God save The King: the state prayers, civic virtue, and the peace of the realm
Endue him plenteously with heavenly gifts ...
We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governors; and especially Charles our King ; that under him we may be godly and quietly governed ...
It was, over centuries, a characteristic of Anglican liturgy. We regularly - daily at Morning and Evening Prayer, and weekly in the Prayer for the Church Militant - prayed for the King. It was understood to be so integral to the Book of Common Prayer that, at the foundation of the American republic, the prayers for the monarch were transferred to the President:
O Lord, our heavenly Father, the high and mighty Ruler of the universe, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth; Most heartily we beseech thee, with thy favour to behold and bless thy servant The President of the United States, and all others in authority; and so replenish them with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that they may always incline to thy will, and walk in thy way. Endue them plenteously with heavenly gifts ...
The Apostolic exhortation that the churches offer "supplications, prayers, intercessions ... For kings, and for all that are in authority" also points to how such prayers are a civic virtue: "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty". To pray for the King, or the chief magistrate, is itself a school of civic virtue, expressing and renewing our place in the commonwealth and our duties therein.
By this means, to use the words of Burke, "the commonwealth and the laws are consecrated": a "wholesome awe" is bestowed on our duties in the commonwealth. Those duties - which, as the Catechism teaches, flow from "My duty towards my Neighbour" in the divine law - cannot therefore be casually dismissed or flouted on theological grounds. Civic virtue is blessed and is a blessing, for the "quiet and peaceable life".
This is not only to be found in the Christian tradition. A recent Sunday Telegraph report on The King's longstanding relationship with British Jewry included this comment by him, from early in his reign:
I have grown up being deeply touched by the fact that British synagogues have, for centuries, remembered my family in your weekly prayers.
Over the centuries, just as Anglican parish churches have offered the state prayers, so Jewish synagogues in this realm have prayed:
May the supreme King of kings in His mercy preserve the King in life, guard him and deliver him from all trouble and sorrow. May He bless and protect His Majesty’s Armed Forces. May He put a spirit of wisdom and understanding into his heart and into the hearts of all his counsellors, that they may uphold the peace of the realm, advance the welfare of the nation, and deal kindly and justly with all the House of Israel.
Here, then, is a practice shared by British Jews and British Christians, a practice which expresses and renews civic virtue in the commonwealth.
It is also practice found among British Muslims. That some mosques do not do so, and promote sectarian disharmony, is unfortunately a matter of record. If, however, we are rightly seeking to encourage - for the peace of the realm - a British form of Islam, inviting Muslims to more fully share in this practice of state prayers is surely to be desired.
This, quite obviously, does not compromise Christianity's salvific teaching and mission. But, on the self-evident understanding that Muslims are and will remain part of the body of this realm, it is right for the churches, and not least the established Church, to have a concern for that which serves "a quiet and peaceable life".
Moreover, this would have much greater significance than the tedious 'diversity is our strength' statements from Church of England bishops, such as have been heard in the response to the political debate over the recent iftar in Trafalgar Square. Consider one such statement, from the Bishop of Kirkstall:
Our call as Christians is to create room for those with whom we disagree but see in them their God-given dignity. Our call is neither to dominate nor be dominated, but rather to seek the common good and to live at peace with our neighbour – and where we disagree, to disagree well.
Entirely absent from this is any meaningful reference to what is shared. Simply referencing "the common good" is, at best, utterly vacuous: it is little more than the ecclesiastical version of the banality that is 'British values'. What is needed is a shared, concrete practice which expresses, promotes, and nurtures civic virtue. Ironically, the Bishop himself half-pointed in this direction when he referred to, albeit somewhat apologetically, Remembrance Day ceremonies:
try to bear in mind that every year on Remembrance Day – a stone’s throw from Trafalgar Square – the bishop of London leads a public Christian act of lamentation in the open air. It is an act of religious observance which happens in cities, towns and villages across the country. Alongside the hymns sung, there are readings from the Bible and prayers made in the name of Jesus Christ, and a blessing invoking the holy trinity [sic]. In Leeds, where I have the honour of leading the service alongside the Roman Catholic dean of Leeds, I am accompanied by leaders from other faiths: Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim.
The ceremonies of Remembrancetide, and the civic services which accompany them, are "a public Christian act" for reasons which should be, one might have hoped, startlingly obvious to a bishop of the established Church: they are Christian because the heritage and historic culture of the United Kingdom is Christian. This, however, is not the point currently at issue. The point is that Remembrancetide is itself a form of the state prayers, recognising that allegiance to the Crown defines our common civic identity in this realm, and that this civic identity is underpinned by the prayers of the established Church, of the other Christian churches, and, alongside them, the various religious communities of the realm.
That the other religious communities of the realm, not least British Muslims, alongside British Jews, would share with the established Church and the other Christian churches in regularly praying for The King, would be a potent expression of a shared civic virtue and civic allegiance, challenging both sectarian and nationalistic narratives. This would be a fitting contribution of the established Church to the peace of the realm.
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