England with the Queen at its head) as its official state religion although in practice the country is almost entirely secular. The latter position, that of enforcement, is less benign because it leads to repression of other religions and lack of religion. Even today a number of countries have repressive policies regarding their state religion and severe punishments that may be meted out to those who break them. These are, for the most part, the Islamic fundamentalist states in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria, but also Israel, as a specifically Jewish state, is often counted.
State religions have often been used to uphold nationalist regimes, such as Nazi Germany's use of "Positive Christianity" and the development of "State Shinto" in Imperial Japan. There is also the "Religion of the State" as exemplified in fascist Italy, Communist China, and formerly in the USSR.
- Argentina (Roman Catholicism)
- Denmark (Lutheranism)
- El Salvador (Roman Catholicism)
- England (Church of England, see below)
- Greece (Orthodox)
- Iceland (Lutheranism)
- Malta (Roman Catholicism)
- Norway (Lutheranism)
- Scotland (Church of Scotland (Presbyterianism))
- Vatican City (Roman Catholicism)
- Iran (specifically Shia)
- Saudi Arabia
- Aceh (part of Indonesia)
- Parts of Somalia are de jure secular but de facto ruled by theocratic courts
- Several states of Nigeria
- Pre-WWII Japan
These countries, among others, have officially enshrined freedom of religion:
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- South Korea
- United States
The state religion or Established Church of England is "The Church of England" or "Anglican Church," familiarly known as the "C of E", and was founded by Henry VIII to get around the papal ban on his desires for possible manchild bearing spouses.
Some senior clergy actually have the right, by virtue of their job, to sit in the upper house of the legislature (House of Lords). The bishops of the C of E are also (nominally) selected from a shortlist by the monarch (in fact, by the Prime Minister). The other methods of gaining entry to the House of Lords, (originally gained by virtue of their birth) are, of course, perfectly legitimate.
The fact that the religion is officially part of the government gives the clergy an influence out of proportion to the size of their denomination but nobody takes any notice of them so it doesn't matter.
The word antidisestablishmentarianism, once the longest word in the OED, was coined to refer to people who were opposed to disestablishing the Church of England.
It should be noted that the Church of England is established in England only and not the rest of the UK (plus the Isle of Man and Channel Islands). The Anglicans became disestablished in Ireland and in Wales, after low take up by the populations there. Anglicanism has never been established in Scotland.
The US specifically doesn't have a state religion, with the establishment clause of the First Amendment saying "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" - commonly referred to as the separation of church and state, although the phrase derives from a letter by Thomas Jefferson and is not found in the law itself. Despite this, many on the Religious Right believe the US was established as a Christian nation, and actively support state sponsored religion, including using the Ten Commandments as a basis for law and displaying them prominently in public, supporting teacher led and enforced classroom prayer and generally making life miserable for anyone who isn't One Of Us.
 See also
- ↑ BBC report of Christian charity Tearfund's survey
- ↑ http://www.religioustolerance.org/rel_rate.htm
- ↑ Technically. The High Court, led by Lionel Murphy, a pissed-off atheist, ruled that the government couldn't declare what was and wasn't a religion, which is why it's one of the countries where Scientology is a tax-exempt religion. Murphy suggested that if they didn't want to give Scientology a free ride, they should stop the tax exemption of religion in general.
- ↑ Although the Charter of Rights and Freedoms mentions God in the preamble, it also guarantees the freedom of conscience and religion. There is no established church.
- ↑ http://www.cofe.anglican.org/