Campanologists for St George

Cranmer takes on the Bishops of England:

Our church bells are one of the glories of the Church of England and of English social life, so ringing them loud on our national day would be entirely appropriate. It would be a celebration of England’s national identity, which other nations manage to celebrate without apology. It is time for the English to express pride in who they are and give thanks for the Christian faith which forged a distinct identity. Ringing out the church bells would not be an expression of triumphalist nationalism or an assertion of superiority, but a celebration of all that is good about England, and an expression of thanks to God for the blessings and mercies he has bestowed.

Personally I think that if the Church of England is uncomfortable acting as a national church, then it should be disestablished and change its name to "The Anglican Church".

BritologyWatch offers a typically thought-provoking comment:

I think the Church is caught in a bit of a double bind. As the established Church, it is inevitably implicated in the British Establishment per se and has to play a careful political game. In this instance, as questions about the Church's established status have conveniently just been indirectly raised via the red herring of the Act of Succession, the Church does not want to rock the boat further by appearing to associate itself with the English 'nationalist' cause - an association that would inevitably be made, even if it were not intended, if the Church enthusiastically embraced the suggestion of ringing out the bells on St. George's Day. Clearly, the British Establishment does wish to suppress English nationalism and calls for an English parliament, etc. So I think the Church has been sent a message that if it wants to keep its established status, it should not undermine the British Establishment of which it is a part.

On the other hand, the CofE is established, precisely, as the Church for England. So it should be a national church and body that speaks for England both in its general public pronouncements and within the political Establishment. In fact, it is arguably the only official English voice and national institution within the British Establishment, which is one of the reasons why there are so many people who are keen to disestablish it.

In this area, the Church is essentially confronted with a dilemma as to whether it is primarily British or primarily English: a microcosm, in fact, for the dilemma and the decision confronting the whole of English society.

There may be some truth in what BritologyWatch has to say. However, if the England-Britain dilemma is a factor in the Church of England's attitude towards England the nation, then I think it is only a very small factor. The truth is that the Church of England is hideously politically correct. As an institution it believes, rightly or wrongly, that in order to be the established church it must conform to the politically correct dogma of the British State: Never risk offending anyone by asserting your own identity, unless you are a minority. And in attempting to be inoffensive to everyone, they've become nothing to everyone.

The bells of Gloucester Cathederal will sound for St George's Day but I expect that these churches will play dumb. For fear of offending whom exactly?

UPDATE

This letter in the Scotsman lends more credibility to Mr BritologyWatch's thoughts on the subject.