At a time when religious conflicts are increasing in the world, King Charles is trying to bring together the religious groups that make up Britain’s increasingly diverse society.
King Charles III will be crowned on May 6 at Westminster Abbey in London, alongside his wife Camilla, after succeeding his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
This special occasion in the United Kingdom will not be limited to the king’s assumption of his new position, but will go beyond that as a reflection of the image of the British social fabric that will participate in this ceremony.
Jewish prayer for the king
Rabbi Nikkilis will not attend the coronation of King Charles III, however he notes that he will “do something more important: pray for the king on the Jewish Sabbath”.
And on Saturday, rabbis across Britain will gather to say a prayer in English and Hebrew giving thanks to the new king in the name of “the one God who created us all”.
Lees, the rabbi of Highgate Synagogue in north London, noted that British Jews appreciate Charles’ pledge to promote coexistence between all faiths and his record of supporting a multi-faith society while heir to the throne.
“When he says he wants to be a defender of religions, it is important to us, because our history has not always been so simple and we have not always lived freely; we have not been able to practice our religion throughout history,” he said.
Demographic change
At a time when religious conflicts are increasing in the world, King Charles is trying to bridge the differences between the religious groups that make up Britain’s increasingly diverse society.
But achieving this goal is critical to the new king’s efforts to show that the monarchy, a 1,000-year-old institution with Christian roots, can still represent the multicultural people of modern Britain.
But Charles, supreme ruler of the Church of England, faces a country very different from the one that celebrated his mother’s coronation in 1953.
Seventy years ago, more than 80% of the population of England was Christian, and in that period, waves of mass immigration began that changed the demographic face of the kingdom.
With the passage of time, this number has decreased to reach less than half today, as the figures showed that 37% of Britons are not religious, 6.5% of them are Muslims, and 1.7% are Hindus.
The change was most pronounced in London, where more than a quarter of the population has a non-Christian religion.
Previous Proposals to King Charles
Charles recognized this change long before he took the throne last September.
Back in the 1990s, Charles, when he was crown prince, declared his desire to be “Defender of the Faiths,” a small but highly symbolic change from the monarch’s traditional title of “Defender of the Faith,” meaning Christianity.
It is an important position for a man who believes in the healing power of yoga, and once described Islam as “one of the greatest treasures of accumulated spiritual wisdom and knowledge available to mankind.”
The king’s commitment to diversity will be demonstrated at his coronation, when religious leaders representing Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh traditions will play an active role for the first time in the festivities.
“I have always thought of Britain as a community of communities,” Charles told religious leaders in September.
But this task is not easy. Last summer, young Muslims and Sikhs clashed in Leicester.
The opposition Labor Party has also struggled to rid itself of antisemitism, and the government’s counter-terrorism strategy has been criticized for its focus on Muslims.
This is coupled with the sectarian differences that still separate Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
“committed king”
In the same vein, Farhan Nezami, director of the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, said, “Such tensions confirm the urgent need for Britain to have a king who personally works to promote inclusiveness.”
Charles has been a patron of the center for 30 years, lending his stature to efforts to build an academic center for the study of all aspects of the Islamic world, including history, science and literature, as well as religion.
During those years, the center moved from a marginal structure to a complex with its own library, conference facilities, and a mosque complete with a dome and minaret.
“It is very important that we have a king who is always committed to this,” Nezami said.
“respected person”
This strategy, used by King Charles, is also evident among Sikhs in Britain. “He was incredibly respectful and caring about our faith. But more importantly, he was interested in how we could support us as a private community,” said Gorsh Randhawa, who met the king at the opening of the Sikh Guru Nanak Gurdwara north of London.
He added: “I look forward to witnessing the coronation. I think it is likely to signal the most inclusive nature of British society.”
Charles’ commitment to a multi-faith society is also emblematic of the progress being made in ending the rift in Christian traditions that began in 1534, when Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church and declared himself Head of the Church of England.
Cardinal Vincent Nicholls, the largest Catholic clergy in England, said: This division led to hundreds of years of tensions between Catholics and Protestants, which finally faded during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
