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At the beginning, Christianity was repressed by Roman Empire because it against the brutal rule of Roman Empire. Later more and more the middle, upper class joined Christianity, they advocated to place hope on eternity, to be faithful to the country, to be obedient to the higher level, thus Roman Emperor issued ‘Edict of Milan’ in 313 A.D to give legal status to Christianity. In 380 A.D, Christianity became the national religion of Roman Empire, Christian churches and Christians gradually spread in the Roman Empire. With the conquests of Roman Empire, Christianity also covered the western world. Meanwhile, to some extent, Christianity became the ruling tool of the exploiting class of the time. In 395 A.D, the Roman Empire split into Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) and Western Roman Empire. The difference in politics, economy, cultural tradition, language between Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire caused the differentiation of Christianity in the two areas. With the expansion of the internal difference among Christian churches, Christianity developed into two great sects Catholic Church (Roman Catholic Church) and Orthodox Church in 1045 A.D. In the 16th century, after the religious reformation, a new sect- Protestantism emerged. There are also many other detailed small sects of Christianity.
Christianity, Buddhism, Islam are the three major religions in the world. In the 20th century, World Federation of Societies of Christianity was established. Relevant data shows that by the beginning of 21st century, Christians are more than 2 billion people, accounting for about one-third of the world population. In addition to Christianity in British, there are a small number of Buddhists Hindus and Muslims (Hugh 96).
II. The Influence of Christianity on British Politics
Relationship between church and state is a very complicated problem, in a different social, different times, and different forms. In medieval western world, the regime and the religious right have the same origin and blend and influence each other in the process of development. Homologous, namely the kingship and the religious right are considered come from God. Different flow, namely the kingship and the magisterium are independent. The magisterium and kingship are rival, inhibit the kingship of authoritarianism, has a far-reaching influence on the future. British, as part of the Christian world also experienced a complex change of church and state. Until today, religion is still a large group cannot be ignored.
2.1 Anglo-Saxon Period
Over Anglo-Saxon period, the king possessed great powers, include the power of military, the power of property, the privilege of public finance and law, but the king was still in various degree limited by many factors.
One of the factors was Christianity. Such as Kent king Ethel Herbert law: The right of God and church should be protected by 12 times, the bishop’s power should be protection of 11 times, while the king’s power should only get 9 times. With the popularity of Christianity, Christianity had dominated the ideology and culture field of the British. The concept of pine right of kings had an absolute influence on the kingship. Only the king got anointed and crowned by Archbishop on the coronation can the power of the king get recognized by the people. The anointment of the king means that the king shared the pinity of the Holy Ghost and since had the supernatural power of communicating with the God. For example, the emperor’s power must be recognized by Christianity from the coronation which means that the king accepted the position from the God, the right of the king was given by the God. None could offend. To anoint is a way of coronation. The first recorded took place in 787 in British. In turn, the king gave churches the economic and political privilege. Royal courts became the base for clergymen preaching and gradually extended to the periphery, many episcopates got established within the Kingdom territory. Such as: In AD 596, the episcopate of Canterbury in the kingdom of Kent and it is the first church, the episcopate of Winchester in the kingdom of Wessex, etc. Kent king also use its dominance by marriage, to persuade other countries king version according to Christianity. Many Archbishops, bishops became royal officials; some became the God-father, advisor of royal officials even the king. Meanwhile, the king took restrictions on the church. At that time, Archbishops, bishops, abbots were elected by clergymen, but in fact, the king mastered the appointments. The Synod was generally hold by the king, religious affairs became an indispensable part of the government affairs (Stanton 71).